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The Epigraphic Survey

INTRODUCTION

The Epigraphic Survey based at Chicago House in Luxor, Egypt, is directed by W. Raymond Johnson, PhD, Research Associate (Associate Professor) NELC and Oriental Institute.

The mission of the Survey since its founding in 1924 has been to produce photographs and precise line drawings of the inscriptions and relief scenes on major temples and tombs at Luxor for publication. More recently the Survey has expanded its program to include conservation, restoration, and site management. In addition to the field director, the professional staff of the Survey normally includes three to four epigraphers, four to five artists, two photographers, an architect, a librarian, several conservators, and IT consultants. The epigraphers and artists include both graduate students and post-doctoral scholars who have received training in all aspects of Egyptology. The Epigraphic Survey completed its 87th archaeological field season at the end of April, 2011.


1926-1927 Epigraphic Survey Staff Photograph


ES professional staff photo 2010-2011

RECENT NEWS

February 2, 2012

Dear Friends,

All is well with us in Luxor, although it is hard to believe that January is already past. It has been unusually cold - Alexandria actually got some snow two weeks ago, a decidedly rare event! But we have been lucky here; the sun has been warm, and cloudy days few. The forecast is for temperatures to start a slow climb starting this holiday weekend, the Prophet’s Birthday / Mulid el-Nabi (on Saturday).

During the first month of 2012 Chicago House made progress on all work fronts. The last three courses of the Domitian Gate at Medinet Habu, threatened with collapse due to groundwater salt decay, were successfully dismantled by our skilled stone team. The rubble foundations of the gate, restored by George Daressy in the late 19th century, were photographed and cleared, including many inscribed fragments and architectural elements that have been transferred to the new blockyard for recording. Stone mason Frank is now preparing to lay a new, damp-coursed reinforced-concrete footing half a meter thick on which we will re-erect the gate next season after the footing has cured over the summer. He will also be cutting and preparing new sandstone blocks to replace some of the lower course blocks that were destroyed by salt. The epigraphic team supervised by senior epigrapher Brett McClain has been working hard in the small Amun temple ambulatory documenting reliefs that will be published in the next volume in that series. In addition to the normal drawing, artist Keli Alberts has been doing aluminum foil rubbings of inscribed wall surfaces now covered by later walls - a technique we perfected at Khonsu Temple - that she then traces, and which will be later scanned and reduced for inking. Artist/Egyptologist Krisztian Vertes has been dong a groundbreaking study of the different paint phases in the long history of the monument. He is painstakingly documenting the original painted phase of Thutmosis, III, a post- Amarna restoration phase, a 21st Dynasty renewal phase, and a final Ptolemaic phase. In each of these phases the color scheme of the scenes changes, sometimes quite dramatically. At the Medinet Habu blockyard conservator Lotfi Hassan has tested the joins of five sections of a five and a half meter tall, inscribed palm column from the original Ramesses III palace on the southern side of the mortuary temple. This column and its mates were taken down and replaced with bigger ones when Ramesses III increased the height of the hall later in his reign. The original column sections were reused elsewhere in the precinct where they were excavated and recovered by the Oriental Institute back in the 1920s. Lotfi has temporarily re-erected the entire column (minus its base) outside the blockyard, quite a sight, and we will discuss with the Ministry of Antiquities the possibility of erecting it and a second, partial column within the palace area for public view sometime in the future. Staff photographer Yarko Kobylecky and Ellie Smith have been steadily doing large-format and digital photography of dozens of blocks in the blockyard, many from 3rd Intermediate Period houses in the Medinet Habu complex, that Egyptologist Julia Schmied is identifying and analyzing as part of her PhD research and the first monograph in our Medinet Habu blockyard series.

There are many comings and goings this month. Conservator Hiroko Kariya is splitting her time between the Luxor Temple blockyard; the Abydos mission of the NYU Institute of Fine Arts; and the UNESCO/Waseda University Amenhotep III tomb project where she is reassembling the granite lid of Amenhotep III's royal sarcophagus. Architect Jay Heidel is in Middle Egypt at Shiekh Abada / Antinoupolis assisting the Istituto Papirologico of the University of Florence, Italy with their survey of the Hadrianic Roman city; next week he will be helping them plan a multi-year geophysical survey of the site, increasingly threatened by encroaching agriculture and cemeteries. We are very pleased to welcome back the Malkata Palace expedition: Diana Craig Patch and Catharine Roehrig of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Peter Lacovara of Emory University, who with surveyor Joel Paulson and his wife Pam will be staying with us during the next month as they resume their archaeological work at Amenhotep III's sprawling palace site. You will recall that we are presently recording the reliefs and inscriptions on the façade of the tomb of Amenhotep III's Steward of Malkata palace, Nefersekheru (TT 107), in tandem with the renewed archaeological activity at the palace itself. Senior artists Margaret De Jong and Sue Osgood made great progress on the penciled drawings of the fragile limestone reliefs during the past month, and both will be finished with those drawings this season, with inking beginning this summer.

So it's business as usual here in Luxor as Egypt continues down the sometimes- rocky path to democracy. We continue to assist our Egyptian friends in any way we can, with our library, our site work, and all the resources at our disposal. We are very pleased and proud to be representing the Oriental Institute, the University of Chicago, and the USA here at this historic time.

Best wishes to you all from Luxor,
Ray Johnson

December 29, 2011

Dear Friends,

Holiday greetings to you all! Things are quiet and peaceful here in Luxor after a lovely Christmas. A number of the Chicago House staff returned home for the holidays as well as many of our colleagues, but the rest of us have enjoyed a warm and pleasant holiday time in Luxor. Our Christmas dinner was quite festive with many friends (Egyptian, Japanese, Italian, Canadian, and even some Americans) and LOTS of kids. The residence courtyard after dinner was like a hippodrome, with eight very small children racing round and around led by a very energetic two-year old! It was very sweet.

But our holiday joy has been considerably muted by the loss of a very dear colleague. Conservator Luigi de Cesaris, who coordinated the ARCE/Chicago House Roman fresco cleaning project at Luxor Temple, was felled suddenly by a heart attack on December 19th as he was finishing up work at the Red Monastery with his team. Luigi was well known for the high quality of his conservation work, his extraordinary energy, and his richness of spirit, and he was a dear friend to us all at Chicago House. His funeral - that Jay and I attended as representatives of Chicago House - took place on Thursday the 22nd at the church of San Luigi de Francese in Rome. He was interred in a little village cemetery hanging off the mountainside two hours south of Rome, with a small bouquet of roses from the Chicago House garden that he loved so much. Luigi was a presence in Egypt since the 1980s when he worked with the Getty Conservation Institute team cleaning and consolidating Nefertary’s famous tomb in the Valley of the Queens, followed by work sponsored by USAID and ARCE at the monasteries of St. Anthony and St. Paul on the Red Sea coast, and most recently at the Red Monastery in Sohag. He was only 50, leaves a young widow and three-year-old son, and big hole in all our hearts.

