Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (17.2005(2007))

DEIR EL-BAHARI

EGYPT

found in one of the temple's open-ait
storage spaces. The reconstruction of the
tympanum of this wall has advanced.
Meanwhile excavations were carried out
along the entire length of the bottom of
the wall. Shaft tomb S.7B/82 of the Third
Intermediate Period, located earlier but
not excavated, ' was now explored [Figs 5,
6}. Following the two seasons of digging
in the shaft tombs, it has been confirmed
that the tombs had been plundered in
modern times. Fragments of several
coffins, pottery vessels and cartonnages,
found in the two tombs, have been found
to match. Therefore, the archaeological
material from these two shaft tombs has
been documented as one unit.

All the tombs were hewn in bedrock
under the pavement of the Chapel. The
shafts and burial chambers were undeco-
rated and only roughly dressed, but the
overall impression is that the builders aimed
at plain and regular wall and floor surfaces.
The data provides grounds for dating these
burials to the late 22nd(?), 23rd and 25th
Dynasties.
SHAFT 7A/82
Shaft S.7A/82, excavated in the 2003/2004
season, is located next to the so-called
"Coptic blockage" by the western part of the
North Wall and below the level of its
bottom. The shaft, over 1.10 m to the side,
was 6.30 m deep below the pavement of the


Fig. 6. Chapel of Hatshepsut. Western end with shaft tombs S. 7A/82 (right) andS. 7B/82 (left);
the depression between shafts is proof of the presence of yet another shaft
(Photo M. Jawornicki)

7 For last year's excavation of Third Intermediate Period tomb shafts, see Szafranski, op. cit., 226-230, Figs 6-8.

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