excavations than the well-sorted-over dust of former explorers; and if he is fortunate enough to make a ‘find’, it is often only after clearing away a vast amount of rock débris and rubbish to the bed-rock below. With a view to making systematic excavations in this famous necropolis, I began tentative digging among the Kurneh hills and desert margin in the spring of 1907. My workmen were all from the neighbouring villages and their number has varied from seventy-five to two hundred and seventy-five men and boys. I had three head reises--Mansûr Mohammed el Hashâsh, Mohammed Abd el Ghaffer, and Ali Hussên--who all worked well and satisfactorily. The labourers themselves were a willing and hard-working lot: but though they were no more dishonest than other Egyptian fellahin, inducements for them to steal were many, and we found it essential to proceed in our work with great care. I made it a rule that when a tomb was found, as few workmen as possible should be employed; and, in order that the opportunity for stealing should be reduced to a minimum, no clearing of a chamber or pit was carried on unless Mr. Carter or I was present. That nothing should escape us, we also, in certain cases, had to sift over the rubbish from the tombs three times. [Illustration: FIG. 1. EXCAVATIONS IN THE BIRÂBI.] My preliminary excavations eventually resulted in my confining attention to three sites in that part of the necropolis which lies between the dromos leading to Dêr el Bahari and the great gorge giving entrance to the valley of the Tombs of the Kings. These three sites were: (1) a spot a few metres to the north of the village mosque, where, according to the natives, lay a hidden tomb; (2) the Birâbi,[1] which is near the desert edge, between the hills of Drah abu ‘l Nagga and the cultivated land, and adjoins the entrance to the dromos of Hatshepsût’s famous terrace temple; and (3) that part of the XIth Dynasty cemetery which lies along the hill slope, on the northern side of the Dêr el Bahari valley. Excavation on the first site was begun in 1908, and, after a fortnight’s arduous work among the native houses and rubbish heaps of the village, an important inscribed tomb of the beginning of the XVIIIth Dynasty was opened. This tomb proved to be of a ‘King’s Son’ named Teta-Ky, and contained, among many painted scenes, a figure of Aahmes-nefert-ari, the queen of Aahmes I and mother of Amenhetep I. This is the earliest known portrait of the celebrated queen, who [Illustration: FIG. 2. FIRST APPEARANCE OF THE ‘VALLEY’-TEMPLE WALL.]