Mary McKercher
Mary McKercher holds a BA in Ancient Near Eastern Studies (specializing in Egypt) from the University of Toronto and is also a trained archaeologist. In 1979 she joined the Brooklyn Museum’s expedition to the
Precinct of the Goddess Mut at South Karnak as photographer and archaeologist, roles she continues to fill. She has contributed to the Mut Expedition’s “Dig Diary” since it began in 2005, and put together the photographs for the
8 Mut Expedition photo sets on the museum’s Flickr site. With her husband, Richard Fazzini, she has also researched and written about the West’s ongoing fascination with ancient Egypt, commonly known as Egyptomania.
It’s hard to believe that the season is almost over: this was our last full week of work, and it has been hot. Still, we finally reached the level of the paving west of the Taharqa Gate. In the center and north the paving is fairly well-preserved. On the south, however, it has been widely robbed out. Directly above the paving lies about 50 cm of fairly compact soil (although still with considerable amounts of pottery) that built up over the years and was probably a walking surface. Built on this level is the mud brick wall mentioned last week that forms the southern boundary of the area. (more…)
The month on the traditional Egyptian calendar known as “Imsheer” (mid-February to mid-March) began this week and so far is living up to its reputation for unpredictable weather and high winds. Monday was incredibly hot. Tuesday the site was scoured all day by clouds of dust borne on the blustery Imsheer winds that continued to kick up on Wednesday. No treat for people or digital cameras. (more…)
We are so happy that William and Elsie Peck could join us again this year. After a look around the site first thing Saturday morning (their first day), they had a chance to catch up with Jay van Rensselaer, the Johns Hopkins University Expedition’s photographer.
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We flew up to Luxor from Cairo on January 13. The view out the window was absorbing: the mountains of the eastern desert always take my breath away. And the contrast between the fertile fields and the desert edge is dramatic. The desert begins precisely where the irrigation stops. You can literally stand with one foot in a green field and the other in desert sand. (more…)
Richard and I spent most of our last days at Mut photographing pot sherds, a necessary but decidedly unphotogenic task. However, I did have time to take a few other photographs, mainly in the early morning before starting on the pots, that I thought readers of this blog might enjoy. One of the most wonderful things about Egypt is the light: the strong golds and reds of dawn and sunset, the sharp shadows of mid-morning and afternoon, and even the blaze of the sun at noon are a photographer’s dream. Many of the photos here owe their interest to the quality of the light. Click on any images in the slideshow to view the captions or explore further at Flickr.
Slideshow created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.
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