TAA i.2.6.70

we had hoped, was rendered impossible. The disintegrated 

linen bandages, as if carbonised by heat, which fell to powder /<which could not be unwound>

<but> had to be removed bit by bit.

          Nevertheless, although the undertaking was not such 

a clean piece of work as we would have wished for, I am glad 

to say little, if any, data was lost, and the king's mummy 

was eventually <examined> preserved, and reburied in the/<his> tomb.

          Another of our difficulties was due to the overflow of those 

unguents, which had consolidated in the space between the nested 

coffins, and caused them to stick fast together. We had to 

extricate them without damaging them. This last problem was 

eventually solved, and we now have these perfect and 

wonderful coffins yet discovered.

          Naturally a question arises as to whether all the royal 

mummies of the Egyptian New Empire were subjected to 

similar treatment in respect to anointing with unguents?

We have, I think, sufficient evidence to prove that such 

a ceremony was common to all. But, by those x[?]/<m>ummies 

having been robbed and denuded of their coverings at 

an early date, they were freed from the destructive[?] 

elements from which Tut.ankh.Amen’s mummy suffered. 

In other words, the royal tomb robberies secured[?] before

these unguents decomposed that xxx[?] decomposition.

Alas! We were disappointed, and the/<W>e experienced/<have here> a grim

example of irony which may sometimes awaits research. 

The tomb robbers who dragged the remains of the/<other other> Pharaohs 

from their coverings for plunder, x[?]/<a>t least saved/<protected[?]> these royal 

remains against the chemical action of the sacred 

unguents before there was time for erosion.