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Diary Transcription:

Diary Translation: begin page 152
Monday, January 19, 1925 (continued)

(21) [Shaft] 7510 B (continued)

They uncovered a layer of large stone blocks. They started breaking these blocks. The fill of this shaft consists of a layer of limestone chips on top and a layer of large stone blocks on the bottom. They dug this shaft to a depth of 18.00 m.

Here is the amount of debris moved on the railways, given in carloads:
IV V
36 55 carloads until 8:00 am
99 149 carloads from 8:30 am to 12:00 pm
88 165 carloads from 1:00 pm to the end of the day
223 369 total

Today, Reis Mahmud returned together with Ali Mahmud, Ahmed An-Naqir, Seragi and Mahmud Abd Al-Aal.

Tuesday, January 20, 1925

There was no work because of the market. The Qeft workmen were repairing the broken buckets and the railway cars.

20 workmen were working on shaft 7510 B. They were removing debris of sand and stone blocks. They uncovered the burial chamber; it is on the south. I entered it. There is not a lot of debris in the burial chamber; only a little amount of debris in the passage between the burial chamber and the bottom of the shaft. This debris is from the Roman [Period].
I entered the burial chamber. It is square, its walls lined with limestone slabs. However, the walls are lined to only 2.00 m of their height; each wall has six courses of limestone slabs. Above the lining courses, there is 135 cm without lining.
This burial chamber is unfinished. Some of the uncased areas of the walls are left rough, whereas other areas were smoothed out. The ceiling of the burial chamber is in a very bad condition. It seems that the owner of the tomb or the foremen of his workmen decided to leave this burial chamber unfinished, when they realized that the Gebel is very fragile. It is possible that they cut another burial chamber on a deeper level in this shaft, or that they just abandoned this shaft entirely.
The workmen cleared this shaft to a depth of 19.25 m. Here is its drawing:

ILLUSTRATION

Wednesday, January 21, 1925

The workforce was 151 workmen. Work was progressing on (1) Street [G] 7300; (2) Street [G] 7400; (3) Mastaba 7801; (4) shaft 7215 A; (5) shaft 7215 B; (6) shaft 7215 C;…

End of Page 152

Details

  • Classification
    Documentation-Expedition diary pages
  • Department
    Harvard University-Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition
  • Credit Line
    Harvard University-Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition
  • Display Page Dates
    1/19/1925; 1/20/1925; 1/21/1925