Our archaeological fieldwork continues to go very well. As I write this we are expanding the protective roofing along the inside walls of the Medinet Habu blockyard under Lotfi’s careful supervision, and hope to have that finished during the first week of January. The Domitian gate is now down to its last course, and we reviewed stonemason Frank’s plans for the new, reinforced foundation with our Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities friends two weeks ago. The foundation will be of reinforced concrete, and the decayed stone block courses will be replaced by new sandstone blocks quarried from the same quarries as the original blocks, shaped by Frank and his team in the months ahead. Sue Osgood is on her last drawing enlargement of the beautifully carved, Amenhotep III period reliefs in TT 107, the Theban tomb of Malkata palace steward Nefersekheru. Artist Margaret will be returning at the beginning of January to finish her drawings there as well. Documentation and collation of the Thecla church blocks continues in the Luxor Temple blockyard by Jay, while Hiroko, our workmen, and I have moved over 120 Ptolemaic and miscellaneous blocks and block fragments to separate mastaba platforms for photography and analysis. It’s been a good few months.

And we look forward to the new year. Best wishes to you all for a happy and prosperous New Year 2012 from all of us in Luxor…!

Ray Johnson

December 2, 2011

Dear Friends,

I am pleased to report that Luxor has been peaceful throughout the last few weeks, and the Chicago House team is busy and well. Our work at Medinet Habu, TT 107, and Luxor Temple has proceeded normally, and continued through the disturbances in Cairo with no interruption. The elections so far - here, in Cairo, Alexandria, and elsewhere - have been noteworthy for their orderliness, peaceful nature, enthusiasm, and unprecedented turnout. It's an encouraging beginning! And history in the making.

Yesterday artist Sue Osgood returned to Luxor to continue working in TT 107, the tomb of Nefersekheru, steward of Amenhotep III's Malkata palace, where Margaret has been drawing for the last month. Tomorrow conservator Hiroko Kariya arrives to resume conservation work in the Luxor Temple blockyards. On Sunday we are all heading south to see the current excavation work of faculty member Nadine Moeller, husband Gregory, and her team (including Hratch Papazian) at Tell Edfu. Nadine and the crew joined us and a number of our American (ARCE Luxor), foreign, and Egyptian colleagues for a very pleasant Thanksgiving dinner on November 24th. The cranberry sauce was home-made by artist Margaret De Jong, with fresh berries kindly hand-carried by library assistant (and OI VC member) Andrea Dudek who will be heading homeward in a few days after a very productive few weeks with us.

Thus far, outside of the election excitement, it's been a totally normal season. Two weeks ago I participated in a workshop in Cairo sponsored by AUC and the Netherlands/Flemish Institute on archaeological recording techniques, with a special emphasis on new digital recording technologies that we are using in our on site documentation work now. During the next couple of days a group of students from the Netherlands/Flemish Institute will be visiting TT 107 and Medinet Habu to see our recording methodologies in person, guided by Senior epigrapher Brett McClain and Margaret.

Despite the political uncertainties and bumps in the road, the last month and a half have been joyous in many ways. The Egyptian people are tremendously excited and proud of their new freedom to choose their leaders, and this has been a joy to witness. We gave our Egyptian staff the day off on Monday to vote, and each one proudly showed me his ink-stained finger (proof of voting) the day after. There have been other reasons to celebrate as well; I have attended two engagement parties for offspring of our workers (who were babies the last time I looked, and are now getting married?). And ten days ago Medinet Habu conservator Nahed gave birth to a baby boy, Jovan. Life is too full!

And all is well. I will write again soon. Best wishes to you all for an excellent December!

Best from Luxor,
Ray Johnson

October 31, 2011

Dear friends,

Chicago House opened for the 2011- 2012 archaeological field season on October 15th, we reopened the library this week, and I am pleased to report that all is well here in Luxor. I had a good few days in Cairo beforehand signing the season contract with the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, meeting the new US ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson, as well as the new folk at USAID Egypt. Luxor is peaceful and pleasantly busy. The Chicago House epigraphic and conservation teams are now back working at Medinet Habu and at Luxor Temple, and we resumed our documentation work at Theban Tomb 107 (from the time of Amenhotep III) today. The weather has been glorious - hot during the day, but deliciously cool at night, and the temps are slowly going down. The number of tourists has been steadily and noticeably growing since we returned. The temples are busy again, which is very good to see, and makes everyone happy. Construction of the new Corniche in front of Chicago House has accelerated, trees are being planted, and new pedestrian walkways are being put in now along the lower terrace (allaying our fears that it might go back to being a highway). It is good to be back, and we are looking forward to a full and productive season with our Egyptian and foreign colleagues in Luxor.

I'll be in touch again soon.

Best to you all from Luxor,
Ray Johnson

October 1, 2011

Dear Friends,

The Epigraphic Survey is returning to Egypt to resume its documentation, conservation, and restoration work in Luxor. We plan to open Chicago House (being made ready for us now) on October 15, and the library the following week. I will post occasional updates on this web page throughout the winter.

Best wishes,

Ray Johnson
Director,
Epigraphic Survey

2010-2011 Field Season

EPIGRAPHIC SURVEY/CHICAGO HOUSE
Archaeological Field Activities in Luxor

October 15, 2010 - April 15, 2011
W. Raymond Johnson, Director

On April 15, 2011 the Epigraphic Survey, in collaboration with the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities/Ministry of State for Antiquities Affairs, completed its eighty-seventh, six-month field season in Luxor. Because Luxor remained secure during the enormous changes that took place during Egypt's revolution this winter, Chicago House's activities ran uninterrupted from October 15, 2010 through April 15, 2011. Projects included epigraphic documentation, conservation, and restoration work at Medinet Habu; the inauguration of a new documentation program at the Theban Tomb 107 of Nefersekheru; salvage documentation at Khonsu Temple at Karnak (in cooperation with the American Research Center in Egypt / ARCE); and conservation, restoration, and maintenance of the blockyard open-air museum at Luxor Temple, as well as documentation of blocks from the Basilica of St. Thecla in front of the Ramesses II eastern pylon.

