Creuser une tombe dans la colline thébaine: le projet archéologique Life Histories of Theban Tombs de l'université de Bâle

Life History of Theban Tombs (LHTT) is a transdisciplinary archaeological project led by the University of Basel that investigates a cluster of rock-cut tombs located at the 18 th Dynasty cemetery hillside of Sheikh 'Abd el-Qurna (SAQ). It focuses on the geological setting of the tombs and landscape development, on tomb construction and decoration, and on the funerary and domestic uses of the structures over time. After a brief introduction into the archaeological site and its individual tomb structures, the present article outlines excavation results obtained during the last two fieldwork seasons at tomb K555. In a second part, attention is paid to the social landscape that developed in South-West SAQ during the mid 18 th Dynasty (2 nd half of the 15 th century BC). It is suggested that in this part of the residential cemetery, building assignments were determined by membership in two major communities: (a) the milk kinship of the king and (b) the royal military expedition corps. The last partdiscusses 18 th Dynasty rock tomb designs and sizes in relation to the given geological settings at South-West SAQ, including failure risks and prevention.