A letter from Edward Ayrton to the Secretary of the Egypt Exploration Fund, Emily Paterson, recently came to light in the Society’s Lucy Gura Archive. The letter is dated ‘Dec. 3. 1907.’ and was written from ‘Biban el Moluk. Luxor’, which is better known today as the Valley of the Kings.
Letter from Edward Ayrton to Emily Paterson, Secretary of the EEF.
Ayrton had trained with Petrie during the Fund’s work at Abydos in 1902-4, and subsequently also worked for the EEF on the excavations of the XIth Dynasty temple at Deir el Bahri, under the direction of Edouard Naville. Ayrton was then given the job of continuing the excavations of the wealthy American Theodor M Davis in the Valley of the Kings, in succession to Howard Carter, James Quibell and Arthur Weigall. Davis’ excavations had already led to a series of spectacular discoveries, most notably the near-intact burial of Yuya and Thuya, parents of Amenhotep III’s queen, Tiye, and Ayrton himself would play an important part in the uncovering of the tombs in the Valley during his three seasons of work there.
Photograph from the Ayrton series now kept in the Lucy Gura Archive (see Reeves, MDAIK 40 (1984), 227-35, pls. 24-36) showing "Early plunderer's houses outside the tomb of Rameses IV"
By the time of his letter to Miss Paterson, Ayrton was in the middle of his third season workng for Davis, and had already discovered the tomb of the nineteenth dynasty female pharaoh Siptah (KV 47), a series of smaller tombs, and the controversial and enigmatic tomb KV 55 which contained the jumbled remains of the funerary equipment of at least one Amarna Period royal, a deposit which has provided a source of enduring fascination and speculation ever since.
Ayrton was perhaps entitled to high expectations by this point and the final line of his letter to Miss Paterson suggests he was somewhat disappointed with the results achieved to this point in the season: “We have found nothing here yet.”
He would not have to wait long however. Exactly a month later, on 3 January 1908, he would discover a deposit of materials naming Tutankhamun, which we now understand to have been connected with the embalming of that king’s body (see the new exhibition of this material in New York). The best was yet to come however: a few weeks later on 22 February Ayrton discovered the tomb of Horemheb, the military commander who became the last king of the 18th Dynasty.
Photograph from the Ayrton series showing a part of the burial chamber of the tomb of Horemheb shortly after discovery.
Despite these successes, Ayrton resigned his post with Davis after the end this season, and returned to work for the EEF, as it seems had been his intention by the time his letter was written. Thus for the 1908-9 season Ayrton, in collaboration with W. L. S. Loat excavated the 6th Dynasty cemetery ‘F’ at Abydos and the Predynastic cemetery of El-Mahasna.
Abydos, Clearing of large tomb, Cemetery F.
Cemetery F remains one of the few known lower status burial grounds of the Old Kingdom but has remained largely unpublished despite its significance and Ayrton and Loat having recorded their work at the site in meticulous detail.
Tomb card for tomb number 78 of Cemetery F (front and back). The card, which was completed and signed by Ayrton, records the date of its excavation, 26 November 1908, the name of the excavator, Shahat Huseyn, and the objects recorded, with a sketch and notes on the reverse as to their placement relative to the remains of the deceased. Ayrton writes, "The shaft and chamber caved in repeatedly and the burial had to be moved as quickly as possible. No photo was possible. In the box were two alabasters and a comb. The small box was very fragile and broke at the touch. The mirror had no handle and lay on the face - the stone pillow lay on its side under the skull. Neither the pots nor the alabasters contained anything."
Fortunately, our understanding of this part of the Abydos necropolis is now improving thanks to the work of Dr Kei Yamamoto of the University of Toronto. Numerous objects from the excavations were divided by the Society to the University and are now kept in the Royal Ontario Museum where Kei has been able to study them in detail, and he has now travelled to London with the support of an EES Centenary Award, to consult the excavation records which are kept in the Society’s Lucy Gura Archive. Kei has already made several interesting discoveries as a result and will be giving a talk on his work at Doughty Mews on Thursday 27 May.
Kei Yamamoto studying the Cemetery F tomb cards in the Lucy Gura Archive at Doughty Mews.
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