MEDINET HABU

Epigraphic documentation supervised by senior epigrapher Brett McClain, senior artists Susan Osgood and Margaret De Jong, and artists Krisztian Vertes and Keli Alberts continued in the small Amun temple of Hatshepsut and Thutmosis III at Medinet Habu. Work continued primarily in the Thutmoside bark sanctuary ambulatory and its façade. Epigrapher Virginia Emery assisted in the collation process during the month of January. Sue's work this season was concentrated primarily in the ambulatory and on the façade of the Small Temple, in particular on the Thutmoside architrave inscriptions and adjoining architectural elements of the façade, and on the pillars of the ambulatory. Krisztian finished recording a Thutmoside pillar on the eastern façade, north end, partially hidden by the addition of the Ptolemaic 'court' walls. Tina Di Cerbo and Richard Jasnow continued to document graffiti throughout the MH complex, particularly on the roof areas of the Ramesses III mortuary temple.

Medinet Habu blockyard

The conservation team supervised by senior conservator Lotfi Hassan continued and finished the moving of fragmentary material from the old Medinet Habu blockyard to the new, protected blockyard built by Chicago House against the southern Ramesses III enclosure wall. 3500 blocks and block fragments from all parts of the complex were moved during the last three seasons, and 2450 have been documented and entered on the MH fragment database by Egyptologist Julia Schmied assisted by Egyptologist Christian Greco. Also included in the move to the new storage facility was the area behind the Gods Wives Chapels, where fragments and blocks were stored on cement platforms. That area is now clean, and the platforms dismantled. Once the moving of blocks and fragments was finished, the old walled blockyard east of the king's palace was dismantled (in March) and the area leveled as part of the site management program of the Medinet Habu precinct, all supported by a grant from USAID Egypt. Next season will mark the completion of a small open-air museum component in front of the new blockyard that has been constructed by Lotfi and the team for appropriate joined fragment and display groups, including some beautiful, decorated doorways from Ramesses III's mortuary temple palace, and red-granite false door, broken in three pieces in the medieval period (and used as an olive press), from Amenhotep II's mortuary temple.

The Domitian Gate

This season marks the beginning of a new chapter of our Medinet Habu restoration work. Last season we noted that the 1st century AD sandstone Gate of the Roman Emperor Domitian, reassembled by George Daressy from scattered blocks in the late 19th century (behind the small Amun temple) was in danger of collapse due to groundwater salt decay of its foundations. This past January the Egyptian-style, Roman monument was photographed by Chicago House photographer Yarko Kobylecky assisted by Ellie Smith. Afterward the gate was carefully surveyed and architectural drawings generated by stonemason Frank Helmholz. Because the USAID-funded, west-bank dewatering program was inaugurated earlier (in September of 2010), the ground was already showing signs of drying out by the new year. I should mention that by the time we finished work in mid-April, the water level in the Medinet Habu sacred lake was down three meters and back to levels recorded during the Oriental Institute's first work at Medinet Habu in the 1920s and 30s — a great success. In February dismantling of the gate commenced by Frank and the Chicago House workmen, and continued during March. 43 blocks (out of 68 total) are now stored on protected platforms immediately to the north of the gate, and will undergo any conservation and consolidation necessary next season. Three courses of stone blocks remain, and now that there is much less weight pushing down on the stones, there is no longer any threat of collapse. The dismantling will be finished next season, and during that time Frank and his team will also cut and shape new foundation blocks for the re-erection of the gate, scheduled to begin in 2012.

THE TOMB OF NEFERSEKHERU TT 107

Last winter the Epigraphic Survey initiated a condition study and preliminary, photographic documentation at the tomb of Nefersekheru (TT 107), west of el-Khokha. Nefersekheru was Steward of Amenhotep III's sprawling jubilee palace complex south of Medinet Habu at Malkata, and his tomb is one of the largest late-Amenhotep III period private tombs in Thebes. Instead of facing east, as do all of the others (like Kheruef, Ramose, Amenemhet Surer, etc), it faces south, toward Malkata and the setting sun. No complete plan has ever been made for the tomb, and it has never been cleared. The only decoration known so far is along the outside of the broad hall, in sunk relief that is every bit as beautiful as the raised relief of the contemporary tomb of Kheruef nearby, that the Epigraphic Survey documented in the 1960s. In February of 2010 staff photography Yarko assisted by Ellie photographed the portico reliefs in preparation for drawing. Because of the fragile condition of the stone, non-invasive drawing on photographic enlargements was chosen as the medium of documentation. Before drawing began this season, and at the recommendation of structural engineer Conor Power, Chicago House erected a series of reinforcing screw jacks and wooden beams along the inside of the potentially unstable portico. The equipment was kindly lent to us by Kent Weeks, who had faced similar conditions during his work in KV 5 in the Valley of the Kings.

Once the portico was stabilized, artists Sue and Margaret began drawing the exquisite reliefs and inscriptions, starting in January. Cleaning and more permanent stabilization measures for the portico will follow, including restoration of the missing limestone columns.

KHONSU TEMPLE, KARNAK

This year marked the third season of an Epigraphic Survey and ARCE collaboration at Khonsu Temple, Karnak, part of the USAID-funded ARCE Groundwater Lowering Response Initiative. Part of ARCE's program focuses on conservation and restoration work in Khonsu Temple, including restoration of floor blocks where they are missing.

Chicago House senior epigrapher Brett McClain supervised the epigraphic team (Egyptologist Jen Kimpton, Egyptologist/artist Krisztian Vertes, artist Keli Alberts, and Ray Johnson) in the recording of the inscribed stone-blocks reused in the flooring, foundations, and western roof area of Ramesses III's Khonsu Temple. This documentation is necessary before ARCE's floor restoration work, involving repaving whole areas, makes the reused material inaccessible. All Chicago House recording work was done in coordination with ARCE Luxor director John Shearman and Karnak director Ibrahim Suleiman, and is an essential documentation component of the ARCE / SCA restoration program. All cleaning was done by the skilled MSA/SCA/ARCE workmen; Chicago House's work was strictly documentation.

The primary focus of the work this season was in the Khonsu front court, where the floor blocks are made up of material primarily from the time of Sety I, including a gigantic lintel several meters long inscribed with names and figures of this king worshipping the divine triad of Thebes. The material Chicago House has documented in the flooring of the rear sanctuary areas of Khonsu Temple suggests that Ramesses III dismantled a smaller, 18th Dynasty, square-pillared sanctuary of Khonsu from the time of Thutmosis III and utilized the stone from that structure in the foundations and flooring of his much larger structure. Blocks inscribed with the names of Thutmose III, Thutmose IV, Ay, Horemheb, Sety I, Ramesses II, and Sety II have all been documented in the flooring so far. Many of the Thutmoside raised-relief offering scenes show signs of reworking in sunk relief and appropriation by Ramesses II.

