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Sunday, January 25, 2009


Franck, Laurent and Christophe work on the columns.

Franck, Laurent, and Christophe are working hard to complete the rebuilding of the Hatshepsut portico. The concrete pads to hold the columns are progressing, the first one on the east side now more than half finished. Meanwhile Laurent and Christophe work outside the front gate of the temple to trim the large sandstone blocks brought from the Silsila quarry. Soon they will be brought into the first court where the masons will transform them.

Laying brick on the pads.
Working on the blocks.
Trimming the sandstone blocks.

Notebooks on the table.
View of trench H.

Now that the supervisors are reduced to Andrew, Chuck, and myself all the notebooks are laid on the tables to retrieve easily (Andrew’s organization contribution!). Work in trench H now proceeds with the transfer of small undecorated stone from the side of the trench into the rear of H which will soon be refilled, reburying the stone too. We prepare now to open trench H Ext. following the line of the embankment. You can see that the stone course in the H baulk is east of most of the line of the wall, and for this reason we wish to expose it further in order to more properly map it.

View of trench H.

Cleaning inscribed blocks in trench I.
Kent at work.

In trench I Kent has come down to clean the inscribed blocks reused in the embankment. Picking carefully at the dirt and accretion on the inscriptions, Kent continues the work that Hiroko began. Qufti Yasin informs Andrew that he now has stone in the far southeast of the square, and this is a most welcome bit of information.

View of the work in trench I.

A visit from ARCE Director Gerry Scott.

Today ARCE Director Gerry Scott has arrived to see the work at the lake and in the temple. ARCE USAID grants are supporting the work in both areas, and we are highly grateful for the support of our archaeological work. Gerry looks at the display area with the trial roofing, and with Shari Saunders, his Assistant Director, we discuss plans to complete the protective shade. Likewise we stop to look at the columns, and as I assure Gerry that Franck said he was making quick progress, Franck mutters, and we all burst out laughing.

Looking at the columns.

Meanwhile Fraser Parsons and Engineer Magdy visit the east quay area to try to give us a little more dryness. They do some shifting of the pumps, and we are given the hope that we’ll be able to keep digging.

Shifting the pumps.

 

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