'The Egyptian Campaign'

‘THE EGYPTIAN CAMPAIGN ’ An Exhibition in Turin Celebrates the Archaeological Adventures of Ernesto Schiaparelli 1903-1920 by Lucy Gordan-Rastelli

ntil September 10, 2017, the Egyptian Museum in Turin, Italy, is featuring a multi-media exhibition titled “Missione Egitto 1903-1920: L’avventura archeologica M.A.I. raccon - tata.” The title is a clever play on words. M.A.I. stands for U Missione archeologica italiana , the thirteen archaeological Kmt 64 View of the entrance to the Turin Egyptian Mu - seum galleries with the “Missione Egitto 1903- 1920” exhibition. Photo Museo Egizio 65 Kmt Kmt Graphic

Ernesto Schiaparelli 1856-1928

missions in Egypt directed between 1903 and ators Ghattas and Savina; as well as their cor - 1920 by Ernesto Schiaparelli, who also was re spondence and documentation, written, the first director of Turin’s Egyptian Museum; drawn and photographic, much of which is but in Italian the word mai also means never. still unpublished; and, of course, their many Thus the title translates both as “The Egypt - finds. ian Campaign 1903-1920, the Story of M.A.I.’s The exhibition’s curators are Paolo Archeological Adventure” and “The Egyptian Del Vesco and Beppe Moiso. Del Vasco is an Campaign 1903-1920: Italy’s Archeological archaeologist and presently is the vice-direc - Adventure Never Told Before Now.” For this tor of the excavations at Sakkara, a joint mis - is the first time that an exhibition has been de- sion of Turin’s Egyptian Museum and the Na- voted to the M.A.I.: its founding in 1902; its tional Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, the excavations from 1903-1920; its archaeolo - Netherlands. He is also a curator at Turin’s gists, Schiaparelli, Ballerini and Rosa; its an - Egyptian Museum, where he is responsible for thropol ogist Marro; and their loyal collabor- the displays in the galleries concerning the Kmt 66 Museo Egizio photos

Two views of the installation of the Museo Egizio’s “Missione Egitto 1903-1920” exhibition.

67 Kmt Left, The exhibition’s display of the view camera used by the Missione Egitto; & Below, A folding cot, such as would have been used by the Missione’s excavators, in a tableau about life in the field. Museo Egizio photos

