Monika and Maggie grab some shade as they check the notebook for the trench. Monika is one of several undergraduate archaeology majors joining us to work and gain experience. Their devotion to hard work and learning is already apparent to all.

Meredith is drawing features in square 12 where Katie is overseeing new excavation at the same time. Allie Burek is one of the archaeology majors helping this season, and here is awaiting the next assignment. This trench produced small brick areas early on but since then has revealed large expanses of magloob – bricky hard surfaces without actual bricks. These are often very challenging, because they may indicate eroded, melted, or burned original walls but may also be intentionally laid as surfaces for work or other purposes. We often will photograph and then remove the magloob in search of more formed bricks; here, however, that has not so far produced walls. In this square also, in the area of the magloob, we have found human remains, including a skull fragment and a long bone. The complete skeleton found in 2011 was in the contiguous square 9.

Kris Strutt  from the University of Southampton in the UK has joined us for a ten day period in order to carry out geophysical survey of areas behind the Sacred Lake. Kris has recently worked at North Karnak and is thus familiar with some of the subground occupation found in temple precincts. We are very excited that he will help us make more informed decisions as to where to excavate in coming seasons. Kris began with a magnetometer survey that identifies positive and negative areas up to 2 to 3 meters beneath surface. You see him carrying the magnetometer across the area gridded with stakes holding cables.

Sheri Leonard is working with Marina drawing walls, here in square 8. Sheri is a model of devotion and interest, and she has a wonderful smile in this amazing heat!