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MAY - JUNE 2012 This is an educational web site that aims to provide the viewer with the elements of archaeological work, including the progress of excavation. The daily results are crucial to an understanding of how field investigation takes place, since decisions must be made on the basis of ongoing work. The people involved in the work are also an essential feature and contribute profoundly to the final outcomes. The focus of our diary is thus often on the people and their activities. In May 2012 Dr. Betsy Bryan returned to the Temple of Mut precinct in Luxor, Egypt with ten Johns Hopkins students: five undergraduate and five graduate. This year Dr. Bryan and her team will be working in the area behind (south of) the lake where between 2002 and 2006 industrial areas for baking, brewing, faience and ceramic production, were discovered. In 2011 additional elements of the New Kingdom temple support areas were excavated contiguous with those found in earlier seasons, including what appears to be a mud brick ramp leading north-south. The area behind the lake contains a large open area without standing buildings. At the far south where the mud brick temenos wall separated the precinct from the secular city of ancient Thebes an area was investigated in 2004-05. In 2005 Dr. Elaine Sullivan identified a 25th Dynasty storage building of mud brick in the vicinity. 2011 work adjoined this area and revealed large mud brick expanses near the surface (date uncertain but pottery was as late as the Ptolemaic era), beneath which were remains dating from the Third Intermediate Period back to the Second Intermediate Period. It became clear that occupation exists beneath the surface everywhere we excavated, but a better road map is needed. This year, therefore, Dr. Kris Strutt will come from England to conduct ERT survey down to eight meters below the surface of the area behind the Lake. Otherwise the team will continue the work in the industrial areas and will be joined briefly by Roxie Walker and Salima Ikram who are investigating the skeleton discovered last year in Square 9 (Ashley’s square) and which is that of a an executed male killed in the position of a bound and trussed captive. We are sure that this will be another fascinating season. 
This year we are joined by the following: As always, the Johns Hopkins University thanks the Minister of State for Antiquities, Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim and the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities and its Secretary General, Dr. Mustapha Amin, as well as our local SCA officials, Dr. Mansour Boraik, Director of all Luxor Monuments, and Dr. Ibrahim Soliman, Director of Karnak Temples, for their ongoing support of our archaeological work in Egypt . The Supreme Council of Antiquities supervises all fieldwork research in Egypt and also monitors and preserves the ancient monuments. To follow the day to day progress of the JHU Expedition, click on the thumbnail images in the calendar below.
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© The Johns Hopkins University 2012 |