Old Kingdom, the First Intermediate Period Ernesto studied literature and philol- their economic and political difficulties, he and the Middle Kingdom. ogy at the University of Turin, before going promised to help. “In 1886” — recounts an Beppe Moiso is one of the founders to Paris to study Egyptology with Gaston Mas- article written by Beppe Moiso and Christian of A.C.M.E. (Associazione Amici e Collabo - pero between 1877 and 1880. After reorgan - Greco, the present director of the Turin Egyp- ratori del Museo Egizio or the Association of izing and directing the Archeological Muse- tian Museum, published on www.laboratori - Friends and Collaborators of the Egyptian Mu - um of Florence from 1880-1892, in 1894 he orosso. com — “influential friends helped him seum) and is t he curator of nume ous Museum became director of the Regio Museo di Anti - found N.A.H.I.C.M., the National Association exhibitions; he’s also the author of several chità ed Egizio (The Royal Museum of An - for the Help of Italian Catholic Missionaries publications, including a history of the Mu - tiquities and Egyptian Museum) in Turin. [referred to later with the abbreviation A.N.S. seum published last year; since 2014 Moi so “Here,” an exhibition wall-panel tells us, M.I.]. Egypt was the first country to benefit has been in charge of the Museum’s archive. “he devoted himself to expanding the collec - from his interest, with the construction of the tion first with well-aimed purchases and la- Antonio Stoppani School for Girls in Luxor in An equally appropriate title of this exhibition ter, from 1903 to 1920, with fortunate exca- 1891, where he is remembered on a plaque — with some 400 items on loan from over vation campaigns in Egypt. In 1907, he also and a photograph in the mission. This was thirty Italian institutions, but also from the became superintend ent of the Antiquities of shortly followed by hospitals, schools, dis - British Museum and the Metropolitan Muse- Piemonte, Valle D’Aosta and Liguria. He was pensaries and orphanages in Tunisia, Turkey, um of Art — could have been: “Ern esto Schi - later appointed Senator of the Kingdom and Libya, Eritrea and in the Far East, even in aparelli, His Life and Career.” Schiap arelli was became a professor at the University of Tur- Peking.... His was a very intense and weary born in 1856, at Occhieppo Inferiore in the in.” Never having married, he died in Turin life, long periods employed on excavations Piemontese province of Biella, into a distin - without heirs. were alternated with travels to the Orient and guished family of scholars. His father, Luigi When Schiaparelli was still director the Holy Land where his presence was requir- Schiaparelli, was a history professor at the of the museum in Florence, he went to Egypt ed by numerous charitable institutions.” University of Turin. Astronomer Giovanni twice to purchase artifacts to enrich the col - “Another not so well-known aspect Virginio Schiaparelli, Arabist Celestino, pho - lection. During his first visit in 1885, he was about Schiaparelli,” Director Greco recount- tography pioneer Cesare, agronomist Carlo Fe - a guest of the Franciscan Mission in Luxor, ed at the Exhibition’s press conference, “was lice, pioneer of industrial chemistry Gio vanni which had been operating there since the mid his deep devotion to research. Only because Battista and fashion designer Elsa Schia parelli 1600s under barely survival conditions. He of his intense pre-excavation research, could were all his relatives. became a friend of the friars and, learning of his thirteen campaigns at eleven sites in Egypt Kmt 68 Right, The exhibition’s display of one of the coffin lids found in the Tomb of Khaemwaset (QV44) & blowup of photo showing jumble of coffins.

have been so carefully aimed at filling in the chronological holes of Turin’s Museum col - lection. He explored both the capitals of an - cient Egypt and a number of provincial towns. This exhibition aims to emphasize the impor - tance of research for a museum. A museum is not just a building full of artifacts; it’s about the people who made its collections, how they Maspero’s official built them and those who work there today. let ter dated April 20, It’s also an archive of the on-site location or 1902, to Schiapar - provenance of the artifacts and their subse - elli, authorizing him quent documentation after study. At first Schia- to excavate at Heli- parelli went to Egypt to make purchases for opolis & the Valley the Museum, but... complained, that, by not of the Queens. The knowing their provenance, they were only in - addition in the upper left tells Schiaparelli triguing artifacts. Hence his research and that, in order to dig subsequent carefully chosen excavations.” at Heliopolis, he must “Although partage is no longer ask the permission possible,” continued Greco, “the Egyptian of Daninos Pasha Museum has and will continue its excava - Museo Egizio. tions at Sakkara. In direct support of research, we are using the €800,000 profit from last year’s entrance fees to digitalize our collec - tion. Last but not least, from this exhibition and the research involved in setting it up, we have and our visitors will learn about the his - tory of our Museum and its growth and about the life and work of its first director.” 69 Kmt The text of a wall panel at the en trance to “Missione Egitto 1903-1920” clearly explains the political and cultural atmosphere in the Europe of those times. “The decades strad - dling 1900,” it says, “witnessed Europe’s rush to conquer Africa in the name of a ‘civilizing mission’ aimed at ‘primitive’ populat ions, which actually concealed strong econom ic and commercial interests. Italy took advantage of the few power voids on the Afri can chessboard to launch its own colonial policy. An ill-fated Ethiopian campaign (1887-1896) resulted in Italy shifting its interest to the pos sessions of the declining Turkish Empire, namely to Libya in 1911 and to the Dodecanese in 1912. Ital - ian archeologists’ presence in North Africa, Greece, and the eastern Med iterranean was therefore often moti vated by scientific and cul - tural considerations supported by ideological nationalist beliefs, in the context of a broader political interest in these areas.”

