Because of potential unrest, no foreign missions were allowed to work in the field on Saturday, January 29, so we weren’t able to get back to the paving until Sunday. By late morning Abdel Aziz and Mamdouh had taken down the southern half of the small baulk between their 2 areas and had reached the paving across much of the area.

And here is the square at noon on Sunday. Although a few blocks are somewhat decayed, the paving is generally in pretty good condition.  We had to cut steps into the baulk between the two sections of the square to allow the workers – and Mary – to get into and out of a square that is over 2 meters deep.

To get even lighting on the paving on a windy day, at noon, when shadows are narrow, took a complicated arrangement of sheets, galabiyas and scarves. Our workmen, as always, showed great good humor and willingness to cooperate with our odd requests.

It was much easier to take this south-looking photo of the paving early on Monday morning, when the sides of the square itself provided sufficient shadow. The angle of the Dynasty 25 paving to the later Ptolemaic wall is very evident, as is a narrow drainage channel cut diagonally across the paving, a feature not found in the areas closer to the gate.

As we suspected, the displaced block projecting from the west baulk of the square and forming the bottom of the large pit is, indeed, a displaced paving stone. Its original position was probably the now-empty space under the right end of the meter stick.

In this January 27 photograph taken from the enclosure wall, the continuity between the eastern section of the boundary wall of the approach to the Taharqa Gate (left) and the part excavated this season (right) is clear. In the foreground are the remains of the late Ptolemaic/Roman Period houses.

Although our excavations this year were intentionally limited, we did find some interesting pottery and objects. Here are the shallow, black-glazed Hellenistic bowl with impressed decoration and the slightly larger stone bowl mentioned in the posting of our first week’s work. The bowl appears to be serpentine, not diorite as we had first thought.

From the unexpected pottery cache found during our 2^nd week came this rather elegant, highly burnished juglet with blue decoration; and a Ptolemaic colander (right). Like modern colanders it even had 2 horizontal handles (one shown here) by which you could hold it while shaking the water out of your lettuce.

Mary’s favorite piece of pottery is this carinated bowl, found at the bottom of the large pit in the square west of the Taharqa Gate. While its shape is simple and the pottery fairly coarse, the potter took the time to press a subtle pattern of radiating lines into the underside, making it rather special.

We only found 2 faience objects this season. The small amulet of a falcon-headed god (left) came from the southern excavation area. The musician was found in the square west of the Taharqa Gate. When complete, the harp would most likely have rested on an oversized phallus; such erotic figures, in faience or stone, were quite common in ancient Egypt.

Last year’s “mystery” object was the item on the left. We had no idea what it was, or even which way it stood. This year we were at least able to answer the second question: it is the rear end of a hollow terracotta animal (possibly a dog). We still don’t know its purpose.

Once the paving was fully exposed and photographed on January 31, we were able to spend our last few days at the site on other matters. I had a chance once again to examine the so-called “Montuemhat crypt”: a small chapel within the Mut Temple built by and dedicated to Montuemhat. Such chapels are extremely rare. Auguste Mariette, one of the founding fathers of Egyptology, published drawings of the chapel’s texts and scenes in 1875.

The copy of Mariette’s book in the Wilbour Library was annotated and corrected by Charles Edwin Wilbour when he visited the site in the late 1880s. Here is Mariette’s drawing (with Wilbour’s notations) of one of the most interesting scenes: the relief on the rear wall that may show an inventory of ritual objects and sculptures within the temple.  (In Mariette’s book the reliefs are reversed; they are shown here in their correct orientation) I am particularly interested in comparing what Mariette and Wilbour saw with what is preserved today.

Although these scenes are very poorly preserved and difficult to light, we were able to get usable photographs of them that will assist in their study.

Not a bad end for a study season.

With the work done, Mary and I headed home on February 4 by way of Doha and Paris – a somewhat roundabout but interesting itinerary. Our last Flickr posting to “Mut 2011: Sights at the Site and Beyond” includes a few photos taken on that trip.

We were able to finish the short study season as scheduled and never felt at risk while in Luxor. By February 1, though, the options for getting a flight out of Luxor were becoming rather limited as most tourists had left and few planes were flying into or out of the city. We decided to cut down our post-season “leisure time” and leave for home a few days early. Although the internet was back up by about February 2, the need to complete reports and last-minute details before our February 4 departure left us no time for dig diary postings before we left.

We thank everyone for their expressions of concern and their good wishes. This is a very difficult time for the Egyptians and for anyone who knows and loves Egypt. We can only hope for the best.

For those interested in what is happening with the monuments, Dr. Zahi Hawass, now the Minister for Antiquities, has been posting regular updates on the situation on his website, www.drhawass.com.

It’s hard to believe that our study season is almost over; our last day of digging will be Saturday, January 29 followed (we hope) by a week of mapping, photography and study. It has been a successful, if short, season. We now know that the wall along the south side of the new square is, indeed, part of the south boundary wall of the approach to the Taharqa Gate. It was built in 2 sections; the join is just to the right of the narrow baulk between the 2 parts of our excavation.  The western section (right) goes one course deeper than the eastern section in order to accommodate an unevenness in the ground on which the wall was built.