To date, the reused blocks and fragments recorded at Khonsu Temple during the 2008-2009, 2009-2010, and 2010-2011 seasons now total 652. In situ blocks from the flooring and foundations of Khonsu Temple total 309, while loose blocks and fragments total 343. The documentation and preliminary analysis of the blocks and fragments will appear in a series of preliminary reports in the Journal of the American Research Center.

LUXOR TEMPLE

This season, kindly supported by a grant from Nassef Sawiris, the Epigraphic Survey started cataloguing, documenting, and surveying the remains of the 6th century AD Basilica of St. Thecla located immediately north of the Roman wall, among the earliest known churchs in Luxor. This new project will allow us to integrate the church into the Luxor Temple Roman fortification-wall study, and is expected to provide vital information about the transition period between the pagan and Christian religions, a hitherto little known chapter in the history of Luxor Temple. 102 blocks from the original basilica sanctuary have already been located and moved to a special processing area east of the Colonnade Hall for cleaning by conservator Hiroko Kariya, and recording by architect Jay Heidel. Jay has drawn and entered 118 blocks (including some too big to move) into a specially designed database and is preparing AUTOCAD drawings for their reconstruction on paper. Already numerous joins among the blocks have been noted, including sections of a large, beautifully carved central arch, and the two granite columns and sandstone capitals that supported it. Future plans include a feasibility study for physically reconstructing some of the sanctuary blocks and architectural elements in situ as part of the comprehensive site management program for that area.

Educational signage for the main axis of the temple has been designed by Jay, beginning with an orientation panel for the entire temple complex that will appear outside the main entrance (now on the east side of the temple) in English and Arabic. Panels that have already been designed and are awaiting translation include a 'Ancient Thebes Orientation and Sphinx Avenue' in front of the temple, 'the Ramesses II pylon entryway,' 'the Ramesside Court,' 'the great Colonnade Hall,' 'the Amenhotep III court,' 'the Roman sanctuary,' and 'the Luxor Temple sanctuary.'

The Luxor Temple Blockyard Project.

The Luxor Temple blockyard conservation program was coordinated by Hiroko Kariya and assisted by Tina Di Cerbo and Nan Ray, and was supported by a Robert W. Wilson Challenge to Conserve our Heritage Grant and the World Monuments Fund (WMF).

The blockyard open-air museum was completed and opened to the public on March 29, 2010. It features a total of 169 pieces/groups (308 fragments - single and joined pieces) on 12 thematic mastaba platforms (a total of 142 meters in length). Displayed on these mastabas are 62 fragment groups arranged in chronological order (from the Middle Kingdom to the present) accompanied by educational signage. There are also mastabas on which fragments are organized thematically; a rotating display currently featuring ancient Egyptian creatures, large blocks from the Amenhotep III sanctuary of Luxor Temple, statues, stelae, door jambs, capitals, fragments showing ancient Egyptian masonry and conservation techniques, and finally, fragments uncovered during the Luxor Temple dewatering project. The display also includes the in-situ presentation of the great eastern Roman tetrastyle and fortified gateway into the precinct. The 200 meter-long paths adjacent to the display mastabas were paved and metal railings installed for the protection of the fragments. A total of 15 large and 43 small explanatory signs were installed. 34 spotlights were installed for illuminating the displays after dark, keyed to the temple lighting. Public viewing is now usually possible until 9:00 PM.

This season focused on followup work in the open-air museum as well as the usual conservation monitoring of the blockyard storage areas. This included cleaning and condition-surveying of the museum fragment-group displays and selected single fragments (all entered into the database by Nan), remounting a late-period stela, replacing and maintaining educational signage, and adding an additional fragment to the displayed relief of Thutmosis III. In order to reduce the amount of dirt/dust on the pavement, additional gravel was placed approximately one meter-wide along the western side of the paved path upon approval by the SCA. This has had a very positive effect of cutting down the dirt tracked onto the paving.

Luxor Temple Structural Condition Study

This season structural engineer Conor Power continued his condition study of the Luxor Temple structure in March, 2011. He found no discernable movement or destabilization of the Ramesses II pylons or great Colonnade Hall columns. Based on a comparison with photographs taken in the year 2000, Conor found that there is a noticeable reduction of overall moisture levels in the temple, and that moisture wicking has subsided. His conclusion is that the ground water lowering engineering project, activated in 2006, has had a positive effect on Luxor Temple with a reduction of salt efflorescence and moisture levels in the structure. Good news!

Luxor Update February 11, 2011

Dear Friends,

Well, it has happened. After a confusing speech last night, President Mubarak has just stepped down, the army has taken charge, and the Egyptian people have changed history. The celebrations are pretty extreme in Cairo and Alexandria, and I imagine elsewhere. It must be a heady feeling to suddenly find you have a voice when you never had one before. Luxor, in contrast, is fairly quiet. We are a bit away from things in town, but I have not heard the expected car horns, or music, or anything. We continue to remain in a strange bubble, seemingly outside of and largely unaffected by what has been happening in the north. While the people here have had their problems with the GOE, they largely blame the local government, and not Mubarak. The celebrations are muted here.

But the Chicago House team is all well, and now hopeful that things will get back to normal everywhere in the country. I have spoken to the local Supreme Council of Antiquities / Ministry of State for Antiquities Affairs director, and he is saying that nothing changes for the foreign missions, and we can keep our normal schedules. We will continue to play things by ear, keep the work going, and be here for our Egyptian friends, but we will also continue to be vigilant.

I will keep you posted during the next few days. Keep those prayers coming for Egypt.

Best from Luxor,

W. Raymond Johnson,
Director, Epigraphic Survey
Oriental Institute, University of Chicago
Chicago House, Luxor, Egypt

Luxor Update February 8, 2011

For those friends and colleagues who are concerned about the well-being of Chicago House and its staff during the events of this last two weeks in Egypt, I am happy to report that we are safe, Luxor is secure, and we have been keeping a normal work schedule on all of our project sites: Luxor Temple, Khonsu Temple Karnak, Medinet Habu, and the tomb of Nefersekheru TT 107. After some relatively minor (compared to Cairo and elsewhere) demonstrations and vandalism of government buildings during the afternoon and evening of Friday, January 28th, order was restored in Luxor the next day, and it has been peaceful here ever since. There was no damage to or looting of any archaeological site in Luxor. We have been in constant touch with the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities / Ministry of State for Antiquities Affairs in Luxor, who informed us that archaeological missions could resume work on Sunday, January 30th. Police presence on the antiquities sites is strong, with some Egyptian military as well, and small groups of foreign and Egyptian tourists continue to visit the sites; a scattering of tourists is still being bused in from the Red Sea.