At this point the visitor enters the exhibition’s first section, which, through posters advertis - ing vermouth, cars and the World Expo held in Turin in 1911, film clips from its new- born movie industry, as well as movie came ras, projectors, tickets and programs, and mo dels of the newly founded FIAT’s first cars and trucks successfully re-creates the vibrant, fre - netic and projected-towards-the-future at mos - phere of the city during the first two de cades of the Twentieth Century. Also in this section are documents and finds from excavations at Liguria, Valle d’Aosta and Piemonte, where Schiaparelli was the superintendent beginning in 1907, plus the “false cover” of Twenty-first Dy nasty scribe Butehamen’s coffins, which came to the Museum in 1824, as part of the Drovetti col - lection along with some other 5,300 artifacts. “In order to show an example of Schiaparelli’s important scholarship as a phil- ologist,” Moiso told me by phone, “in the same exhibition case as Butehamen’s ‘false cover’ is one of the five volumes, two of text and three of ‘reproductions,’ titled Il Libro dei Funerali degli Antichi Egizi by Schiaparelli — but better known as The Ritual of the Op- ening of the Mouth — and published in 1882, Top left, Francesco Ballerini in native at tire, 1909. He would die prematurely in 1910 at only 33 years of age. Archives of CEFB-Centro di Egittologia Francesco Ballerini, Como Top right, One of Ballerini’s field notebooks with sketches, 1905. State Archives, Turin Left, Ballerini (far left) at the M.A.I.’s 1905 encampment at the quary of Qau el Khebir, with his reis Kalifa & youthful workman Buhus. Archives of CEFB-Centro di Egittologia Fran- cesco Ballerini, Como Kmt 70 ean and on the coasts of Libya. Their work often went hand in hand with diplomatic ac - tion and paved the way for Italy’s future mili - tary penetration in Cyrenaica, and the Dodec- anese.”

