The ancient town site of Deir el-Ballas is located on the west bank of the Nile in northern Upper Egypt in the neighborhood of the modern town known as Dayr Al Gharbi (26° 3" N - 32° 45" E.) about 30 km. north of Western Thebes. Circumscribed by a bay in the limestone cliffs bordering the eastern edge of the Sahara, the ancient site lay on the desert margin of the cultivation. The principal occupation at the site was brief, from the end of the Second Intermediate Period to the beginning of the New Kingdom (ca. 1600- 1500 BC) and appears to have been a settlement grouped around a campaign palace built by the Theban kings during their campaign against the Hyksos.
The lead researcher for the Shelby White and Leon Levy Program is Peter Lacovara. In conjunction with the current rescue archaeology and conservation at Deir el-Ballas he is also preparing the original, unpublished records of George Andrew Reisner and the Hearst Expedition of the University of California, Berkeley conducted at the site in 1900-1901. He is coordinating an international team to record and publish the material in two volumes, one on the ancient settlement and one on its associated cemeteries. He will also prepare an online database of material relating to the Hearst and current fieldwork.
