We’re baaa-ack! Can you believe this sunrise? It’s so inspiring to arrive at the Temple of Mut and have the dawn all around you. Notice the guard’s hut in the photo, and the little fire burning. It really is a bit chilly, but who cares? |
The 2004 group amasses in the forecourt of the Mut Temple as we prepare to watch the “opening of the magazine”. In Egypt a ritual develops without any intent. |
The “opening of the magazine” in progress, as the turia is slung against the brick and cement wall built last year at the end of our season. Behind this door is our storeroom housing our equipment, but for us this is the moment we’ve been waiting for. |
Our work begins with a tour of the Mut Temple Precinct. Here we are in the first court of the Mut Temple, where the Brooklyn Museum Expedition has been conserving the Sakhmet statues for several years. Last season we had pebbles laid down on the courtyard surface before we left, so that the halfa grasses and camel thorn would be discouraged from their regular invasion of the rock in the temple. It appears to have helped. |
In the second court of the Temple, JHU has likewise done conservation of the Sakhmet statues, thanks to Lori Trusheim, our skilled conservator from last season. These Sakhmets, captured in photo by Lisa Bryan, line the western wall of the court. |
Our first group picture, taken at the rear of the Mut Temple: left to right, front row:Lisa Bryan, Kathy Barbash, Elaine Sullivan, Katie Knight, Max Farrar, Heather Reeves, Second row: Fatma Ismail, Maria Malbroux, Third row: Violaine Chauvet, Betsy Bryan, Jackie Williamson, Scott Rufolo, Peter Sadow, Elizabeth Waraksa, Kate Rydstrom, Adam Maskevich. |
   
The first task is to untangle the string attached to our trench stakes from last season, and here we have a wide range of people involved in that task. Kate approaching the fearsome ball of knots; Lisa untangling her string, many hands at work, and Violaine trying to stretch the string like a good ancient Egyptian king building a temple. |
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Lisa, Kathy, and Jackie are going to leave us for a while. They will form the new “photographers team” being trained by Jay at Beit Canada. Here they are talking about their role and wondering what they will have to learn. |
Elaine will be running her own squares near the rear of the precint this year. She will base her dissertation on the results from this area – which we hope will be a good sample of the architecture and material remains of ancient Thebes in the New Kingdom – but, since we’re archaeologists and not soothsayers – of whatever emerges. |
Scott and Violaine measure for his trench, with Katie, Lisa, and Jackie looking on. Getting started is always a challenge…. |
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