The next section returns to Egypt and its ever- increasing economic, cultural and touristic importance. France, England, Germany and Austria were building enormous collections Photograph of of Egyptian antiquities in their museums; and 24-year-old Schiaparelli, aware of the gaps in Turin’s col - Virginio Rosa lection, wanted Italy to be on equal footing. at Mombarone In 1900-1901 he went to Egypt and bought Castle in Pie- some 1,400 artifacts; but, since the provenance monte shortly of most was unknown, he wa s dissatisfied before his de - parture for and evermore determined to set up his own Egypt in 1910. archeological mission known as the M.A.I. He would doc- On display is his first letter of in - ument the tent to the Ministry of Public Education, dated M.A.I. exca - November 23, 1901, in which he explains the vations at Geb- advantages Italy would gain from archaeolog- elein in 1911, ical excavations in Egypt. Also displayed is a returning to letter dated April 20, 1902, from his former Genoa in a professor, Gaston Maspero — director of the poor state of Service des Antiquités in Cairo from 1899- health & dying 1914 — giving him permission to excavate at of a mys teri - Giza, Heliopolis and the Valley of the Queens, ous illness in 1912, age 26. along with his letter of thanks and acceptance Archive of the Mu- to Maspero dated June 9. suem of the Holy In the interval Schiaparelli had writ- Shroud ten a letter dated April 29 to King Vittorio Emanuele III, explaining the importance of Maspero’s offer for Italy and requesting finan- cial support. Upon the receipt of the king’s first installment of funds, Schiaparelli wrote him a detailed report, dated June 12 (also on display), of his intended early archaeological campaigns and their cost estimates. A wall map shows all the subsequent locations and when he was still at the museum in Florence. aeology in the Eastern Mediterranean,” con - the dates of each, as he excavated several Schiaparelli based his research of the ritual cerns excavations there which both sparked times in some: 1902-03 Heliopolis, Hermop- on three different sources: the Hieratic text and frustrated Schiaparelli’s desire to exca - olis, Giza and the Valley of the Queens; 1904 on the inside of Butehamen’s ‘’false cover’ vate in Egypt, in order to fill the chronologi - Heliopolis, Hermopolis and the Valley of the and on the inside of his coffin (on display in cal holes in Turin’s Egyptian collection. It Queens; 1905 Deir el Medina, Heliopolis, the Museum but not in the exhibition), which gives a concise picture of the several excava - Hammamiya, Qau el Kebir and the Valley of he had in hand at the Museum; on the Hier - tions, all competing with each other for the the Queens; 1905-1906 Asyut, Deir el Med - atic text of a papyrus (No. 3155) of the Roman same scarce funds of Italy’s Ministry of Edu - ina, Heliopolis, Hammamiya and Qau el Ke- period in the Louvre, probably put at his dis - cation. On display are finds from Crete, Rhod- bir; 1908-1909 Deir el Medina and Hermopo- posal by his teacher Maspero; and on the text es, Turkey and Libya. Thus this section could lis; 1909-1910 Asyut, Gebelein and Bahnasa; of the inscriptions and the illustrations in the also have been entitled “Italy’s Early Archeo - 1910-11 Asyut, Gebelein and Bahnasa; 1912 Tomb of Seti I. For this last text he used Ip - logical Campaigns Abroad”. Asyut and Bahnasa; 1913 Asyut; 1913-14 polito Rosellini’s precious copy from his arch- The introductory wall panel here Aswan and Gebelein; and 1920 Gebelein. ives at the University of Pisa, which Schia - presents an overall picture: “At the end of the In this same section the typical fur - parelli conpared with a more recent version nineteenth century, quite belatedly compared nishings of an archeologist’s tent have been put at his disposal by Édouard Naville. Next to other European nations which had long be- reconstructed, as well as displays of site photo- to the volume is a page showing a ‘reproduc - gun archeological explorations beyond their graphs and clothing and jewelry worn by Schia- tion’ of part of the ‘false cover’’s text. Near- borders, the first Italian archeological mis - parelli’s female workers, on loan from the Brit- by are a ‘reconstruction’ of Schiaparelli’s sion abroad reached the island of Crete, in ish Museum. desk and an authentic 1907 Remington type - spite of scarce financial resources —which writer, like one he could have used.” from 1903 onward they had to split with the The Italian excavator’s understanding of the Turin museum’s mission in Egypt — Italian importance of research, anthropology, pho - The Exhibition’s next section, “Ital ian Arch- scholars achieved brilliant results in the Aeg- tography, documentation and drawing to ex - 71 Kmt Archival photos, Museo Egizio

cavations made him an archaeologist ahead of his times. After this last campaign in 1920, Schiaparelli spent the rest of his arduous ca - reer studying, cataloging and creating dis - plays of the over 30,000 artifacts he’d sent to Turin. Particularly noteworthy are master - pieces of inestimable value: wall paintings from the Tomb of Iti and Neferu at Gebelein (First Intermediate Period); some 500 funer - ary objects from the intact Tomb of Kha and Merit at Deir el Medina (TT8, Eighteenth Dy - nasty); and artifacts from the beautifully dec - orated Tomb of Nefertari in the Valley of the Queens (QV66, Nineteenth Dynasty). The wall panel “The Life of an Ar - chaeologist” points out that “The logistics of his missions required detailed planning. Once the permits [some are displayed] had been ob- M.A.I.’s 1903 excavations in the Valley tained, travel arrangements were made and of the Queens yielded QV44 (left) & materials and equipment prepared. Contact QV66, Tomb of Q. Nefertari (above). was made with trusted local collaborators, o t o h such as the dragoman Bolos Ghattas. Some p t e expedition members traveled ahead to hire n r e t workers, prepare storerooms for finds, set up n I the tent camp and the service annexes, and stock food provisions. Franciscan friars often gave the Mission valuable support in finding trustworthy personnel and storing materials.”

