La tomba di Sheshonq (TT 27) all’Asasif. Missione Archeologica dell’Università di Roma ‘La Sapienza’. Campagne 2005, 2008

The campaign carried out in 2005 targeted the reconstruction of the severely damaged walls in the second room (Tav. I a, H) annexed to the Pillared Hall. The majority of the inscriptions found were broken into many small fragments. The task of identifying and reconstructing the texts was successfully completed so that during the campaign it was possible to restore fragments to their original positions, except in those cases where the fragile condition of the blocks themselves (of plaster) or the wall was prohibitive. The identification of parallel texts, some of them very seldom attested previously, facilitated this work. In particular, the burial chamber of Radjaa, now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo, offers the closest parallels for the placement as well as the content of the inscriptions. The decoration of the room attests its central role in the tomb, as does the presence of one of the burial shafts with which the tomb is provided. The campaign of 2008 was devoted to producing an accurate photographic record to serve as a basis for preparing drawings of the inscriptions with the aid of digital epigraphy.