It has been an interesting week (at least to us) in what is a relatively small excavation area. On Sunday morning we came on this pale grey rectangle abutting the boundary wall in the SE corner of the area, which contained a great deal of pottery.

The rectangle proved to be a shallow enclosure bordered with compact grey clay-like earth that reminded us forcibly of the very similar feature from last season in which we found a number of oyster shells.  This year’s feature, like the one in 2010 was not only full of pottery but was built on a layer with many pieces of baked brick and sherds, including much of a large storage jar (behind the meter stick). Unlike last year, however, we found no oyster shells.

The narrower western section of the excavation wasn’t dull either. The photo on the left shows a solid grey surface with a narrow wall across it, cut at its west end by a fairly large pit. This surface was continuous across both the east and west parts of the excavation at the level of the bottom of the boundary wall. At first it seemed that the pottery-filled pit was fairly shallow. In fact, we thought we had emptied it on Tuesday, but found yet more pottery on Wednesday (right, looking north). This time we were even more certain we’d reached the bottom. Not so. More pots early on Thursday (not shown)!

It wasn’t until we hit this large sandstone block sticking out from the west baulk late on Thursday that we were sure that we had, at last, reached the bottom of a pit that ended up being 60 cm deep. If you look closely you can see a pot sitting on top of the block right at the baulk. The block of stone really piques our curiosity.

On Thursday we finally hit the 25^th Dynasty paving about 110 cm below the bottom of the boundary wall. It continues the curve toward the south that we discovered in 2010. We still don’t know the reason for the southward turn, but we now know that it is intentional rather than an illusion caused by a few oddly laid blocks. We hope to reach the paving in the rest of the area, east and west, on Saturday and to find out if the block in the west trench is actually a displaced paving slab.

I thought I’d end this week with this picture of Temple A, taken early Wednesday morning when the light was particularly clear. You are looking directly west along the temple’s main axis and can just make out the Taharqa Gate in the background.

On January 15 we finished removing the baulk stub over the remains of the southern boundary wall of the Taharqa Gate approach. In this view to the northeast, you can now see that we have a single, wide wall that has been successively cut back. All that remains now is to map this new section of the wall.

The last of the pottery spill found in the angle of the walls at the south end of the excavation area. The sherds to the right of the meter stick sit in a corner formed by the north face of the Tuthmoside enclosure wall and the new wall found last week. With the pottery removed, we decided to explore slightly further south to see if the mud brick continues further south.

It doesn’t. Just south of our baulk line Abdel Aziz found that the mud brick gives way to loose soil containing a lot of pottery, including the broken round jars just in front of him.

One of the pieces of pottery was this storage container that projected from below the mud brick – or seemed to (left). Further cleaning revealed that the jar actually sits in front of the wall, which was built on top of the Tuthmoside enclosure wall. The jar is set in a square void in the enclosure wall, its south and west edges visible in the photo to the right. Once we’ve mapped the area we will remove the storage jar, the last part of the work here.

Having now answered two of the questions we set out to resolve in this short season, I decided on the 16^th to open a new square west of the Taharqa Gate to try to answer a third question: does the pavement running west from the Taharqa Gate continue the curve to the south that is apparent in the area excavated in 2010? Since our time is limited, the most sensible area for this square was an area we had last worked in 1978, seen here today looking east.

The same square is in the background in the photo taken from the enclosure wall at the end of the 1978 season. It is part of a group of late Ptolemaic and early Roman Period habitations we had found built north and west of the Taharqa Gate. The area we are re-opening is an open courtyard with a 3-step stairway in its southwest corner. We also want to find out this year if the wall along the south side of the court is a continuation of the south boundary wall of the approach to the Taharqa Gate.

On the left are the steps as they were in 1978, with a border of mud brick along the east side; on the right as they are today. In clearing them again we uncovered the mud brick border along the stairs’ west side, which had been buried under the 1978 baulk. By re-excavating the stairway and its associated surface we should be able to link the surface of the courtyard (and hence the houses to its north) to any structures or features uncovered this season.

In this view east, taken late Thursday morning, you can see that the courtyard’s wall runs the full length of the square with the stairway at its west end (foreground). The section across the wall (middle) revealed its south face, with another building abutting it directly. While the area of the stairs was being worked on, we temporarily divided the excavation area to make it easier for everyone to get around. In the deepest part reached so far (background), we have come on a surface with a heavy concentration of mostly small pot sherds. We’re curious to see how far this level extends.

Jaap van Dijk, of the State University of Groningen, was able to join us again, briefly, this season. It’s always good to have him back. Not only is he fun, but he’s a terrific object registrar. Here he is cleaning a rather nice juglet Abdel Aziz found among the pots atop the Tuthmoside wall.  On the table in front of him is what we have dubbed the mystery object.

This strange, hollow object came from the loose surface in the courtyard square. We have no idea what it is. We are assuming that the side with the double ring base (left) is the bottom as the object sits most securely on it. The small hole in the top (right) is intentional. What is left of the rim of the “top” and the shape of the painted band suggests the upper section may have been somewhat oval in shape.