Schiaparelli had numerous workmen (he and his collaborators employed up to 400 workers at a time), but he could rely on very few train- ed collaborators. The exhibition catalogue’s essay “La Missione Archeolgica Italiana in Egitto,” by Beppe Moiso and Giacomo Lo- vera, mentions several and the exhibition’s wall panels also give short biographies of the three most important ones: archae ologist Francesco Ballerini, archaeologist Virginio Rosa and anthropologist Gio vanni Marro. Two others, the aleady-mentioned Bolos Ghattas and Benvenuto Savina, were indispensible for the excavations’ daily logistics and security. As reported by Moiso and Lovera, o

i “Bolos Ghattas (1880-1947), was a Chris - z i g tian from Luxor. He was the son of a rich E

The Tomb of Q. Nefertari (views above o

e businessman from Girge (a little bit south of s & below) has been called the “Sistine u

M Chapel of ancient Egypt” for its beauti - Sohag) and had learned Italian from the Fran- fully paint ed & well-preserved wall deco - ciscan fathers in Luxor. Schiaparelli, who rations. It had been thoroughly looted in was looking for a trustworthy local who un - antiquity, so Schiaparelli & his excava - derstood the problems connected to antiqui - tors were able to recover only a few minor ties and excavations, decided Ghattas was funerary fragments (left). the right person for the job and was pleased o t to have him as a collaborator. Ghattas knew o h p

how to fulfill Schiaparelli’s every expectation t e n

e and worked alongside him for ca. 20 years. t n I He organized the site of the excavations be - fore the archaeologists’ arrival, set up the camps and hired the workmen. Schiaparelli often asked him to undertake some prelimi - nary explorative surveys, in order to direct the excavations more efficiently once the ar - chaeologists arrived. He discovered several Kmt 72 Archival photos, Museo Egizio

Arguably Schiaparelli’s & the MAI’s greatest discovery was the undisturbed & so totally intact Tomb of Kha & Merit (TT8) at Deir el Medina in 1906, having earlier found their tomb chapel there (above left) & removed its painted stela (bottom right). The tomb’s entry corridor (above center) & single chamber well- filled with burial goods (right) were photographed, as were the M.A.I. Egyptian workmen carrying the objects from the tomb (below). Among the TT8’s treas - ures were the gilded-cartonnage funerary mask of Merit & her wig (below). o i z i g E o e s u M

