Dig Diary, February 7, 2016:Mut’s sacred lake (the Isheru) attracts a number of birds, including the

Dig Diary, February 7, 2016:Mut’s sacred lake (the Isheru) attracts a number of birds, including these two squacco herons who kindly posed for us on February 3, one of our few calm mornings this year.On January 30 we had a visit from a group of graduate students from the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo, led by Dr. Marleen De Meyer (center, in blue). They seem to be enjoying talking with Richard. In the background is part of the village that abuts the Mut Precinct’s west enclosure wall. We are anything but isolated.Our team reached its full strength this week with the arrival of Julia Harvey and Benson Harer (“Dr. Ben”), a retired physician who has worked with us for many years. They immediately got down to sorting pottery, which Julia will photograph and Ben will draw.We were excited to reach the Dynasty 25 paving in our eastern square on February 1. Abdel Hamid has done a terrific job digging through mostly boring debris and looks justly pleased finally to have something interesting to deal with.Archaeology isn’t just the thrill of discovery. It also involves things like dealing with pottery (see above) and mapping features such as paving, a job I began on February 4. It is painstaking work requiring concentration and an ability to remember numbers.The western square still continues to produce enormous amounts of pottery, although we seem to be getting to the end of that stratum. In this view to the northeast taken February 2, you can see all the major features: the wall that runs along the east baulk (right), the diagonal wall in the northwest corner (left) that was built on top of the pottery layer, the pottery layer itself (with meter stick) and an area of darker, ashy earth on the east side of the square. This seems to be the level into which a pit was cut to dump pottery, which then built up in a heap.We have quite a pleasant setup this year. The Johns Hopkins team has loaned us one of their marquees to use as our office. It is very conveniently located: about halfway between the east and west squares with the pottery mats to the south and a great view of the Isheru. The marquee (called a “shamsiya”, which means sunshade) provides very welcome shelter when the sun gets too strong. It has only one drawback. In a strong wind, of which we have had many this year, the shamsiya tends to become airborne, and has to be chased and captured. On really windy days we don’t bother putting it up as it can be a bit dangerous.Early in the week we finished building the protective mud brick wall along the face of the north enclosure wall west of the precinct entrance. You are looking east along the wall to the precinct entrance in the background.Every season seems to produce at least one mystery object. Here is the 2016 item, which came from the pottery cache in the western square. The horizontal piece is solid, so it is not a pipe (as we first conjectured). The vertical section is hollow and its lower part has what looks like a ram’s fleece. We have no idea what it is. Any ideas?Posted by Mary McKercher -- source link

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