Working together with the ARCE project team we got a great deal accomplished this season in preparing the site to open to visitors. Most of the work consisted of organizing a mass of inscribed and decorated blocks and getting them … Continue reading…

Our last day of excavation was February 28, but we still have work to do. Since we are leaving Luxor next week, this will be our last post from the field. We will do one last wrap-up posting on March … Continue reading…

Jaap’s wife, Egyptologist Julia Harvey, arrived on February 15, completing this season’s small team. Julia has agreed to take on the pottery, with which she has considerable experience. She already has the first batches sorted and organized.

According to the late French scholar, Agnes Cabrol, these 3 badly damaged sphinxes sitting east of Chapel D date stylistically to the reign of Ramesses III and probably had originally been part of a sphinx avenue leading north from that … Continue reading…

Our first day at the site this year was February 6, so most of this first posting will be about how the site has changed since we left in January 2011. In February 2012 the American Research Center in Egypt, … Continue reading…

Because of potential unrest, no foreign missions were allowed to work in the field on Saturday, January 29, so we weren’t able to get back to the paving until Sunday. By late morning Abdel Aziz and Mamdouh had taken down … Continue reading…

This is the posting intended for January 28 but not sent because of the lack of internet service in Egypt at that time. Richard and I have decided to post this dig diary entry as originally written and will follow … Continue reading…

On January 15 we finished removing the baulk stub over the remains of the southern boundary wall of the Taharqa Gate approach. In this view to the northeast, you can now see that we have a single, wide wall that … Continue reading…

We began what will be mainly a study season on January 11 with the traditional cutting of the camel thorn. Fortunately there isn’t much as we had arranged with the SCA and Reis Farouk to have our part of the … Continue reading…

The formal report on the 2010 season of work at the Mut Precinct, in English and Arabic, is now available online in the Mut feature on our website. As those of you who followed the 2010 dig diary will remember, … Continue reading…

In this last dig diary for 2010 I want to acknowledge the hard work, skill and patience of some of the most important members of our team: the Egyptian technicians without whom the work would not be possible. This year … Continue reading…

The base of this sphinx east of the precinct entrance is made up mainly of re-used blocks dating to Dynasties 25-26. The one under the sphinx’s paws, for instance, is half of a lintel from a chapel of Montuemhat. Of … Continue reading…

A general view of the excavation area on Thursday around noon. What you can’t see is how hot it is: 100°F on the site every day this week, which unusual for February. The heat is hard on everyone, but the … Continue reading…

A view south from the precinct’s north enclosure wall of the whole area where we are now working. At the left are Chapel D and the Taharqa Gate; in the center the paving of the approach to the gate; and … Continue reading…