Two members of the Chicago House team have returned home (one who had no passport was assisted by the US Embassy which had a team in Luxor for a few days). While the rest of us are prepared to leave at a moment's notice, we will remain in Luxor for now and as long as we can to keep our documentation, conservation, and restoration work going with the SCA, and the library open for our Egyptian and foreign colleagues who have stayed to continue their work. Be assured that we will continue to monitor the situation in the country closely, but for now will continue to assist the scientific community in Luxor in any way we can.

Best from Luxor,

W. Raymond Johnson,
Director, Epigraphic Survey
Oriental Institute, University of Chicago
Chicago House, Luxor, Egypt

Luxor Update February 2, 2011

Dear friends,

Finally Egypt has Internet access again! Gil, Steve, and I have been in touch this last week by phone, and I know that Gil has sent out reports about our status. After the rioting on Friday and Saturday, I am happy to report that Luxor has been secure since the weekend, and Chicago House has been back at work on all sites since Sunday. While the situation is still of some concern in Cairo, all is well here, and those of us in town - the Egyptian SCA and a number of archaeological expeditions, including ARCE, the Germans at the Amenhotep III mortuary temple, the French at Karnak, etc - are all checking up on each other.

The US Embassy had some staff here for a few days facilitating the evacuation of people who needed to leave, but they are departing tonight, satisfied that everything is in good order here. There are even foreign tourists still around - there were ten tour buses in the Medinet Habu parking lot when we left at 1PM today! Weird.

We continue to monitor the situation, and are being cautious. At no time have we ever felt threatened. For now we will remain here and continue our work with our Egyptian and foreign colleagues, but we are prepared to leave if the situation requires it. I will keep you posted.

Best from Luxor,

W. Raymond Johnson,
Director, Epigraphic Survey
Oriental Institute, University of Chicago
Chicago House, Luxor, Egypt

We are very pleased to announce that all Medinet Habu volumes as well as the latest, OIP 136, Medinet Habu Volume IX, the Eighteenth Dynasty Temple Part 1, the Inner Sanctuaries (Chicago 2009), are now available for free PDF download from the Oriental Institute Publications Web site:

http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/pubs/catalog/egypt.html

Thanks to friends Lewis and Misty Gruber, who funded the digital scanning, and Tom Urban and Leslie Schramer of the OI Publications Office, all publications under the category "Egypt," including everything the Epigraphic Survey and Oriental Institute have ever published, are now available for download in the new digital format, completely free of charge.

2009-2010 Field Season

 
LUXOR TEMPLE

The Luxor Temple blockyard conservation program coordinated by Hiroko Kariya assisted by Tina Di Cerbo and Nan Ray continued with final preparations for the Luxor Temple blockyard open-air museum. This three-year project, supported by the World Monuments Fund (a Robert W. Wilson Challenge to Conserve Our Heritage grant) was completed and opened to the public on March 29, 2010 in a ribbon-cutting ceremony presided over by SCA Luxor director Mansour Boraik and about 100 friends and colleagues. More than sixty-two fragment groups have now been reassembled chronologically for public display with educational signage in English and Arabic. Sandstone pavement, protective fencing, and lighting for nighttime viewing are now in place to the east of the Luxor Temple sanctuary along platforms that support reassembled fragment groups from the Middle Kingdom through the Ptolemaic, Roman, Christian, and Islamic periods. Other platforms display material recovered during the USAID-supported dewatering trenching to the east of Luxor Temple by the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) and American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE), a conservation section, and a rotating exhibit section that now features "Egyptian Creatures" in art and inscriptions. An online catalogue of the museum displays is being prepared that will eventually be accessible from this Web site.

The culmination of the blockyard open-air museum is to be found inside the northeastern corner of Amenhotep III's solar court. Restoration of 111 wall fragments of Amenhotep III to the original east interior wall of the court was completed at the end of January by mason Frank Helmholz and the Chicago House workmen, assisted by Hiroko. The lime-plaster surface applied over the brick fill between the stone fragments was finished in early March by Hiroko and SCA conservators Salah Salim and Anwar Fouad Mahdi Jaama. The inner inscribed wall fragments and outer wall slabs were all built against an inner, specially constructed solid-brick core. Missing details were added in paint on the plaster by Ray Johnson in March and April. The 111 fragments complete a bark of the god Amun followed by a figure of Amenhotep III and the royal ka, complete to the top of the king's khepresh crown. The whole bark scene preserves many painted details, and was carved originally by Amenhotep III, destroyed by Akhenaten, restored by Tutankhamun, appropriated by Horemheb, and enlarged by Sety I, thereby reflecting the entire end of the 18th Dynasty and beginning of the 19th! The wall was quarried in the Middle Ages and broken up for reuse, excavated by the Egyptian government around 1958, stacked around the temple in the early 1960s, and was surveyed, documented, analyzed, and moved to a special holding area east of the temple by the Epigraphic Survey in the 1980s. It has now been restored to the original wall by the Survey, completing the cycle.

In collaboration with the SCA and American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE) at Luxor Temple, cleaning of the 3rd Century AD Roman fortification wall in front of the temple where it abuts the eastern pylon of Ramesses II was begun in preparation for consolidation and restoration next season, supervised by Pamela Rose. Educational signage for the temple proper was also begun, beginning with an orientation panel for the entire temple designed by Chicago House architect Jay Heidel.


 
KHONSU TEMPLE

This year marked the second season of the Epigraphic Survey epigraphic team at Khonsu Temple, supervised by senior epigrapher Brett McClain in collaboration with the SCA and ARCE on the epigraphic recording of reused, inscribed stone-block material in the flooring and foundations of Ramesses III's Khonsu Temple. This documentation is necessary before floor restoration work makes the material inaccessible. 226 reused, inscribed blocks were recorded this season, and 161 drawings were cleared by the director. The documentation and analysis of the material, most of which appears to be part of an earlier, dismantled Khonsu Temple, will be completed during the 2010-2011 season.

 
MEDINET HABU

Epigraphic documentation supervised by senior artists Susan Osgood and Margaret De Jong continued in the small Amun temple of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III at Medinet Habu in the bark sanctuary ambulatory (Volumes X and XI) and bark sanctuary (Volume XII). Photography of the four Akoris columns was completed by photographer Yarko Kobylecky.

