From 1921-1923 the site of Dra Abu el-Naga was excavated by Clarence Fisher, one of the early curators of the University Museum's Egyptian Section. The site was an important non-royal cemetery near Deir el Bahri in western Thebes, near the modern Egyptian city of Luxor. Fisher's excavations included work in the tombs of New Kingdom officials and the mortuary complex of the 18th Dynasty king Amenhotep I and his wife Nefertari. Beginning in 1967, Lanny Bell continued work at the site, concentrating on the epigraphic recording and conservation of the decorated rock-cut tombs of Dynasty 19 (1292-1190 B.C.). The excavations at Dra Abu el-Naga provided significant artifacts for the University Museum, including statuary, pottery, funerary furnishings, and painted reliefs.