Research
Digging Diaries are back: first week in Saqqara
info@museitorino.it
011 44 06 903
From Monday to Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
The joint mission of Museo Egizio and Rijksmuseum of Leiden is back!
The excavation project in Saqqara began in 1975. Until 1998 the Leiden Museum cooperated with the Egypt Exploration Society in London. Leiden University (since 1999) and the Bologna Archaeological Museum (since 2011) were also involved in the project.
In 2015, the Museo Egizio joined the project as a third partner.
The current mission directors are Lara Weiss, curator of the Egyptian collection at the Leiden Museum, and Christian Greco, director of the Museo Egizio.
Digging Diary 1: Opening the site
Lara Weiss and Daniel Soliman
In 2020, 2021, and spring 2022, the Leiden-Turin Excavations at Saqqara were cancelled due to the travel restrictions of the ongoing pandemic. We are therefore very happy to finally be able to continue our work this autumn. The mission will take place from 14 September to 27 October. We plan to finish excavating the small but monumental New Kingdom tomb in the area north of the tomb of Maya first uncovered in 2019, to learn more about its original owner, and of the later burials that might have reused the space. Apart from our usual aims, we have some other exciting projects lined up that will be revealed in upcoming digging diaries: online every Friday.
Caption: Christian and Lara in Saqqara.
Photo: Nicola Dell'Aquila.
Departing from Amsterdam, the long wait at Schiphol airport on Tuesday 13 September (almost 4h!) was quite a challenge for us, but eventually we were very happy to leave towards Cairo with only a bit of a delay. Cairo greeted us with a warm breeze of almost 28 degrees at 23 PM, and we were delighted to finally see Moshir Tawfik again, our friendly driver, who has been working for the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo (NVIC) for decades already. Daniel went on to meet his family, while Lara stayed overnight at the NVIC, together with our Italian colleagues from the Museo Egizio: mission co-director Christian Greco, the mission’s photographer Nicola Dell’Aquila and Valentina Turina, textile conservator from the Museo Egizio who will study our linen finds in detail. The rest of the team will arrive on Friday, and the work shall begin on Sunday, the first day of the Islamic work week, that has Friday off.
Our first goal before excavating was to finalize all administrative matters and open the site, which means unlocking the sealed spaces we left in 2019. It is an official procedure attended by a committee of Saqqara officials of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (MoTA), who together with the mission directors, Christian and Lara, inspect the state of the site. The directors and the committee make plans for the upcoming season, such as hiring the workforce, setting salary rates, and decide if and where restauration is urgent.
Caption: Signing the book to open the site.
Photo: Nicola Dell'Aquila.
On 14 September, in the morning we first delivered a big chunk of Dutch cheese to NVIC’s director, Rudolf de Jong, we greeted everybody in the institute, and then moved on to Giza, where we signed our contract in the MoTA office for foreign missions. Secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt, Dr Mostafa Waziri, and the permanent committee kindly approved all our plans for this season, except for the study of the underground chambers of the 2nd Dynasty tomb underneath the tomb of Meryneith, which will be postponed until another time.
Caption: Mission accomplished: Mohammed Hendawy opens the tombs.
Photo: Nicola Dell'Aquila.
From Giza, we drove to Saqqara to see the (General) Directors of Saqqara, Dr Mohammed Yousef and Dr Sabry Farag, as well as many other Egyptian colleagues and old friends such as Salah el-Deen Hasabalaa. He helps us with the day-to-day business like the acquisition of our workforce, grocery shopping, and is also in charge or our equipment storerooms. Of course, many thing such as books, lamps, and tables cannot travel back and forth every year, and it’s great to store them away in Egypt. We also saw our usual rais (the, overseer of workmen) Mohamed Fawzy, and several other Saqqara friends such as Assam Rashed and Mohamed Ibrahim, and last but not least our housekeeper and chef of the Saqqara dighouse, Atef Sayed Ramadan, who served us a nice lunch after we had settled in and unpacked.
Caption: A tomb seal.
Photo: Nicola Dell'Aquila.
The next morning, on 15 September, we went up to the site around 8 AM to be reunited with the excavation area that we had to miss for so long. We were very glad that to see the tombs and a good state. Yet, it is clear that climate change is also affecting Egypt, and three seasons of heavy rainfall have caused some of our modern tomb wall restorations to begin erode. Officials from the MoTA opened the storerooms, and now the site is ready for the mission’s work. Afterwards, we visited Dr Mohammed Yousef and Dr Sabry Farag at their ongoing excavation of the Bubasteion cemetery, well-known from the recent Netflix documentary. After a very pleasant chat, we went to our dighouse to enjoy our lunch. Tomorrow, the mission’s director Lara and Christian will leave Egypt to attend to other obligations, but our colleagues Ali, Alessandro, Barbara, Lyla and Simone will arrive soon to join the team.
Caption: The tomb seal (detail).
Photo: Nicola Dell'Aquila.