, s o t o h p l a v i h c r A s o t o h p o i z i g E o e s u M

73 Kmt places where Schiaparelli afterwards uncov - with great professional success, he sorely sites of Gebelein and Asyut: at the same time. ered his most successful finds. Ghattas’s son, missed his wife, Lucia Noseda, and their two Marro had already studied the human remains Bisada, accompanied Virginia Rosa to Gebe- sons, Piero and Lorenzo, who remained in that had been sent to Turin from previous lein dur ing the 1911 campaign. That same Como. Of frail health, on May 5, 1910, Fran- campaigns. Schiaparelli’s decision to include year Ghat tas came to Italy, where Schi apar - cesco Ballerini, Franz to his friends, died at Marro in his team expanded the scope of his elli introduced him to King Vittorio Eman uele only 33 years of age. He was remembered by research to include physical anthropology, at III.” his Maestro [teacher or mentor] in a touching the time a virtually unexplored aspect of an - Schiaparelli was devoted to Benve- commemoration that ended: ‘Ballerini was thropology. nuto Savina, his favorite custodian at the Mu - truly one of those noble souls who, once you “Marro published numerous scien - seum in Turin. Savina participated in the dai- have known them, you can never forget.’” tific studies on the abundant bone materials ly organization and practical support of the Following Ballerini’s premature in Turin. He also has the merit of having doc - 1905, 1906 and 1909 excavations, as well as death, documentation of the excavations of umented (although in scattered papers) Schi - the packing and shipment of artifacts. “His Gebelein in 1911 was entrusted Virginio Rosa, aparelli’s activities, discoveries and excavation grandson, who now lives in Rome, lent us this a young collaborator of Schiaparelli’s, born techniques. He continued to participate in ar - wedding picture of Savina and his new bride on September 30, 1886, in Pinerolo near Tur- chaeological missions under Giulio Farina, Rosa Forneris,” Moiso told me. in, where his father was a cavalry officer. Af- who succeeded Schiaparelli as the Museum’s ter receiving his degree in chemistry he’d de- director.” There is documentation from the exhibition’s dicated himself to botany, eventually becom - After his time in Egypt “Marro con- wall panels, the Museum permanent exhibi - ing an assistant at the Botanical Institute of tinued his investigation in his laboratory in tions’ wall panels and the exhibition’s cata - the University of Sassari, a position he left to Turin, at the Institute of Anthropology of the logue about Schiaparelli’s three devoted close answer the call of ancient Egypt. University. He based his studies on the an - collaborators, two of whom died very young, A wall panel in the Museum’s per - thropological archive he had put together dur- almost certainly from diseases they caught in manent collection recounts: “Rosa set sail ing the missions in Egypt and on his assidu - Egypt, “in all likelihood,” Moiso said, “from from Genoa on December 26, 1910, and, after ous frequenting of the Museo Egizio. His an - bacteria or viruses that had sur vived and a short stopover in Cairo, continued on to thropological and anthropometric assess ment spread in the environment of sealed tombs, or Gebelein, where he began work on January of skeletons and mummies indicated that an - directly from mummies’ still-contagious germs.” 12. He was accompanied by Bolos Ghattas, cient Egyptians had a rather slight physical The first of these collaborators, and Schiaparelli’s trusted Egyptian collaborator, structure. He found that this trait was still Schiaparelli’s favorite, was Francesco Baller- who was, however, forced to abandon Rosa observable among the population of modern ini, born in Como on January 28, 1877. After almost immediately because of a serious ill - Egypt. Marro’s scientific production includes graduating with a thesis in Egyptology in ness. For the remainder of the excavation, many descriptions of pathological lesions. His 1899, he came into contact with Schiaparelli, Rosa kept a detailed report of the events. This