TAA i.2.2.23

Dec. 31^st

Press day.

Packed away last of the chariot material, and

unwrapped and cleaned one of the two black statues.

Jan. 1^st {1924}

Market Day.

Jan. 2^nd

Stayed in bed. Carter etc/<Carter> came round in the

evening, and after talking it over we decided to

open up the doors tomorrow.

Jan. 3^rd

At 2.45 the ceremony of opening the doors

began. There were present Engelbach (by invitation),

Harkness, Lythgoe, Winlock and the ordinary members

of the staff, including Newbery^sic {Newberry}.

The doors of the outermost shrine had been

removed to facilitate work of recording. The seals

from the second had been photographed and removed

some days previously, and the doors were wide open.

The third door stood clear. At top and bottom

there large in[?]/<e>bony bolts run into staples. In the

centre there were two smaller bronze staples, and

wound round these to form three strands, the final end

looping round all three strands to hold them together there

was a cord. This was sealed with a variant on the

ordinary Royal Necropolis seal, there being a cartouche

over the back of the jackal, and it is a further illustration

of the carelessness with which all the work in the tomb

was done that the sealing was partly on the cord, partly

on the right staple, and nowhere near the knot at all.

This seal, which had previously been photographed,

was carefully detached, and then the upper and lower

bolts were drawn and an attempt was made to open

the doors. For the moment this proved impossible, the

threshold of the second shrine being too high to allow

them to swing, but the difficulty was overcome by slightly