Tenth International Congress of Egyptologists Abstracts of Papers

XICE – Abstract of Papers
mastaba-tombs on behalf of Cairo University. In March 2000 a joint expedition of
Cairo University and Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, under the
direction of Prof. Dr. Tohfa Handoussa and Dr. Edward Brovarski, resumed work in
the Abu Bakr Cemetery with the purpose of recording and publishing the tombs
uncovered by that eminent scholar.
To date some seventeen stone or mud brick mastabas with inscribed and decorated
elements have been copied, including the wholly decorated chapel of the Overseer of
All the King’s Works, Persen. In addition, numerous inscribed offering basins, false
door panels with table scenes, lintels and drums attest to the identity and status of
other individuals buried in the Abu Bakr Cemetery. A brewer, a corn measurer, a
master of the seat, an overseer of eight (men) of a boat, an overseer of six (men) of a
boat, a scribe, a chief carpenter, two elders of the house, a tenant-farmer of the palace,
and several ka-priests all owned small tombs in the cemetery. Regrettably, Abu
Bakr’s maps, plans, and field notes were lost. The expedition was therefore faced with
the task of reclearing the entire cemetery in order to map the location of tombs and
plan them and their shafts. To date, the project’s six seasons of field work have
produced over 16,000 survey points, mapping a majority of the visible structures on
the eight-acre sight. The present paper presents an overview of the six seasons of field
work in the Abu Bakr Cemetery.
The origins of the Temple of Mut: new discoveries in and beneath the temple,
2004-2007
Betsy Bryan
Since 2004, the Johns Hopkins University expedition has been working to conserve
and restore the court and porch of the Temple of Mut. During the work for these
efforts, highly endangered sandstone walls and foundations have been dismantled and
rebuilt. During this work, decorated blocks found reused in the Late Period
foundations have been replaced by newly quarried sandstone from Gebel es Silsila,
and conservation of the earlier material has been carried out. Many blocks of the
Thutmoside stone temple were recovered in this manner and following conservation
efforts have been installed in an Open Air display at the rear of the Temple.
Excavations beneath the porch in 2006 revealed an earlier mud brick form of the
temple underlays at least the front parts and includes what appear to be flanks of a
gate or pylon, as well as surrounding wall. The date of this structure appears to be the
late Second Intermediate Period, but it may have existed earlier as well. Also found
beneath the level of the present porch (dated to ca. late Twenty-fifth Dynasty) were a
gate and porch of the coregency of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, buried before the
end of the latter’s reign. No evidence of the proscription of Hatshepsut exists on these
building elements, although it may be found on all the Thutmoside blocks found as
reused material. The gate and porch were dismantled in the reign of Thutmose III,
while the sandstone blocks found reused in the foundations, show the evidence of
removal of Hatshepsut, Amarna mutilations, Post-amarna restorations and additions,
and Ramesside and/or Third Intermediate Period changes. As a result of the work
done through early 2008, the architectural development of the Temple of Mut is better
known now, but there is far more to be learned.
The cultic significance of the early temple of Mut is also part of the expedition's
investigations. Evidence emerged in 2007 that suggests that the temple existed already
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