The object is made up of 2 separate elements that were joined together before firing. Inside, the areas around the center point of both the top (shown here) and bottom have been carefully finished. As you can see in the profile (right), the rim or collar where the two sections join is almost as thick as each section. It might be a lamp, based on the possibly ovoid shape of the upper part that might have accommodated a spout, but the hole in the top is too small to be used to fill a lamp. Or perhaps it’s an incense burner, with the small hole being where the scented smoke escapes. The only problem is, there doesn’t seem to be any burning on the inside of the thing. It really is a mystery.

If anyone out there has ever seen anything like it, we’d love to hear from you!

We began what will be mainly a study season on January 11 with the traditional cutting of the camel thorn. Fortunately there isn’t much as we had arranged with the SCA and Reis Farouk to have our part of the site cleared in October. It took the whole day to clear this area and more camel thorn remains elsewhere.

Our inspector this year is Amer Hassan Hanafy, shown here with Reis Farouk. We first met Amer about 10 years ago when he was part of a team of SCA inspectors who carried out excavations in the Mut Precinct and worked on the sphinx avenue north of the Mut Precinct. It’s good to see him again and to have Reis Farouk with us once more.

Our Qufti this season are Abdel Aziz Sharid (right) and Mamdouh Kamil, both of whom have worked for us for many years. To their left is the south wall of the approach to the Taharqa Gate. The wall’s east end is obscured by the remains of one of last year’s baulks. We want to remove the baulk this season to find out what is left of the wall below it.

Here’s the area at the end of work on Thursday (left), with most of the baulk stub gone. As you can see in the photo on the left, the east end of this section was destroyed, by the pitting that characterized this whole area. Only parts of the 3 northern rows of the wall remain at a lower level (right) and even they are disturbed. The big hole in the wall is part of an animal den that tunneled through the area.

At the end of 2010 we thought that we might have found the point at which the mud brick running north-south along the full length of the west side of the excavation area made a corner with the east-wall at the south end of the excavation.  As is evident in this photo taken then, the brick was very friable, its excavation requiring more time than we had left. Clearing up this question is one of this season’s goals.

We extended the excavation further to the south and by mid-morning on Thursday (our 2^nd actual day of digging) knew that last year’s theory was wrong: not only does the long wall keep on going, but it gets wider. The meter stick is on the newly-found brick of the long wall, and the north arrow sits on another wall that meets the long wall’s west face. We do have a corner, but it is an inner corner where the east face of the long wall meets the south face of the large east-west wall mentioned above.

The newly-exposed brick was cut by a pit whose edge is visible on the left. Below it the brick continues. In the newly-revealed angle of the walls we have come upon an ashy layer with a considerable amount of pottery, including a Hellenistic black-glazed bowl that is clearly visible in this photograph. This area is proving more interesting (and complicated – what a surprise!) than expected.

Our first small find of the season: the head and shoulders of a terracotta female figure wearing an elaborate (if crudely executed) wig. It came from the loose earth over the long brick wall on Wednesday. We have found several similar figures over the years, all broken in roughly the same place.

We had a number of welcome visitors early in the week. Ahmed Araby (to Richard’s left in the photo on the left) dropped by to say hello. He was our inspector in 2001 and is responsible for much of the work on the sphinx avenues outside the precinct. Later in the morning, François Larché, former Director of the Centre Franco-Egyptien d’Etude des Temples de Karnak; and Nicholas Grimal, former Director of the IFAO came by as well. I took this picture from the roof of our equipment storeroom where I was photographing the sphinx avenues.

The work on the sphinx avenues built by Nectanebo II is of considerable interest to us. They formed part of a complex of processional ways linking the Luxor Temple, the Mut Precinct and the Amun Precinct. The SCA archaeologists discovered recently that the avenue running north from the Luxor Temple and along the west side of the Mut Precinct (left) forms a T-junction with the avenue that runs along the north side of our site. This latter avenue continues west toward the Nile instead of simply ending at a corner.

What is fascinating is that a little-known plan by French explorer Nestor L’Hôte, drawn in the late 1830s and called a “reconstruction drawing” (right), seems to show just this combination of sphinx avenues, including the New Kingdom avenue from Amun to Mut  (left) and the avenue leading to a Ptolemaic gateway in the Amun Precinct’s south wall (lower left). While his proportions are not exact (the Mut Precinct is too square and too short), the major monuments are all there and in roughly the correct relationship to one another.  By the late 1800s, the Nectanebo II sphinx avenues and other building remains were no longer visible, including the small gateway in the Mut Precinct (arrow). We re-discovered it in 1983, precisely where L’Hôte said it should be and it proved to have been built by Tuthmosis III and Hatshepsut.

We will be back in the field in mid-January 2011 for a short season devoted mainly to studying material excavated in earlier years, completing documentation needed to publish our work at Mut, and preparing for the imminent opening of the site to the public. We also hope to clear up at least a few of the questions that arose during the 2010 excavations.  Once again we plan to do a weekly dig diary; the first installment should be posted about January 14. Happy new year to all.