December 18, 1922 On the edge of the cultivation on the western bank of the Nile, and extending for five miles in length and a mile and a quarter in depth, lies the Necropolis of ancient Thebes. Here the arid plain and foothills are everywhere dotted with burial pits, with a royal mortuary temple here and there, while mingled among these relics of ancient days stand the mud houses of the modern inhabitants of Gurnah. In this area some of the greatest, richest, and most powerful inhabitants of ancient Egypt were buried: hence this cemetery has been the happy hunting ground for generation upon generation of native grave-robbers.