One of the first tasks this season was the removal of several large blocks from the front of the Mut Temple 's columned porch. To our surprise, one of them had a well preserved scene of the goddess Mut placing her hand on the shoulder of a blue-skinned Amun. |
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With grunts of effort and shouted directions, the block with the carving of Mut and Amun is carefully slid out of the columned porch in a scene that is probably reminiscent of the one three and a half millennia ago when it was first installed.
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After its safe removal from the columned porch, the block is taken away to await study and conservation. |
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While excavating in the front of the temple's columned porch, we find a piece of stone that is clearly an architectural element. A quick picture is taken of the block in situ , or ‘in place'.
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When the block is removed from the surrounding soil we find another surprise. On one face is a sketch in red of…well, we're not exactly sure yet. These types of red sketches were used by Ancient Egyptian artists to create a preliminary outline of an image before the colors and details were applied. After the block is cleaned we hope to be able to figure out exactly what this is an outline of. |
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| Return to part one of today's images. |
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