In the early spring of 1909 work was continued on the Birâbi site. The tomb (No. 9), discovered the previous season, was finally cleared, but nothing further was found in it. Jutting out of one side of the hole caused by the excavation of the tomb, however, appeared the beginning of a well-built stone wall. About forty metres’ length of this wall was cleared, and though unfinished, the masonry in general was good. A doorway, giving ingress from the north (see Plan, [Pl. XXX]), eighteen metres along its length, showed that its northern side formed its exterior face. The facing of the stone blocks, not agreeing in direction of their chiselling, showed that they had been re-used from some older building, and as the size of the blocks and their chiselling were similar to the masonry of the Mentu-hotep temple at Dêr el Bahari, it was conjectured that the wall must be of a date posterior to the XIth Dynasty. Regarding the purpose of the wall, we obtained no clue in 1909, nor could we then date it with any precision. In 1910, however, we found several blocks lying near the wall which bore hieratic inscriptions giving the name of Hatshepsût’s master-builder, Pu-am-ra. Afterwards, similar inscriptions were found on the blocks built in the masonry. These, together with a single block bearing the name of the great queen’s famous architect, Senmut, clearly proved that the wall which we had found must have belonged to some building of Hatshepsût’s reign. Further clearance revealed that the building was of the nature of a terrace temple like that at Dêr el Bahari. So far as we can at present see, the axis of the building corresponds to the axis of the dromos leading to Hatshepsût’s temple. This point, together with the fact that a foundation deposit with objects bearing the prenomen of the queen and the name of her temple (Zeser-zeseru) was brought to light, apparently in the centre of our monument, shows that we are dealing with a building in some way connected with the temple at Dêr el Bahari. The probable interpretation is that this newly-discovered ‘Terrace Temple’ is in reality a ‘Valley’-Temple or ‘Portal’ to Hatshepsût’s noble monument at Dêr el Bahari. It would, therefore, correspond to the so-called ‘Valley’-Temples of Gizeh and Abusîr. Another interesting fact relating to Hatshepsût’s Dêr el Bahari temple was the discovery of a foundation deposit at the north-west corner of the dromos ([Pl. XXIV], b), where it joins the temple. This is the largest deposit that has hitherto been discovered, and exhibits two new features in connexion with the custom of placing of such deposits, namely, the consecration of the building by unction and flesh and blood offerings. These offerings were kept separate from the usual model tools and implements which were found near by, and the vessels containing the unguents and wines were smashed, and their contents, as well as grains of corn, were poured over the clean sand that filled the cache. In 1911 search was made for the companion deposit in the south-west corner ([Pl. XXIV], c); this was soon found, and it differed only in the fact that the secondary group—i. e. the tools and implements—was missing.
Beneath the foundations of the ‘Valley’-Temple we cut through a layer of rock débris averaging two metres in thickness, and discovered a series of pit and corridor tombs hewn in the rock-bed below. These had all been plundered, some indeed twice, and most of their contents had been scattered and some burnt. Several bore evidence of having been pilfered, in the first instance, shortly after the close of the Middle Kingdom, and then again during Hatshepsût’s reign, probably by the workmen employed in building the ‘Valley’-Temple. As evidence of the earlier plundering we may mention the fact that fragments of one stela were found in two separate tombs (Nos. 27 and 31), on opposite sides of the great wall. After this first plundering, the rock débris must have collected to a considerable depth above the tombs before the second spoliation took place, for rough retaining walls, built of stones and bricks found in the mounds, were made to support the sides of the shafts pierced through the earth by the later robbers.