Hieroglyphic Hands at Deir el-Medina

Hieroglyphic Hands at Deir el-Medina Research project part of the IFAO Deir el-Medina archaeological mission, studying hieroglyphic handwriting styles in Ramessid Deir el-Medina

To get the best photo sometimes involves adopting an uncomfortable and dusty position - especially when the hieroglyphs ...
20/01/2026

To get the best photo sometimes involves adopting an uncomfortable and dusty position - especially when the hieroglyphs were painted just a few centimetres from floor level. It makes you realise how skilled the painter was to create the signs so accurately with his brush at that low level!

One of the Book of the Dead spells we'll be documenting this season in the tomb of Irynefer accompanies a vignette of th...
14/01/2026

One of the Book of the Dead spells we'll be documenting this season in the tomb of Irynefer accompanies a vignette of the tomb owner drinking from a pool of water by a dom palm tree. This was quite a popular text and vignette in the workmen's tombs, so it gives us a good chance to compare styles of hieroglyphic handwriting in different tombs. But in this tomb it was painted on a vaulted ceiling, not a vertical wall. How much would that have affected the handwriting style of the painter?

We've had amazing start to the 2026 Season for the project Hieroglyphic Hands of Deir el-Medina! We have permission to d...
12/01/2026

We've had amazing start to the 2026 Season for the project Hieroglyphic Hands of Deir el-Medina! We have permission to document the painted hieroglyphs in the tomb of Irynefer (TT 290). It's just a little jewel of a burial chamber with every wall and ceiling painted - and the hieroglyphs are so many and so well preserved! What an incredible opportunity for Egyptologists to discover more about the painters of this Royal workmen's village and how they worked in their tombs!

Hieroglyph of the week: an unusual hieroglyph seen in the tomb of Pashedu (TT 3) at Deir el- Medina. It's a Gardiner N27...
24/02/2024

Hieroglyph of the week: an unusual hieroglyph seen in the tomb of Pashedu (TT 3) at Deir el- Medina. It's a Gardiner N27, the sun rising between two mountains. But on this occasion the painter unusually added an ankh (sign of life) to hang from what would be the valley floor. Interestingly, this N27 is part of the name of the sun god Re-Harakhte, so the painter may have added the ankh to emphasise the life-giving nature of this god.

What does the team do when in Cairo? Go to NMEC of course to see hieroglyphs on objects from the tomb of Sennedjem at De...
19/02/2024

What does the team do when in Cairo? Go to NMEC of course to see hieroglyphs on objects from the tomb of Sennedjem at Deir el-Medina! Amazing to see them on the door that led to the burial chamber and was sealed shut when the tomb was found over 100 years ago! Imagine what the archaeologist felt all that time ago when he stood in front of that locked door knowing he was about to see what hadn't been seen by human eyes for over 3000 years!

A successful season finished with thousands of close-range photos taken. Great team work! These photos will help build a...
15/02/2024

A successful season finished with thousands of close-range photos taken. Great team work! These photos will help build a fantastic dataset about the different handwriting styles of painters who lived in Deir el-Medina over 3000 years ago ... how they wrote and where they worked. Helping make ancient Egypt personal!

The wonderful thing about being on an excavation is that it's possible to visit nearby teams and discover what they are ...
13/02/2024

The wonderful thing about being on an excavation is that it's possible to visit nearby teams and discover what they are finding - and sometimes get totally new perspectives on the region your own site belongs to. This time it was a visit to the Western Wadis near the Valley of the Queens at Luxor and excavations directed by Piers Litherland. Absolutely fascinating!

Our work this year also consists of conducting visits to other tombs in the necropolis, looking for interesting features...
07/02/2024

Our work this year also consists of conducting visits to other tombs in the necropolis, looking for interesting features in their hieroglyphs and comparable elements to other tombs.

This time we visited TT218 and found some nice unusual hieroglyphs - some of which showed similarities to what we’ve seen in other tombs we’ve studied!

It's such a joy explaining about hieroglyphic signs painted in the tomb of Pashedu to members of the team. This time it'...
04/02/2024

It's such a joy explaining about hieroglyphic signs painted in the tomb of Pashedu to members of the team. This time it's to Julie, Simon and Zacharie.

It's such a joy explaining about hieroglyphic signs painted in the tomb of Pashedu to members of the team. This time it'...
04/02/2024

It's such a joy explaining about hieroglyphic signs painted in the tomb of Pashedu to members of the team. This time it's to Julie, Simone and Zacharie.

# deirelmedina

Hieroglyph of the week: a beautiful scarab beetle, often used in the verb meaning 'to become' or 'to create'. The link b...
03/02/2024

Hieroglyph of the week: a beautiful scarab beetle, often used in the verb meaning 'to become' or 'to create'. The link between the scarab beetle and creation was due to its behaviour of rolling its young in a ball of dung until they were big enough to emerge from it.

Hieroglyph of the week: a beautiful scarab beetle, often used in the verb meaning 'to become' or 'to create'. The link b...
03/02/2024

Hieroglyph of the week: a beautiful scarab beetle, often used in the verb meaning 'to become' or 'to create'. The link between the scarab beetle and creation was due to to its behaviour of rolling its young in a ball of dung until they were big enough to emerge from it.

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