Blogs With Dr John R Ward Kt

This is a new one for Q.E.A. we have not kept blogs before or journals for that matter on our Adventures. So we have asked John if he could supply us with a few to start of with and see how it grows from there. If you feel you have somthing to contribute please do not hesitate to send in your peice with photographs if possible and we will post them here for you.

Well the alarm clock went off as planned half an hour earlier as planned and the extra cup of God's nectar kicked in rather quicker than I thought it would and there we were ready to depart, our camel backs were packed full with homemade cookies for the day, frozen bottles of water and the usual bladder containing 3 litres of chilled water, all that was missing was Mahmoud. Obviously his internal alarm clock that had been running smoothly had hit a hiccup so to speak. However, Mahmoud duly turned up only a few minute late and we headed off back to the Northern wadi. Mahmoud agreed to take us back to where he dropped us off last time a little way into the main runoff. This would save us that precious hour and as we would be treading new ground that morning, I was grateful for this little favour.

Mahmoud left us in the same spot as before and we headed off into the wadi following the tracks as usual, however on this occasion we were looking for a specific run off on our left hand side that would give us a route that would ultimately lead to the area above our wadi where we had our spoil heap, dressed stone blocks and inscriptions. Having scanned the Google images the night before looking for that all important pathway, I took the chance on this small wadi giving us a route that would be easy to climb through and looked as if it might just end up landing us in the perfect location to observe and explore the next tier above the run off where we had found the painted pot previously.

It was not too long till we reached the entrance to the small runoff and started our ascent climbing amongst the small debris and boulders that had been carried down so long ago by the flash flood waters that had created this run off. Off course it was not long until we came across our first pottery find of the day, a amphora which had obviously been broken higher up the runoff and had been spread all over the run off with a flash flood at one time. We stopped for a few minutes to record and gather the pieces in the immediate vicinity. We then came to our first decision of the day the run off had come to a fork, did we take the left or right fork, my Google maps that I had brought with us were not that much help in the decision making process so we went with our gut feeling and turned left, the runoff continued to rise at a easy level of ascent, nothing too tasking this early in the morning.

We finally came to the end of the runoff and the level but still sloping view in front of us was too ominous. We continued in a straight line picking up on a pathway which gradually rose with the ridge. The pathway was obviously not a dog path and we did notice the odd shard of pottery on our morning stroll. We came to a main ridge with an approximate 10-15 meter vertical drop down to a wadi below; this wadi was though not the wadi we were interested in, so this meant we still had to climb the hill we were on and then cross over to the next hill to our right in the distance. Again the pathway was clear and distinct, we continued along this pathway taking in the morning view across the western villages of Thebes. The pathway came to a crossroads again this time giving us the option of either descending down into the wadi we had observed on our ascent or to continue and join the next hill which would afford us the view and pathways we were looking for, this had turned out much better than we had anticipated the night previous.

We off course choose the pathway leading to our desired destination and continued the comfortable climb. To our right about half way in we noticed a rather large run off coming from the mountain directly in front of us, this lead into directly into a bowl like feature that contained on first glance to be what can only be described as small caves running along the base of a the hill with the dry bed of the run off running along their entrances.

We both decided to take a detour to investigate these more closely, this meant us climbing a little higher and then basically taking a dog leg right and following the ridge along until we could find a suitable place to descend to the base of the bowl like area. During a our search for a the appropriate location of descent we came across level areas that had stones stacked in a fashion that would denote either shelter or a place of rest, these were the first structures we had seen in this area for a long time and I was getting quite excited, the importance of these structures meant that the caves could be more than just caves and they may be tombs with these structures acting as lookouts above them. We also had various sherds of pottery lying in the vicinity which confirmed that the structures were being used for more than just the odd shelter on the pathway.

We found a suitable slope that looked as if it should be used to descend with ease and we began our climb down, the atmosphere between us during the descent was electrifying, we could both sense that we had stumbled upon a site that had not been viewed for a great while, the entire slope of the hill we were descending was scattered with pottery shard and the surface although it was steep was completely smooth as if it had been compacted by a roller, the small stones and shingle had been flattened by the feet of those who had made the same journey time and time again, however, when this took place we could not tell.

