Polish Archaeological Mission at Sheikh Abd el-Qurna is an archaeological expedition to Qurna in Egypt at the west bank of present-day Luxor. Researchers focus here on two ancient tombs dug out for dignitaries from the Middle Kingdom (circa 2000 years BC) and their surroundings. Later on, in the sixth century AD, the site was adapted by Christian monks - hermits - for housing.
So far archaeologists have interesting findings both from ancient tombs and atypical 'houses'. First of all - the only fully preserved text of Pseudo-Basileus's code written in Coptic. Is dates back to the VII/VIII century. Second most interesting discovery is the piece of cloth called velum. That was a curtain covering a holy image (perhaps a statue representing a deity) in the nearby temple of Hathor, located near at Deir el-Medina. It seems that it was a gift of the father of the legendary Cleopatra VII. In Coptic era monks collected in from pagan temple and used for their (practical) purposes.
At the moment the team of archaeologists is in Egypt ready do commence the work. Unfortunately there seems to be delay with the permit to do so. Lets keep our fingers crossed for it - they are in high spirits and... they have sufficient funds to dig a little bit more! That's really positive that Polish society backed up this project lavishly!
The mission works under the auspices of the Polish Center of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw, in cooperation with Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (Poland). Tomasz Górecki is the head of the mission, dr Andrzej Ćwiek - deputy director.
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