The dig diary about the excavations at the tomb of Djehuty in the Theban necropolis are online for the news season at the above address. Even if you don't speak Spanish the photographs are always well worth a visit.
Very rough translation:
In our ninth year we are reunited with Djehuty on the hillside amongst the tombs of the necropolis of ancient Thebes. Again, we travel with suitcases full of hopes, nerves, hopes and uncertainties. Friends often ask us, "and this year are going to discover?". It is an understandable question, but one that is difficult to answer because we never know beforehand what we will find. Before the campaign, at prepatory meetings, we discuss several possibilities and hypotheses, but then reality will correct you, introducing an element of surprise. We know where we will work and what in theory, by studying similar and contemporary cases, one would expect to find. But then, where you think you have the chance of finding something of importance you are disappointed, and where you expect the excavation to be unfruitful the site will surpirse you with a spectacular find.
Un año más, el noveno, nos reencontramos con Djehuty en la ladera de la colina que se yergue en medio de la necrópolis de la antigua Tebas. Una vez más las maletas viajan llenas de ilusiones, nervios, esperanzas e incertidumbres. Los amigos a menudo nos preguntan, “¿y este año que vais a descubrir?”, una pregunta comprensible, pero difícil de responder, pues nunca sabemos de antemano lo que vamos a encontrar. Antes de la campaña, en las reuniones de preparación del trabajo, se ponen sobre la mesa distintas posibilidades, hipótesis con más o menos fundamento, pero luego la realidad se encarga de corregirte, introduciendo el factor sorpresa y subrayando el aspecto imprevisible de la conducta humana. Sabemos dónde vamos a trabajar y lo que en teoría, estudiando casos similares y contemporáneos, cabría esperar encontrar, pero luego, donde crees que tienes posibilidades de hallar algo de importancia te llevas una decepción, y la excavación que crees que será infructuosa te sorprende con un hallazgo espectacular.
Very rough translation:
In our ninth year we are reunited with Djehuty on the hillside amongst the tombs of the necropolis of ancient Thebes. Again, we travel with suitcases full of hopes, nerves, hopes and uncertainties. Friends often ask us, "and this year are going to discover?". It is an understandable question, but one that is difficult to answer because we never know beforehand what we will find. Before the campaign, at prepatory meetings, we discuss several possibilities and hypotheses, but then reality will correct you, introducing an element of surprise. We know where we will work and what in theory, by studying similar and contemporary cases, one would expect to find. But then, where you think you have the chance of finding something of importance you are disappointed, and where you expect the excavation to be unfruitful the site will surpirse you with a spectacular find.
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