On reaching the bottom, my heart was pounding with excitement because there in front of me were various openings in the hillside and now being on the same level I could clearly see that these were not caves but were in fact tombs of various sizes, however it soon hit me that also what I was looking at were spoil heaps stacked up in front of each tomb, piles and piles of shingle, stone fragments etc and pottery everywhere. Maria shortly joined me a the first opening where I had off loaded my camel back and began to unscrew the lid of my God's nectar. The anticipation of spending the morning exploring these tombs was overwhelming; the urge to just go and start was too much. But we both held off, drinking and eating our morning brunch in the shade of the first tomb's open walls.

To give you an idea of what I mean by that statement, �open walls� I will try and explain to you. If you can imagine the base of a hill, then cut into it a rectangular form you would end up with 3 walls one directly in front of you which would be the highest wall with two walls either side sloping off towards the ground level to both your left and right. The tops of the walls have stones stacked in a dry wall fashion as to stop any debris falling from the slope of the hill. This cut in would then of been roofed using possibly palm and reed with a light mud covering, finished off with two further walls to the front and a doorway providing access to the room form which then a further doorway or pit entrance would give access to the tombs themselves. This room was usually used by the family members of the deceased who was entombed to bring offerings and pay respects to their departed loved ones. Very similar to the room or chamber in the Kom el Shukafa in Alexandria where the room before entering the catacombs was used for the banquet for the deceased, a wake as we more commonly call them today. The only difference being that the wakes would take place then during festival days and off course on the anniversaries of the deceased departing the mortal plane.

After our brunch we decided that the best way to tackle this was a methodical approach starting with the 1 st one and working outwards, cataloguing as many details as we could on each one, both photographic and written. Each tomb had been thoroughly robbed, possibly during antiquity, but having said that, each one had been deliberately filled though almost to the ceiling level with one exception, this tomb had clearly been emptied of its debris matter and the unfortunately so had the plaster that had once adorned the walls of this tomb. There were in places the remnants of the original mud plaster that was firstly used to screed the interior walls as a preparation for the main plaster to been placed upon the walls, we found examples of this plaster scattered outside the tomb area, again unfortunately none with any remnants of paint of inscription. This particular tomb however had a, what seemed to be a Coptic inscription placed on one wall that had been cleared of its plaster and mud plaster, the inscription was painted in the usual red paint with broad strokes of the brush. We will publish the results of the translation once we have completed the analysis of this inscription. The rest of the tombs were void of any inscriptions or plaster works.

The majority of the tombs were accessed via a deep pit entrance without the usual foot holes cut into their sides of the pit walls. The descent was easy with exception for one, which unfortuantly was far too deep to climb down without the aid of rope. So we had to leave that one for another day. Tomb 6 was the only one that had an additional chamber leading of the main chamber this additional chamber had been cleared completely of all its debris, but it was a crawl to through the main chamber to access this chamber with the added fear on my part of bats, if you remember from our trip to Gebelein, I have a fear of bats and the smell, well, you really cannot out into words the smell that bats in closed environment can give off. Although having said all this, I overcame my fear in the name of curiosity killed the cat syndrome. I just had to get into that chamber, the floor was of limestone roughly cut and smoothed to provide a rough floor. There were no other discernable markings in the chamber but overall it was well worth me overcoming my fear to explore and document the tomb itself.

In total we were able to document 10 tombs that were open and accessible; there was evidence to suggest that there were more tombs in the vicinity


Day 1 The Temple Complex of Sankhkare, Luxor, Egypt	Day 2 The Temple Complex of Sankhkare, Luxor, Egypt	Day 3 The Temple Complex of Sankhkare, Luxor, Egypt	Day 4 The Temple Complex of Sankhkare, Luxor, Egypt	Day 5 The Temple Complex of Sankhkare, Luxor, Egypt	Day 6 The Temple Complex of Sankhkare, Luxor, Egypt


Day 1 Wadi el Gabbanat el Qirud (Valley of the Apes) The Watering Station by Horse Back 19 th April 2010 By Dr John R Ward Kt	Day 2 Wadi el Sikkat el Taqa el Zeide Off Wadi el Gabbanat el Qirud (The Western Wadi) By Horse Back 22 nd April 2010 By Dr John R Ward Kt	Day 3 Wadi el Gabbanat el Qirud (Valley of the Apes) The Watering Station by Horse Back 19 th April 2010 By Dr John R Ward Kt


The Ancient Nome of Gebelein Pathyris /Aphroditopolis, Ezbet Abu Humus. �The two mountains� 18 th April 2008	Wadi Hammamat Between Quseir and Quft. May 2 nd 2008	Deir el Shelwit Isis Temple Thebe's, Luxor April 28 th 2008