Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut

From ArchaeoWiki

The Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut (Ḏsr-ḏsr.w, Djeser-djeseru) refers to the House of Millions of Years of the Eighteenth Dynasty female ruler at Deir el-Bahari on the West Bank of Thebes in Upper Egypt.

The temple is well-known for reliefs depicting an Egyptian expedition to the land of Punt during the reign of Hatshepsut.

Excavation

Initial excavation of the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut began under the direction of Édouard Naville in 1893, on behalf of the London-based Egypt Exploration Fund, and continued into 1896. At this important site, Naville was ably assisted by D.G. Hogarth, Somers Clarke and the young Howard Carter (the latter responsible for recording the reliefs and inscriptions).

cf. Howard Carter's reminiscence of his work during the EEF Excavations in Hatshepsut's Mortuary Temple

Conservation and Access

The mortuary temple of Hatshepsut continues to be the subject of a major restoration project undertaken by the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, based at the University of Warsaw.

Bibliography

• Arnold, Dieter [2005], "Djeser-Djeseru - The Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari", in Roehrig, C.H., Dreyfus, R. and Keller, C.A. (eds) [2005], Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh, New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art / New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2005, pp.135-140. ISBN 0300111398

• Dodson, Aidan [1988], "Two Royal Reliefs from the Temple of Deir el-Bahari", JEA 74 (1988), pp.212-214.

• Roth, Ann Macy [2005], "Hatshepsut's Mortuary Temple at Deir el-Bahari - Architecture as Political Statement", in Roehrig, C.H., Dreyfus, R. and Keller, C.A. (eds) [2005], Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh, New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art / New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2005, pp.147-151. ISBN 0300111398