Dows Dunham Recollections of an Egyptologist

32
When Reisner returned to Giza and inspected the deposit, he realized
that the process of examining the contents of the chamber would
require many months. First of all it would be necessary to have plenty
of light so that photographs could be taken. The first step, therefore, was
to install an electric light plant, for it was not possible in a small
chamber at the bottom of such a deep shaft to take satisfactory pictures
by reflected sunlight (i.e., using two mirrors, one to throw light down
the shaft, and the other to reflect the beam into the chamber). After
some delay a motor generator was set up near the mouth of the shaft,
sufficient to supply four 1,000 candlepower bulbs. But since the heat
generated by even one lamp in such a confined space would make work
in the chamber unbearably hot, it was also necessary to devise a system
of ventilation: an electric fan drawing hot air from the chamber
through a metal tube and allowing cool air to come down the open
shaft to replace it. This worked out very well, and during the many
hours a day that we worked down there we never suffered unduly from
the heat. As a matter of fact the temperature in the chamber varied but
little, running 80 to 85 degrees almost constantly. We also installed a
windlass at the top of the shaft with a wire rope from which was suspended
a wooden seat. Thus, two or three men manning the windlass
could lower us down the shaft and raise us up again with relative ease.
While these preparations were under way, I returned to the expedition
to assist Reisner in the work, although I continued to live at Maadi with
my family, commuting daily back and forth in my Ford car.
The clearing of the burial chamber of Queen Hetep-heres was, as we
had foreseen, a lengthy process. It was possible for only one or two
people to work in the confined space, every square foot of which was
covered with the deposit. On and around the great alabaster sarcophagus
lay the objects that had been placed in the tomb, a mass of goldcased
wooden furniture, fallen apart, together with stone vessels,
pottery, and other funerary equipment in various states of decay. The
burial was entirely unplundered and was the oldest royal burial that
had ever been found undisturbed, its condition being the result of
natural decay over a period of over forty-five hundred years.
One problem that became increasingly annoying during the early
months of our work in the tomb was fleas. The windlass at the top of
the shaft by which we were lowered and raised to and from the work
below was manned by a couple of our workmen, so that we were in
constant communication with them and with the surface. In the spring
and early summer the men were bothered by fleas, and from time to time
these would fall down the shaft. Thus, it was not long before we found
the accumulation of these creatures in the chamber a serious irritant.
The problem was eventually solved when we purchased a supply of
flypaper that we spread out on any vacant space in the tomb every
evening, when we stopped work for the day. Once we had departed, the
fleas that had not ensconced themselves on our persons would hop
about in the chamber and get stuck on the flypaper. The next morning,
when we went down, we would count the bag of fleas, with now and
then a fly or two for variety.
We were still in the early stages of the clearing process when an
American admiral came to call on Reisner. I was alone in the chamber
at the time, while Reisner himself was working in the camp office. A
note was sent down to me asking me to show the visitor the tomb. I
sent up word to the men manning the lift to send the guest down to me
and then I placed a small box in the cleared area, which was very
limited. When the admiral arrived, I greeted him and said "If you will