THE NORTHERN PORTICO OF THE COURTYARD

Excavations in the area of the northern portico revealed an archaeological situation complicated by a large number of pits, made by robbers throughout the 19^th Century. The fact that the portico was used, at approximately the same time, as a stable for animals further complicated the archaeological situation in this part of the tomb.

The accurate and slow removal of the layers continued throughout the season and revealed three different horizontal registers of decoration carved on the rear wall of the portico. In the Easternmost part the decoration of the two lower registers was left unfinished and the images are only painted in red ink; in some cases, the profile of the heads of the personages was incised (Fig. 2).

The discovery of further portions of the rear wall of the Northern portico led to a new interpretation of the whole decorative program thereon. We are now able to assume safely that the three registers of reliefs can be attributed to Harwa and not to Akhimenru – the tomb entrance of the latter, cut into the unfinished northern part of the subterranean corridor surrounding the tomb of Harwa, is in line with the Western extremity of the portico. When it was decided to interrupt the work – probably motivated by the sudden death of Harwa – there were more teams of artists and workers working in different areas of the tomb. Some of them were still working in the carving of reliefs in the North-East corner of the Northern portico; others had just started to engrave a hieroglyphic text in columns beginning at the westernmost part of the rear wall that, once finished, would have filled all the space on the wall over the three registers. This is the reason why almost all the upper part of the wall is now devoid of decoration.

Following page

Top of the page