The cemeteries of Deir el-Bahari and Asasif in the early Middle Kingdom:
recent work by the University of Alcala expedition to Thebes
The Middle Kingdom Theban Project involves the archaeological excavation, conservation and epigraphic work in the tombs of Henenu (TT 313) and Ipi (TT 315), both located in the area of Deir el-Bahari in Luxor. The oustanding position of both monuments, preliminary excavated in 1921-1922 by the NY Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the fundamental role of their owners in the construction of the Egyptian state and the social and cultural transformations that gave shape to the pharaonic culture makes this project relevant and necessary for the understanding of the Middle Kingdom in Egypt. As a matter of fact, most of the religious, social and cultural aspects known to the pharaonic culture in the later periods emerged in this period of social concord after civil conflicts and intellectual and religious progress.