The eleventh season of work in the Theban tomb of Senneferi (TT99) took place from 16 to 22 September 2002. I wish to thank Dr Zahi Hawass and the Permanent Committee of the SCA for permission to work, and also thank Mr Mohamed el-Bialey and Mr Bakhit in Luxor for putting this permission into practice. The inspector attached to the Mission was Ahmed Ezz ed-Din, and we are particularly grateful to him for his help and assistance which made the season achieve its aims.
Members of the mission were: Dr Nigel Strudwick (Field Director) and Dr Tony Waldron (Physical anthropologist).
The purpose of the season was to complete the recording of the human remains begun in 1998.
During this season we concentrated on the human remains from shafts I and H in the courtyard. Those from shaft I came from five adults and a single juvenile. Of the adults, three were female and two male, of whom one may be presumed to be Senneferi, although unfortunately it is not possible to say which. One of the male skulls was found to have small bilateral meningiomas. These are benign tumours arising from the outer covering of the brain and would almost certainly have been too small to have caused any symptoms during life. Among other conditions found in this group were osteoarthritis and dental disease.
The remains from shaft H were considered to represent a substantially larger number of individuals, at least 19 adults, 2 juveniles (aged approximately 8-10 and 15-18 years), and a single neonatal or still-born child. Of the adults, at least 11 were considered to be male and 6 female. A variety of pathological conditions was noted including a single case of diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH); osteoarthritis of the spine, knee, hand and jaw; fractures of the humerus, ribs and fingers; and two cases of spondylolysis of the fifth lumbar vertebra. One interesting feature was the apparently high prevalence of osteoarthritis of the odontoid peg; this was present in 3 of the 14 extant second cervical vertebrae and 3 of the 16 first cervical. There is no obvious reason for this unusual frequency of osteoarthritis at this joint but possibilities will be examined in due course.
The boxes of bones have been stored in a shaft inside TT99.
The General Director of Upper Egypt and Luxor, Mohamed el-Bialey, drew my attention to the fact that work by the Inspectorate on objects stored in TT96A (upper tomb of Sennefer) included a number of granite fragments which might belong to the false door of Senneferi from TT99, parts of which had also been found in the course of clearance work in the courtyard of TT99. I was shown these fragments on 19 September, and permitted to remove to TT99 those which I believed to belong to the false door for storage and study.
A total of 31 granite fragments was removed. On closer examination, six of them proved not to be from the TT99 false door, but it has been possible to join together a number of the remaining 25 and to gain a good impression of the size and shape of the original. Photographs were made of all the fragments and it is hoped that, by adding in the fragments previously recorded, it will be possible to produce a paper or photographic reconstruction of much of the door, although the original is too broken for it to be possible to restore it physically.
The fragments have been stored in a shaft inside TT99.
Work on TT99 is now complete and I am grateful to everyone who has helped make it possible since work began in 1992.
Nigel Strudwick
22 September 2002