TT184: Modern written documents

A significant portion of the modern finds that were inventorized last year consist of paper material excavated primarily from and around the Saff 1 tomb, which can be traced back to the wastepaper baskets from the Metropolitan House situated on the northern side of el-Khokha. This material is made up of the various papers that had belonged to major Egyptologists of the beginning of the 20th century. We have found, amongst others, fragments of letters (some bearing their handwriting), envelopes and telegrams addressed to excavators or their sponsors digging in Thebes in the early 1900’s. Most of them belong to the members of the American excavations based at the dig house; thus, the names of H. E. Winlock, A. Lansing, and C. K. Wilkinson are not surprising. A frequent character is the photographer Harry Burton, who is also an important link between the dig house and the well-known excavating ‘duo’ of Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon, who are most known for the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun. Burton had not only helped in the photographic work involving the tomb and its finds, but he was also designated to manage the property of Carter following his death – one of the fragments seems to refer to this below. These scraps of paper of varying sizes shed light on important and quite intriguing episodes of the history of Egyptology. We quite enjoy handling them.

Last year’s post on modern finds with photographs >> here

For research on the history of the Metropolitan House by Marcel and Monica Maessen, see their website >> here