The conservation team supervised by Lotfi Hassan worked in the new Medinet Habu blockyard built against the inside southern Ramesses III enclosure wall. The inventorying, documentation, and moving of the miscellaneous fragmentary architectural and sculptural fragments from the old blockyard continued, coordinated by Julia Schmied and Christian Greco, and over 2,000 blocks have now been transferred to the new blockyard. The transfer will be finished next season, as well as an open-air museum component in front of the new blockyard that has been constructed for appropriate joined fragment and display groups.

 
THE TOMB OF NEFERSEKHERU TT 107

A condition study and preliminary photographic documentation of the tomb of Amenhotep III's Steward of Malkata Palace, the nobleman Nefersekheru, was begun in preparation for the stabilization and drawing of the portico area starting next season.


CHICAGO HOUSE STAFF

The current Epigraphic Survey professional staff are: W. Raymond Johnson, director; J. Brett McClain, senior epigrapher; Jen Kimpton, Christina Di Cerbo, and Christian Greco, epigraphers; Richard Jasnow, epigraphic consultant; Boyo Ockinga and Susanne Binder, archaeologist / epigrapher consultants; Margaret De Jong and Susan Osgood, senior artists; Krisztián Vértes, and Keli Alberts, artists; Julia Schmied, blockyard and archives assistant; Jay Heidel, architect; Yarko Kobylecky, staff photographer; Susan Lezon, photo archivist and photographer; Elinor Smith, photo archives registrar and photography assistant; Carlotta Maher, assistant to the director; Essam el Sayed, senior accountant; Samir Guindy, administrator; Marie Bryan, librarian; Anait Helmholz, librarian assistant; Frank Helmholz, master mason; Lotfi K. Hassan, conservation supervisor; Nahed Samir Andraus and Mohamed Abou El Makarem, conservators at Medinet Habu; Hiroko Kariya, conservation supervisor at Luxor Temple; Alain and Emmanuelle Arnaudiès, Chicago House Digital Archives database consultants; Louis Elia Louis Hanna, database architect; Conor Power, structural engineer; Helen Jacquet-Gordon and Jean Jacquet, consultants from afar; and Girgis Samwell, contractor.

THE 'CHICAGO HOUSE METHOD'

Founder James Henry Breasted committed the Epigraphic Survey to the preservation of Egypt's cultural heritage by non-destructive means: through documentation so precise it could stand alone as a replacement in the absence of the original monument. Large-format photography (8x10, 5x7, and 4x5 inch negatives) is an essential tool in this process, and one of the first goals of Chicago House was to create a photographic archive of as many of Egypt's accessible standing monuments as possible, photographed inside and out.

But Breasted understood that photographs alone cannot always capture all the details of the often damaged or modified wall scenes of individual monuments; the light source that illuminates also casts shadows which obscure details. To supplement and clarify the photographic record, precise line drawings are produced at Chicago House that combine the talents of the photographer, artist, and Egyptologist. First the wall surface is carefully photographed with a large-format camera whose lens is positioned exactly parallel to the wall to eliminate distortion. From these negatives photographic enlargements up to 20x24 inches are produced, printed on a special matt-surface paper with an emulsion coating that can take pencil and ink lines.

An artist takes this enlarged photographic print mounted on a drawing board to the wall itself, and pencils directly onto the photograph all of the carved detail that is visible on the wall surface, adding those details that are not visible or clear on the photograph. Back at the house the penciled lines are carefully inked with a series of weighted line conventions to show the three dimensions of the relief, and damage that interrupts the carved line is rendered with thin, broken lines that imitate the nature of the break.

When the inking is complete, the entire photograph is immersed in an iodine bath that dissolves away the photographic image, leaving just the ink drawing. The drawing is then blueprinted, the blueprint is cut into sections and each section is mounted on a sheet of stiff white paper. These "collation sheets" are taken back to the wall where the inked details on the blueprint are thoroughly examined by two Egyptologist epigraphers, one after the other. These epigraphers pencil corrections and refinements on the blueprint itself with explanations and instructions to the artist written in the margins. The collation sheets are then returned to the artist, who in turn takes them back to the wall and carefully checks the epigraphers' corrections, one by one. When everyone is in agreement, the corrections are added to the inked drawing back in the studio, the transferred corrections are checked for accuracy by the epigraphers, and the drawing receives a final review by the field director back at the original wall. In the case of digital drawings, collation is done utilizing printouts of the drawings. Digital drawing of graffiti throughout the Medinet Habu complex is currently being conducted by Tina Di Cerbo and Richard Jasnow.

Consultations between artist, epigraphers, and field director, the consensus of all talents combined, ensures a finished "facsimile" drawing that is faithful to what is preserved on the wall in every detail; this is the essence of what is generally referred to as the "Chicago House Method." The corrected ink drawings, photographs, text translations, commentary, glossaries, and duplicate negatives are then taken back to Chicago for processing and publication in large folio volumes for distribution worldwide. These publications are available in hard copy and now also in electronic format.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

The publications of the Epigraphic Survey are universally recognized as setting the standard for epigraphic recording. With the present volume, OIP 136, "Medinet Habu IX. The Eighteenth Dynasty Temple, Part I: The Inner Sanctuaries" (Chicago, 2009), the Epigraphic Survey returns to its series of publications dedicated to the reliefs and inscriptions of the Medinet Habu complex, a series inaugurated in 1930 with the publication of the war scenes and earlier historical records from the mortuary temple of Ramesses III (Medinet Habu I. Earlier Historical Records of Ramses III, The Epigraphic Survey, Oriental Institute Publications 8, 1930). The Ramesside temple and the High Gate were to occupy the efforts of the Survey for the next four decades, ending in 1970 with the appearance of Medinet Habu VIII. In resuming the Medinet Habu series, the Survey initiates what is envisioned to be a sequence of six volumes documenting the Eighteenth Dynasty temple of Amun and subsequent additions thereto, beginning with this publication of the reliefs in the six innermost rooms of the temple. These chambers were begun during the coregency of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III and completed by the latter king during his sole reign.

