This volume is the first joint publication of the members of the American - Egyptian mission South Asasif Conservation Project, working under the auspices of the State Ministry for Antiquities and Supreme Council of Antiquities, and directed by the editor. The Project is dedicated to the clearing, restoration, and reconstruction of the tombs of Karabasken (TT 391) and Karakhamun (TT 223) of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty, and the tomb of Irtieru (TT 390) of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, on the West Bank of Luxor. Essays by the experts involved in the excavations and analysis cover the history of the Kushite ruling dynasties in Egypt and the hierarchy of Kushite society, the history of the South Asasif Necropolis and its discovery, the architecture and textual and decorative programs of the tombs, and the finds of burial equipment, pottery, and animal bones.

Elena Pischikova is the director of the American - Egyptian South Asasif Conservation Project. She is currently a research scholar at the American University in Cairo, and teaches at Fairfield University in Connecticut. During her twelve years at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Dr. Pischikova directed the project on the re-excavation, conservation, and reconstruction of the 26th Dynasty tomb of the Vizier Nespakashuty at Deir el-Bahri. In 2012, under her direction the South Asasif Conservation Project launched a series of international conferences, "Thebes in the First Millennium BC."