THE SOUTHERN PORTICO OF THE COURTYARD

The Southern Portico was the subject of research in 1999, and the area was excavated during the first part of this campaign. We concentrated our efforts around pillars A3 and A4, already revealed by past work. Our aim was to free their remains from the sand to allow them to be treated to prevent further decay. Both show deep cracks which might create problems when excavating the surrounding areas in future.

Excavation around them was followed immediately by an conservation work. This consisted of the removal – after the recording of their position – of the limestone fragments already completely detached from the pillars and the consolidation of the other remains. Pillar A3 was also secured by means of a harness to allow the continuation of excavations: final conservation work will only be possible once the pillars have been completely freed from the sand.

Excavation of the surrounding areas resulted in the discovery of new portions of the pillars’ decoration. On the East side of A3 the upper part of the scene beneath that which depicts a fisherman preparing fish for drying was exposed. The visible hieroglyphic signs make it certain that it represents another fishing scene. The West side of the pillar was revealed to be decorated with a fowling scene though only the leg of the hunter and the man crouched under the tree waiting to collect the slain birds are still preserved (Fig. 1).

The scene appears to be unfinished; the tree being painted in red ink only. The South side of Pillar A3 is decorated with figures of offering bearers. The decoration of Pillar A3 appears to be identical to the corresponding pillar in the tomb of Pabasa (TT 279), showing further that Pabasa copied large parts of the decoration of Harwa’s tomb.

During the excavations around the pillars we also recovered a number of decorated fragments which come mainly from the upper part of the rear wall of the southern portico.

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