Other recent publications include OIP 123, "The Temple of Khonsu, Volume 3. The Graffiti on the Khonsu Temple Roof at Karnak: A Manifestation of Personal Piety" (Chicago, 2003), by Helen Jacquet-Gordon. Graffiti incised on the roof blocks of the temple of Khonsu at Karnak, written in the hieroglyphic, hieratic, and Demotic scripts and accompanied by the outlines of pairs of feet, caught the eye of Champollion and other early voyagers who succeeded in clambering up onto that part of the roof still remaining over the colonnade of the first court. Such graffiti have usually been interpreted as mementos left by ancient visitors passing through Thebes. A complete survey of all the graffiti on the roof and a detailed study of the inscriptions, carried out over a considerable period of time, has revealed the unexpected fact that far from being casual tourists, it was mostly the priestly personnel of the temple itself whose graffiti have been preserved there. The inscriptions record the name and titles of the person whose footprints are depicted, as well as the name of his father and sometimes that of his grandfather, but only in three cases does the name of his mother appear. Prayers addressed mainly to Khonsu himself demonstrate the firm belief of these priestly servitors in the lasting protection afforded them by the god in whose sacred precinct their graffiti have been carved.

One of the most original groups of graffiti is that connected with the family of one Djedioh, whose inscriptions dating to the time of the Twenty-second Dynasty reveal the existence of a hitherto unknown king of that era named Iny. Other objects depicted among the graffiti are "portrait" heads, sacred barks, animals, birds, and architectural elements, almost all having some connection with the temple itself or with the cult of the god Khonsu. Several small crosses give witness to the reuse of the temple in Christian times as a church.

The 334 graffiti recorded in the volume are richly illustrated by photographs and facsimile drawings. Transliterations, translations, line notes, and commentaries are provided. The text concludes with general, name, epithet, and title indices.

"Reliefs and Inscriptions at Luxor Temple, Volume 2: The Facade, Portals, Upper Register Scenes, Columns, Marginalia, and Statuary in the Colonnade Hall" (Oriental Institute Publications 116; Chicago, 1998) contains 99 plates of drawings and photographs as well as a booklet of text translations and commentary. The diversity of material in this volume makes it one of the most exciting publications in the history of the Survey. This volume (RILT 2) completes the documentation and publication of all the standing wall remains in the great Colonnade Hall of Luxor Temple, one of the largest, most beautiful, and most threatened monuments in Luxor. Its companion volume, "Reliefs and Inscriptions at Luxor Temple, Volume 1: The Festival Procession of Opet in the Colonnade Hall" (Oriental Institute Publications 112; Chicago: 1994), contains 128 plates and a text booklet. This volume, the Epigraphic Survey's largest ever, documents in detailed drawings and photographs the first register of decoration in the hall, built by Amenhotep III but largely decorated during the reign of Tutankhamun and his successors. It is one of the very few monuments of Tutankhamun to survive to the present day.

The first register reliefs, executed in the lively style of the late Amarna period, commemorate one of the most important annual festivals in the Egyptian religious calendar, the great Festival of Opet, the occasion when the god Amun-Re traveled from his "palace" at Karnak to his birthplace at Luxor Temple to experience rebirth and rejuvenation. The Opet reliefs document in particular detail the lavish water procession associated with this festival, when Amun-Re, his wife, the mother-goddess Mut, and their son the moon-god Khonsu traveled from Karnak to Luxor Temple and, at the conclusion of the festival, back to Karnak in great, gilded divine barges towed by the elaborate royal barges of the king and queen. The royal barges in turn were towed by numerous smaller boats manned by dozens of oarsmen, while the entire water procession was escorted by a cheering populace on the riverbanks. It is hard to see on the wall now unless the light is just right, but you can see it all in our publication!

CURRENT EPIGRAPHIC PROJECTS: MEDINET HABU AND LUXOR TEMPLE

When the Epigraphic Survey received the concession for Medinet Habu in 1924, our primary interest was the mortuary temple of Ramesses III which the Survey finished documenting in the 1950s. But the Medinet Habu precinct is filled with additional satellite shrines, decorated wells, gates, and other monuments from many periods for which we have the responsibility to document, conserve, and publish. The staff of Chicago House photographers, artists, and Egyptologist epigraphers is currently recording the small temple of Amun at Medinet Habu of pharaohs Hatshepsut and Thutmose III called Djeser Set, or "Holy of Place," where a pre-creation form of the god Amun was believed to reside, and which Ramesses III enclosed within his funerary complex to lend his own temple greater sanctity. Excavations by the University of Chicago in the early 1930s indicated that the 18th Dynasty temple replaced an earlier temple from perhaps as early as the Middle Kingdom, and its growing theological importance is attested by its expansion in the Kushite, Ptolemaic, and Roman periods, when ever grander and more elaborate entryways were added to the complex.


CONSERVATION PROGRAMS

Under Lanny Bell's directorship more than twenty years ago the Epigraphic Survey added conservation to its program and a conservator to the staff. Now, because of rapidly changing conditions in Egypt that are causing the monuments to decay at an ever faster rate, we have expanded our conservation programs even further. From 1996 to 2006 the Epigraphic Survey received a grant from the Egyptian Antiquities Project (EAP) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), administered through the American Research Center (ARCE) and generously approved by the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), for documentation and conservation of the Thutmoside temple at Medinet Habu and its later additions. Thanks to this grant Chicago House was able to seal the rooftop of the small Amun temple against rainwater (a more frequent occurrence recently) and clean the salt, dirt, and soot-stained painted reliefs below. As this cleaning was finished, newly exposed painted details were added to the drawings that have recently appeared in Medinet Habu IX. (OIP 136) A current grant from USAID now supports the documentation and conservation in the small Amun temple plus the new blockyard storage area.

Our program at the Medinet Habu small Aumn temple also includes the restoration of the sandstone flooring in the two central chapels, which were largely missing. This necessitated the careful cleaning of the floor debris, made up of the backfill from the excavations of our predecessors in the 1930s. Among the more interesting finds in the floor debris were six large and two-hundred medium to small fragments of a colossal granodiorite seated dyad of Thutmose III and the god Amun. The two largest fragments were published by Uvo Holscher in "The Excavation of Medinet Habu 2, The Temples of the Eighteenth Dynasty" in 1939 (Oriental Institute Publication 9). During the 2000-2001 season conservator Lotfi Hassan and stone cutter Dany Roy joined the largest base fragments and secured them with stainless steel dowels 2 centimeters in diameter and almost a meter in length, which were epoxied into place. The joined statue base was raised and moved into the exact center of the central sanctuary, where the dyad had originally been set up, over a damp-coursed, reinforced concrete foundation. On March 24, 2001, the top section of the statue was winched into position and epoxied, completing the joining of the six largest pieces of the group. The reassembled dyad, broken at the top, stands almost 3 meters in height, even without the heads. Analysis of the smaller fragments, including sections of the king's legs and kilt, will be completed in future seasons, after which they will be joined to the core statue. It is a rare opportunity to restore a piece of Egyptian sculpture to its original architectural setting. Because this particular dyad was an integral part of the architecture of the central sanctuary, it is a dramatic addition to the room.

