Hatshepsut Project followers- how can the EES help you?

Whilst posts have been light on here for a while, those of you who are following/ contributing to our Facebook Group, "Hatshepsut Project" will notice that i remain active online. Once i am back to full posting- i will create some form of summary of progress on Facebook. The Facebook Group is an extension to this blog and not intended to be a separate entity.

Christopher Naunton, Director at The Egypt Exploration Society is one of our group members on Facebook, providing help with a number of our discussions regarding the EES and Deir el Bahri - a relationship which began in the 1800s and remains intact today.


I was very excited for our group to receive the following post from Christopher:

"We at the EES have a very strong connection with Deir El-Bahri as you all know. There is a plaque at the temple commemorating the excavations (http://goo.gl/HYJtn), we have all the photographs taken at the time + correspondence and other archival material, and an awful lot of literature etc. in the library - if you haven't read it I especially recommend Vivian Davies' chapter on 'Thebes' in James, T G H (Ed.), Excavating in Egypt (http://goo.gl/5Mbzs) for Petrie's unsuccessful attempts to stop the EEF allowing Naville to work at the site. What would members of this group like to see the EES do for you? 

• A day of lectures about Hatshepsut and the site? 
• A visit to the EES archives and library? 
• More resources online? 

I can't promise anything but it would be very good to know what would be helpful and interesting to you all!"

Firstly, thank you to Christopher and the EES for the above post. My own response so far is that i would first like to get the views of you- the followers and contributors to the Hatshepsut Project. I will collate all responses and will contact Christopher in a week  with the collective responses of the followers here, on Facebook and Twitter (which is linked to the posts on here). 

Regards,
Stuart

Qheen Ahmose- facsimile by Howard Carter

Qheen Ahmose; facsimile by Howard Carter
Originally uploaded by The Egypt Exploration Society

Howard Carter is known to some simply as the man who discovered the nearly intact tomb of Tutankhamun. Carter had a much larger impact in Egypt than just the Valley of Kings.

Deir el Bahri is one location where Carter's work is of note. His artistic skills came into play and he set about drawing a number of wonderful watercolour paintings. One of which is of Hatshepsut's mother, Queen Ahmose, seen in this copy.

I will locate more of these. I am sure that i saw a Hatshepsut watercolour when visiting Highclere Castle, so i will look into that.

I don't know exactly where this depiction comes from within Deir el Bahri, but i will find out. I suspect it is from the Hatshepsut shrine area (?) at the top of Hatshepsut's mortuary temple.

Thanks to the Egypt Exploration Society for sharing this image on Flickr.

Update: MMA site shows 2 Howard Carter watercolours:

Stuart

Deir el Bahri, Upper Platform, Central Court from within Pylon and Coptic Tower

Deir el Bahri, Upper Platform, Central Court from within Pylon and Coptic Tower
Originally uploaded by The Egypt Exploration Society

If you were ever wondering what Deir el Bahri looked like before most of the restoration work was carried out - here is a glimpse.

Hardly recognisable with the beautifully restored temple we see today, the restoration work was no less than a huge jigsaw, with many parts missing.

The clearance work carried out to get to the stage we see in the photo would have taken months of clearing sand and fallen rock (from the cliff side behind the temple)

The photo is undated, but was taken by the Egypt Exploration Fund (now called Egypt Exploration Society), who were carrying out the excavation and restoration of the temple.

The doorway we see in this photo reminds me a bit of Stonehenge, here in England. I will post another picture of the same doorway later to show what wee see today.

Regards,

Stuart