#mut precinct

[brooklynmuseum]

Dig Diary, February 12, 2018:

We finished the new retaining walls and stairway down to the Thutmoside gate on  February 6. We installed a post and rope barrier around the area for the safety of visitors as the excavation is quite deep. At last people will be able to get a close look at this important monument, one of the earliest standing structures in the Mut Precinct.

We were very lucky that Julia Harvey was willing to come again this year even though there is no pottery for her to sort. She arrived on site on February 3 and was an immense help with the final documentation and photography of the site’s Sekhmet statues. Here she is dusting off the lap of the large and famous statue in the Mut Temple’s 2nd Court so I can photograph it.

In 2001 we painted inventory numbers on all the Sekhmet statues then visible at the site. On February 6, Julia and I added numbers to the statues found since then but not numbered. The tools of the trade for documentation: brushes to clean dust off surfaces about to be photographed or numbered, a mirror to cast good light on inscriptions, and paint for numbering. On the right, adding its number to the large statue Julia dusted a few days ago.

Speaking of Sekhmets, Jaap found two pieces of a Sekhmet inscription lying on the mastaba (platform on which stone blocks are kept) at the front of the precinct. It only took him a few minutes to realize that they belong to a badly damaged statue in the Mut Temple’s 1st Court.  Incredibly, he also found a fragment of the statue’s base nearby; the pieces fit perfectly! Congratulations, Jaap!

Most of the effort this week has centered around the restoration of the Sekhmet statue in Temple A. Putting the two sections of the base together was the most nerve-wracking as the stone remains fragile even after consolidation. On the left, Mohamed Abdu pours epoxy into the holes in the rear part of the base to hold the stainless steel rods once the two pieces are joined. Then comes the painstaking effort to lower one piece onto the other. Breaths were held all round.

The two pieces are almost together (left), after careful adjusting to make sure everything lines up properly. Once the pieces were in place, Salah Salim (left) and Mohamed Abdu (center) filled in the cracks in the join. They are justifiably proud of their work, as is Ayman Farouk Sharid (right), the Qufti who is working with them.

Even though the block of stone is much larger, putting the body of the statue onto the restored base was child’s play by comparison to fixing the base. The two pieces were joined, aligned and attached over the course of work on February 5.

Much to our delight on our last day of work (February 7), I found Sekhmet’s left hand sitting on a block in the temple, and the conservators found her right ankle among the miscellaneous chunks of diorite nearby.

Mohamed, Salah and I check to be sure that the hand really does fit. It snapped into place beautifully.

By February 6th, the detached pieces of knee, right leg and back were in place, and on the 7th, Mohamed and Salah re-attached what is left of the statue’s torso. Now instead of just a lower half, we have an almost complete statue. Here is how she looked at the end of work. An improvised funnel on her right knee allows epoxy to be infused into a deep crack between the knees and the body of the statue.

As you can see from the picture of the statue’s right side, there is still considerable work to do to fill in the many cracks in the stone, some shallow, some deep. Mohamed has the painstaking task using an epoxy colored to match the stone. Without this infilling, moisture and dirt can infiltrate the cracks and cause further damage to the statue. He and Salah will stay on at the site to finish the work after we have gone.

Posted by Mary McKercher

[brooklynmuseum]

Dig Diary, March 3, 2017:

We arrived in Luxor on March 1 for a short study season at the Mut Precinct – and were just in time to catch a parade celebrating youth from all Egypt’s provinces. This group is performing a traditional stick-dance called “Tahtib” that began as a martial art form and dates back to the Old Kingdom.

This gentleman is one of a group of dancers who twirl huge disks of cloth while dancing below them. Their control of this unwieldy material is awesome.

And what parade would be complete without a camel?

Posted by Mary McKercher

[brooklynmuseum]

Dig Diary, February 18, 2018:

In this post we will try to give you some idea of why we love going back to Mut and Luxor year after year, beyond the thrill of archaeology. Quite simply, they are among the most beautiful places we know. A large part of the beauty has to do with light. Early mornings are particularly lovely, a slight mist softening the light without dimming the clarity of the reliefs.

Later in the day, as the light strengthens, monuments stand out dramatically, as in this view to the northwest of the second and first courts of the Mut Temple, taken around 10 am.

There is often a heavy haze in the late afternoon, particularly when farmers are burning off the stubble in their fields after harvesting sugar cane. The setting sun casts a golden glow over the softened outlines of buildings and feluccas on the far shore.

It’s not just the site we love, but the view across the Nile as well. The cliffs are always dramatically lit, whether at dawn, midday or sunset, and stand in stark contrast to the green of the shore and the blue of the river.

Of course, the cliffs aren’t always visible. This is pretty much the same view as the preceding picture, but in the middle of a sandstorm in 2017 that completely obliterated the view of the cliffs and most of the Nile itself. Think of a blizzard, with sand instead of snow. At least you don’t have to shovel after a sandstorm!

One of Mut’s main attractions is the sacred lake, called the Isheru, seen here in the early morning. The site, and particularly the Isheru are a birder’s paradise. Although open to tourists, the Mut Precinct is still rarely visited and so the Isheru has become a haven for many species of water birds, a few of which are shown here.

A squacco heron half hidden in the reeds at the edge of the lake

A pair of red stilts on the shore.

A northern shoveler, a bird that we don’t see very often at Mut.

A group of cattle egrets (and a few squacco herons) in the reeds.

A flock of cormorants at sunset, admittedly over the Nile not the Isheru.

It’s not just water birds who frequent the site. One of our favorite small birds is the brilliant green bee eater, perched here on the head of a Sekhmet statue.

This blue rock thrush posed for a picture one morning on a block in Temple A.

And then there are the bigger birds, like the hooded crow, with its elegant grey and black plumage.

We also get raptors, such as this female kestrel, photographed by Jaap.

This kite posed obligingly on the building next to our hotel one evening.

And finally, this kite, its wings gilded by the setting sun.

It’s always hard to say goodbye at the end of the season. After we said our farewells to our workers and colleagues on February 7, Richard, Julia and Jaap rested for a few minutes on the mastaba just inside the precinct entrance while Mary locked up our equipment storeroom for the last time this year. Jaap and Julia are taking one last photo (probably of a bird – they are avid birders) as Richard looks on. See you next year.

Posted by Richard Fazzini and Mary McKercher