Although the Epigraphic Survey has in the past dealt exclusively with standing wall remains, an exciting opportunity presented itself at Luxor Temple to incorporate fragmentary material in our publication program. The upper walls of the Colonnade Hall and other parts of Luxor Temple are mostly missing, quarried away in the medieval period when stone was needed for house, church, or mosque construction. Excavations in the 1950s and 1960s, which exposed the southern end of the sphinx road linking Luxor and Karnak temples, also exposed hundreds of buried stone foundations made up of reused block fragments that had been torn off the upper walls of the temple. When the excavations were finished, the fragments were piled in dozens of rows around the temple for future analysis. From this pool of material, the Epigraphic Survey has identified over 1,500 sandstone fragments from the Colonnade Hall alone, and is including them in the publication of the hall.

Each block fragment is drawn by the Chicago House team the same way a wall section would be drawn using photographic enlargements, and when the drawings are collated and finished, each fragment drawing is photographed (or scanned) so that scale prints of the drawings can be reassembled for the publication. Many of the fragments join like huge, stone jigsaw puzzles to form long strips or sections from numerous identifiable scenes, and augment considerably our understanding of the decorative scheme of the missing upper registers. Volume 1 in our Colonnade Hall series features joined fragment groups from the first register of the hall, the Opet reliefs. Volume 2 features joined fragments from the Colonnade Hall facade which preserve important information about its original decorative program, while Volume 3 in the series will be devoted primarily to the upper register fragment groups, one of which is over 75 feet long, and an architectural study of the hall.

In 1995 the Epigraphic Survey received another five-year grant from the Egyptian Antiquities Project (EAP), USAID, ARCE, and the SCA for conservation and consolidation of the deteriorating decorated sandstone fragments in our Luxor Temple blockyard. Conservators John Stewart assisted by Hiroko Kariya supervised this project at its inception; John had actually worked on the material a decade before under former Chicago House Director Lanny Bell. Hiroko Kariya now supervises the project. In 1998 we erected an onsite conservation lab, which now allows greater control of the fragment treatment. We received permission from the SCA to expand our fragment documentation and conservation efforts at Luxor Temple. We began by constructing new damp-coursed brick platforms east of the temple for the proper storage and treatment of the thousands of fragments that are still lying on the ground, to protect them against the rising damp. During the 1999-2000 season we constructed twenty more damp-coursed "mastaba" platforms and started to categorize, number, catalog, photograph, and move the blocks, starting in the south area, to their new home. During the 2001-2002 season, and thanks to a Robert Wilson matching grant and the World Monuments Fund, 310 meters of new storage and treatment brick mastaba/platforms were constructed for the decorated sandstone wall fragments presently stacked on the wet ground, and 5,000 wall fragments were raised from the ground and placed on the new mastabas by category. Our eventual aim is to raise all the fragmentary material around Luxor Temple up off the ground onto protected storage platforms, by category, for documentation, treatment, and eventual reconstruction, and we are almost there. The most recent, WMF-supported milestone is the Luxor Temple blockyard open-air museum, three years in preparation and opened to the public on March 29, 2010 (see above).

Our second volume in the Luxor Temple series also includes a publication of the colossal statuary found in the Colonnade Hall, two great seated dyads in indurated limestone of Amun-Re and Mut, quarried by Tutankhamun but finished and erected by his successor Ay at the end of the 18th Dynasty, and a seated sculpture of a king from the same period. All these sculptures were usurped by Ramesses II who erased the original names and replaced them with his own, greatly hindering our identification of the original king. Both dyads are missing the heads of the Mut-goddess figures, but we have had the good fortune recently to actually find the missing heads in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo, basement storage area where they had been waiting for over a century. Through the kindness of the Egyptian Museum and the Supreme Council for Antiquities the face of the large-dyad Mut goddess was transferred to Luxor where the Epigraphic Survey restored it to its body in January of 1997 (the restoration was supervised by conservator Ellen Pearlstein of the Brooklyn Museum, assisted by Hiroko and stone cutter Dany Roy).

CHICAGO HOUSE

Chicago House, the Oriental Institute headquarters in Egypt, functions as a major center of Egyptological studies and is open from October 15 through April 15 every winter season. The research library, among the finest in Egypt, has more than 20,000 volumes. The Chicago House photographic archive is a major research collection containing over 20,000 negatives and 21,000 prints ranging in date from the late-nineteenth century to the present. A project to conserve, register, and provide proper archival storage for the collection was funded by the Getty Grant Program and a catalog of the archival holdings, "The Registry of the Photographic Archives of the Epigraphic Survey," was published in 1995. In 1999 the Chicago House Imaging Center was formed to coordinate the scanning of the entire archive onto CD-ROM for inclusion in our Photo Archives database, and to coordinate experimentation with digital photography as an exciting new adjunct to our photographic documentation process.

The Epigraphic Survey is the flagship field project of the Oriental Institute and demonstrates a commitment to long-term projects of the highest quality that benefit the entire field of ancient Near Eastern scholarship.

Partly funded by the University of Chicago, the Epigraphic Survey relies heavily on tax-deductible private and corporate support for its continued efforts to preserve the cultural heritage of ancient Egypt.

For further information on contributions to the work of the Survey, contact the Development Office at (773) 702-9513 or oi-membership@uchicago.edu

For online donations, go to https://oi.uchicago.edu/getinvolved/donate/
Click 'Pledge online,' and check the "Epigraphic Survey/Chicago House" box. Thank you!

Visitors to Chicago House are always welcome, but please contact us in advance for the most convenient times for a visit. Feel free to contact the director, Dr. Ray Johnson, directly at: wr-johnson@uchicago.edu. Or call him (in Egypt) at: 012-322-5019. Our field season is from October 15 to April 15. Weekday hours: Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 12:00 noon, then 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm; Saturdays 8:00 to 12:00 noon; closed Saturday afternoons and Sundays. Direct dial from the U.S.: 011-20-95-237-2525; fax 011-20-95-238-1620. Or e-mail us at chicagohouse@menanet.net

From April 15 to October 15 the Survey is based at the University of Chicago in the USA; during that time please send inquiries to Dr. Ray Johnson at The Oriental Institute, 1155 East 58th Street, Chicago, Illinois 60637. Telephone: (773) 834-4355; fax: (773) 702-9853; e-mail: wr-johnson@uchicago.edu

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