Then, finally, on Sunday we will begin working on the site. And of course, we will keep you updated about our findings and activities. Stay tuned!
The excavation project in Saqqara began in 1975. Until 1998 the Leiden Museum cooperated with the Egypt Exploration Society in London. Leiden University (since 1999) and the Bologna Archaeological Museum (since 2011) were also involved in the project.
In 2015, the Museo Egizio joined the project as a third partner.
The current mission directors are Lara Weiss, curator of the Egyptian collection at the Leiden Museum, and Christian Greco, director of the Museo Egizio.
Digging Diary 1: Opening the site
Lara Weiss and Daniel Soliman
In 2020, 2021, and spring 2022, the Leiden-Turin Excavations at Saqqara were cancelled due to the travel restrictions of the ongoing pandemic. We are therefore very happy to finally be able to continue our work this autumn. The mission will take place from 14 September to 27 October. We plan to finish excavating the small but monumental New Kingdom tomb in the area north of the tomb of Maya first uncovered in 2019, to learn more about its original owner, and of the later burials that might have reused the space. Apart from our usual aims, we have some other exciting projects lined up that will be revealed in upcoming digging diaries: online every Friday.
Caption: Christian and Lara in Saqqara.
Photo: Nicola Dell'Aquila.
Departing from Amsterdam, the long wait at Schiphol airport on Tuesday 13 September (almost 4h!) was quite a challenge for us, but eventually we were very happy to leave towards Cairo with only a bit of a delay. Cairo greeted us with a warm breeze of almost 28 degrees at 23 PM, and we were delighted to finally see Moshir Tawfik again, our friendly driver, who has been working for the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo (NVIC) for decades already. Daniel went on to meet his family, while Lara stayed overnight at the NVIC, together with our Italian colleagues from the Museo Egizio: mission co-director Christian Greco, the mission’s photographer Nicola Dell’Aquila and Valentina Turina, textile conservator from the Museo Egizio who will study our linen finds in detail. The rest of the team will arrive on Friday, and the work shall begin on Sunday, the first day of the Islamic work week, that has Friday off.
Our first goal before excavating was to finalize all administrative matters and open the site, which means unlocking the sealed spaces we left in 2019. It is an official procedure attended by a committee of Saqqara officials of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (MoTA), who together with the mission directors, Christian and Lara, inspect the state of the site. The directors and the committee make plans for the upcoming season, such as hiring the workforce, setting salary rates, and decide if and where restauration is urgent.
Caption: Signing the book to open the site.
Photo: Nicola Dell'Aquila.
On 14 September, in the morning we first delivered a big chunk of Dutch cheese to NVIC’s director, Rudolf de Jong, we greeted everybody in the institute, and then moved on to Giza, where we signed our contract in the MoTA office for foreign missions. Secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt, Dr Mostafa Waziri, and the permanent committee kindly approved all our plans for this season, except for the study of the underground chambers of the 2nd Dynasty tomb underneath the tomb of Meryneith, which will be postponed until another time.
Caption: Mission accomplished: Mohammed Hendawy opens the tombs.
Photo: Nicola Dell'Aquila.
From Giza, we drove to Saqqara to see the (General) Directors of Saqqara, Dr Mohammed Yousef and Dr Sabry Farag, as well as many other Egyptian colleagues and old friends such as Salah el-Deen Hasabalaa. He helps us with the day-to-day business like the acquisition of our workforce, grocery shopping, and is also in charge or our equipment storerooms. Of course, many thing such as books, lamps, and tables cannot travel back and forth every year, and it’s great to store them away in Egypt. We also saw our usual rais (the, overseer of workmen) Mohamed Fawzy, and several other Saqqara friends such as Assam Rashed and Mohamed Ibrahim, and last but not least our housekeeper and chef of the Saqqara dighouse, Atef Sayed Ramadan, who served us a nice lunch after we had settled in and unpacked.
Caption: A tomb seal.
Photo: Nicola Dell'Aquila.
The next morning, on 15 September, we went up to the site around 8 AM to be reunited with the excavation area that we had to miss for so long. We were very glad that to see the tombs and a good state. Yet, it is clear that climate change is also affecting Egypt, and three seasons of heavy rainfall have caused some of our modern tomb wall restorations to begin erode. Officials from the MoTA opened the storerooms, and now the site is ready for the mission’s work. Afterwards, we visited Dr Mohammed Yousef and Dr Sabry Farag at their ongoing excavation of the Bubasteion cemetery, well-known from the recent Netflix documentary. After a very pleasant chat, we went to our dighouse to enjoy our lunch. Tomorrow, the mission’s director Lara and Christian will leave Egypt to attend to other obligations, but our colleagues Ali, Alessandro, Barbara, Lyla and Simone will arrive soon to join the team.
Caption: The tomb seal (detail).
Photo: Nicola Dell'Aquila.
Then, finally, on Sunday we will begin working on the site. And of course, we will keep you updated about our findings and activities. Stay tuned!
info@museitorino.it
011 44 06 903
From Monday to Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