were some of the first studies of paleopathol - who, in 1901 requested the Ministry to assign valuable excavation diary, complete with ogy ever carried out in Italy.” the young man to the Egyptian Museum in drawings and photographs, still preserved [in Turin. Ballerini collaborated with Schiapar - the State Archives in Turin], allows us to fol - The rest of the exhibition concerns displays elli from 1902 onwards, was active in found - low the daily progress of the work and the from Heliopolis and Giza, the Valley of the ing the Italian Archeological Mission and discoveries. Queens, Deir el Medina, Gebelein and Asyut, established its first work sites at Deir el Med - “The excavations, particularly at ending with a small explanation of Schiapar - ina and in the Valley of the Queens. His great Gebelein, gave extraordinary results. Many elli’s redesign of the Museum’s layout and re- ability and competence, combined with his tombs were found still intact with their funer - arrangement of the artifacts already there to mild-mannered and reserved disposition, soon ary goods. Some of these tombs were very an - make room for the M.I.A.’s new arrivals dur - earned him the trust and appreciation of Schi - cient, others of monumental proportions. Work ing his tenure as director of both. aparelli, whom he accompanied to every ex - was completed at Asyut on April 2. After a “Schiaparelli cut short his excava - cavation until 1909. He excavated at Giza in brief layover in Cairo, Rosa continued to Alex- tions at Giza, which began in 1903, after the 1903 and at Heliopolis and Asyut between andria and then on to Genoa, where he arriv- first campaign,” explained Moiso, “because 1903 and 1906, as well as at Oua el Kebir, ed on May 10 in a poor state of health. He had there were already other nations, Germany providing logistic and archeological assis - contracted a mysterious illness, which would and the United States, excavating there.” tance, and, above all, leaving a detailed docu - soon prove fatal, and died a few months later, Excavations at Heliopolis lasted mentation of the excavations he worked on. on February 20, 1912, at 26 years of age.” until 1906; but, according to a wall panel, “Schiaparelli increasingly counted About Giovanni Marro the perma - “from the beginning, their archaeological re- on Ballerini,” a permanent-collection wall nent exhibit says: “The remarkable quantity cord appeared to be severely compromised. panel reports, “to organize the excavation of anthropological material sent to Turin, The rock fragments and pottery sherds from campaigns. He often preceded the group of primarily from the sites of Gebelein and Asyut, various periods were jumbled, and ground - archaeologists to lay the groundwork for the convinced Schiaparelli of the need for an an - water invaded the dig. In spite of this, the re - dig and hire the workers. These early years thropologist at the excavation site. Giovanni mains of a wall built under the pharaoh Djo- of the Italian Mission’s explorations are doc - Marro, the future director of Turin’s Museum ser and fragments of a tabernacle of pharaoh umented in his valuable notebooks enriched of Anthropology, was soon chosen for the job. Seti I were found, as well as two anomalous with technical and artistic drawings. More - “Marro was born in 1875 in Limone and hard-to-interpret constructions, one with over, his ability in the field of photography, Piemonte, near Cuneo. After receiving his an elliptical plan, the other with a very elab - which Schiaparelli so appreciated, allowed medical degree, he began working at the Psy - orate inner layout.” him to document in detail the progress of work chiatric Hospital in Collegno, becoming Head Among the finds from Giza on dis - and the discoveries with hundreds of photo - Physician and then General Manager. play in the exhibition are a page of Evarista graphic plates.” “Starting in 1913 Schiaparelli made Breccia’s excavation diary; watercolors by “Although Ballerini was crowned him part of the archaeological mission at the Ballerini of tombs; two fragments of a false-

