_Sites 15 and 16_ were on the open desert close to one another. 15 proved to be unfruitful. 16, though it at first appeared to be more promising by there being plenty of artificial chippings, had but little interest outside the fact that it led to a cutting of an already pilfered tomb. At the entrance of this cutting, in a small hollow in the _Tafle_ rock, on the west side, was a ‘pocket’ of barley, which was at first a puzzle, as it did not seem accidental. Afterwards, on thinking that it might be of the nature of a foundation deposit to the tomb, the opposite side was carefully searched, and a corresponding ‘pocket’ with barley was eventually found; thus proving the conjecture to be correct, and showing that the tombs here, like the royal ones in the Valley of the Kings,[16] had foundation deposits as was customary also in the temples. At the doorway of this tomb a pottery pan offering like a ‘Soul House’ was found (Pl. XVIII. 16). _Site 17._ Here a pair of rush sandals and a pottery female figure were the prizes of the last day’s work of the season of 1909 among the sepulchres of this region. In Pl. XVIII. 3 are shown examples of each type and shape of the XIth Dynasty pottery found in the above excavations. There were only two other examples of a later date (Coptic), and they were of the most common form; the numbers on the illustration refer to the sites they came from. Continuing the work in the year 1910, the large mounds immediately east of the footpath leading to the Biban el Mulûk were thoroughly investigated. These extend north and south on the hill slope below the great rock-cut tombs which are situated under the cliff at the top. This work was divided into two sites, Nos. 18 and 19 (Pl. XIII) and placed under two reises. It produced practically nothing, being only an immense covering of stone chippings upon the _gebel_ thrown out from the tombs above. Among this accumulation, which varied in depth from one to five metres, many horns of animals suggesting sacrifices, leather thongs from implements, broken timber, and _balanites_ kernels (Pl. LXXIX) were found; in fact the refuse from the workmen who had been employed upon the sepulchral caverns above. Thus, in the two seasons, this half of the north side of the valley between the eastern foot hills at its mouth and the mountain path may be said to have been thoroughly explored, leaving but small chances of undiscovered tombs. The men were then removed further westward, close to Hatshepsût’s Temple, where parallel trenches, twenty-five to forty metres broad, were dug. They began at the base of the slope and were carried up, in some cases, nearly to the foot of the vertical cliff; the excavations were continued until the rock surface had all been exposed. _Trench 20_, begun from the temple temenos, yielded the following results:--