Deir el-Ballas 2019-2020, Week 1: 12/1-12/6

We started back at the site this week. First, we checked the ‘South Palace’ with Tony Crosby to go over last year’s restoration and plan for future work and then we moved to the houses to the West of the North Palace. These were threatened by the expansion of the modern cemetery which had destroyed a number entirely as well as by looting. We began by cleaning House D, which we had covered at the end of the season last year to protect, in preparation of reconstructing the walls with modern unbaked mud brick made to match the original. Nick Brown began to clear House E, where we had found part of a textile workshop in the 1980’s. Although planned by Reisner in the 1900-1901 season, it was clear that much of the original deposit was intact and we hope to recover more from that.