Kmt 74 door from the mastaba of Itjer and other re - facts were found among the village houses, cial note here are a small wooden statue of Iti liefs; and the granite face with a broken nose; but the most sensational discoveries were made and his coffin, as well as Rosa’s letter to Schia - from Heliopolis: a page from Schiaparelli’s in the necropolis of the craftsmen. They in - parelli, who was in Turin at the time, about diary; a modern model one-to-ten scale of an cluded the chapel of the painter Maya — whose his discovery of Iti and Neferu’s tomb and elliptical structure, unlike any other ever un - decoration was removed, restored and exhib - Schiaparelli’s complimentary reply, not to covered, that Schiaparelli was unable to fin - ited in the Turin Museum — an ar chive of De- mention Rosa’s small personal collection of ish excavating because of groundwater; a motic documents, and, above all, the Tomb of finds which include plants. limestone Fourth or Fifth Dynasty statuary Kha,‘director of works in the Great Place,’ “Like Gebelein,” a wall panels relates, “Asyut family group of three, now missing the child; and his wife Merit; the couple was already was a provincial town. It yielded important a fragment of a ritual cubit made of graywacke, known from their funerary stela, which had evidence from the burials datable between with drawings and photographs of it by Bal - been brought to Turin in 1824.... At the time the late Old Kingdom and the Middle King - lerini; and fragments of the Heliopolis Tablet, of Schiaparelli’s discovery, the burial of Mer- dom belonging to common people, dignitar- with a map of the temple of Hathor on its front it and her husband Kha was exceptionally in - ies and local governors. The Italian mission and an inventory of the temple’s sacred acces- tact. At the end of a tunnel were the coffins sories on the back. conducted a total of seven excavation cam - and mummies of the couple, along with furni - paigns here between 1906 and 1913. The ce- metery of the city included many rock-cut tombs arranged on several levels along the mountain slope. The conformation of the site caused many difficulties. Large trenches were hence dug to detect tomb shafts . A total of 3,200 artifacts were found… A gallery in the Turin “The burials of Asyut were of di - Egyptian Museum, as it verse types, from the simplest ones with the appeared in the early 20th skeleton gathered in a small wooden coffin to Museo Egizio Century. more elaborate ones containing rectangular coffins graced with inscriptions and poly - chrome decorations, wooden statues of vari - ous sizes, funerary models depicting boats and individuals engaged in various kinds of work, and other personal objects. To study these different burial practices, in 1913 the ture, food, clothing and personal objects. mission recruited the anthropologist Giovan- “In 1903,” a wall panel relates, “ the Italian Among the finds, Merit’s funerary mask of gilt ni Marro.... On the dig between 1913 and 1914 Mission began to work in the Valley of the cartonnage and glass paste stands out, along Marro’s task was to collect and examine an - Queens. Here it explored about sixty tombs of with her golden ring, and her fashionable wig thropological materials from the mission’s dignitaries, princes and royal wives of the of real human hair” (all three on display in excavations and study the local populations New Kingdom. The most important discovery the exhibition). According to the catalogue en- living near the sites. He analyzed biological was that of the Tomb of Nefertari (QV 66), features and complemented his observations wife of Rameses II. It had been plundered in try, Merit’s ring — found within the pleats of her shroud, because of its placement — was with paleo-ethnological and ethnological in - ancient times, but still retained its splendid formation to search for common features be - decoration. Another unexpected discovery was more likely an amulet for protection and good tween the past and the present. that of the tombs of princes Sethherkhep eshef luck in her new existence in the Afterlife than Displays of note here are Marro’s and Khaemwaset (QV43 and QV44), sons of a piece of personal jewelry. notebooks, his photographic equipment, a Rameses III. Their burials were full of coffins Predynastic mummy in its basket, various and grave-goods of members of Theban fami - “Gebelein,” a wall panel recounts , “only a skulls and mummified human heads, several lies of temple employees who had reused the few kilometers from Luxor, is a very rich site human skeletons in wooden boxes, instruments tombs in later times.” where all the phases in Egyptian history are for measuring head circumference, as well as On display are one of Ballerini’s ex- attested. Explored between 1910 and 1920, full-sized mummy. cavation diaries, many of his drawings, a note- the necropolis yielded some intact tombs. One, book describing several tombs; a letter by him dubbed ‘Of the Unknown’, is a rich bur ial of Both curators Del Vesco and Moiso contrib- to his family describing a mass performed by individuals, possibly from the same family, who uted several of the exhibition catalogue’s six - one of the Franciscan fathers inside the Tomb lived at the end of the Fifth Dynasty. Dur ing teen essays, sometimes jointly with other scho- of Queen Tyti, as well as his account of the the 1911 season, Virginio Rosa discovered the lars, sometimes alone. This generously illus - discovery of the Tomb of Khaemwaset, son of Tomb of Iti, ‘head of the expedi tions in the trated volume (cost: €35), published by Franco Rameses III; one complete coffin of Nakht- desert,’ and his wife Neferu. Along with Iti’s khonseru, as well as three coffin covers. One mummy, a rich and intact funerary assem - Cosimo Panini, has not been trans lated from is of Lady of the House Tjesmutperet (Twenty- blage was found in the burial.... It was grac- Italian. Fortunately, for those lucky enough to fifth Dynasty) and another of Nesimendjam ed with polychrome tempera paintings in the come to Turin this sum mer, all the wall panels (the same dynasty). entrance portico and in the rock-cut main and exhibition cards, as well as the audio guide chamber. The paintings show scenes of rural — with explanations and comments “by” Schi- “In 1905, the excavation campaign of Deir el life, the deceased’s funeral and navigation. aparelli — are also in English. Medina began,” the wall panel continues. The paintings were detached from the walls, “This had been the site of the vil lage of crafts- shipped to Italy and restored. Today they are About the Author Journalist Lucy Gordan- men working in the royal necrop olis of West displayed in the Museum.” Rastelli is the European correspondent of this Thebes during the New Kingdom. Many arti - The artifacts and documents of spe - journal and is stationed in Rome.

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