Archaeological investigations in the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari in the 2020/2021 season

Abstract

The paper presents the results of archaeological exploration in parts of the Hatshepsut Temple, carried out by the Polish–Egyptian team in the 2020/2021 season. Excavations focused on the Southern Room of Amun on the Third Terrace of the Temple, the platform of the Hathor Shrine on the Middle Terrace level, and the so-called Hathor Path located between the southern retaining wall of the Middle Terrace and the northern stone wall of the main enclosure of Mentuhotep II’s mortuary complex. Of particular interest are the finds from an early Middle Kingdom rock-cut tomb in the western part of the Hathor Path, where remains of the original burial assemblage, a large deposit of votive offerings to the goddess Hathor and fragments of a yellow coffin were discovered.

Keywords

• Theban Necropolis
• Deir el-Bahari
• the Temple of Hatshepsut
• Middle Kingdom
• New Kingdom
• the goddess Hathor