Excavations and research in the temple of pharaoh Thutmose III at Luxor

The temple of Millions of Years of Thutmose III is located in a wealthy district of ancient western Thebes, between the hills of the Asasif and Khokha, where the cultivation area met the desert. It was built over a necropolis dated to the Middle Kingdom. The temple and the necropolis were cut into the bedrock, as can be clearly observed in the southwestern part of the site. In this area, part of the enclosure wall is carved from the bedrock, over which the mudbricks were laid.
The architects designed this temple on three different levels, extending between the pylon located to the east and the chapels built in the west. Very similar to what we find in Hatshepsut’s temple at Deir el-Bahari. The second and third levels were connected by a ramp. Today, a modern road crosses the first courtyard, so little can be said of the connection between the first and second levels. The difference in elevation between the ground level (the area of the entrance pylon) and the lowermost part of the temple (the sanctuary located in the uppermost terrace) is about 7.3 m.
Some vestiges of the temple itself, which include different historical phases of the New Kingdom, in addition to simple burials of a necropolis of the First Intermediate Period, tombs of the Middle Kingdom, one of the Third Intermediate Period, as well as some built at the end of the Third Intermediate Period and the Saite Period. Although they had been looted in antiquity, these tombs have allowed the recovery of a large number of humans remains and funerary materials.
The temple was included by Richard Lepsius in his map of Thebes in 1844. Subsequently, underwent examination by three seperate teams in the late 19th and early 20th century. In 1888 and 1889, Georges Daressy conducted excavations on the northern enclosure wall uncovering architectural remains. In 1905, Arthur Weigall, the chief inspector of the Antiquities Service, explored various sections of the temple, tracing new structures including a Middle Kingdom tomb.
The architect Herbert Ricke carried out four campaigns over the period of three years 1934, 1936 and 1937. His objective was to establish a sequence for the construction phases of the temple. For many years, his publication has been the most prominent reference to the Temple of Millions of Years of Thutmose III. After Ricke work, the site remained unstudied for several decades with sand once again covering the temple ruins, and the complex being bisected by a road. This once-sacred temple of ancient Thebes, highly regarded as one of the great monuments and served by a dedicated priesthood, was left to neglect.
A Spanish-Egyptian team has been working on the site of Thutmose III since 2008. The work has been focused on the excavation, and now it’s time for conservation efforts and site management. This archaeological richness of a wide chronological period will be a challenge for the site management work.