Jane has been extremely busy over the past few weeks, and has not been able to catch up on her lecture notes on her Tour Egypt Blog - she has recently posted this report, which I have edited for the Luxor Egyptology website..

I was really looking forward to this lecture both for the subject and also because lectures from Mr Mansour are very informative and the presentation very slick. I am glad to say I was not disappointed. Many apologies for the delay in getting these notes out. Although I have been diligently taking notes I have not been as diligent in writing them up. But I will.

I also took some photos during the lecture which I have included in this report.  They may not be great photographs, but at least you can get an idea of what was discussed. (I've included identical pictures from my own collection, where applicable - SWK)

The excavation at the front of Karnak has been going on for 2 years and the team has been under considerable stress because of the redevelopment in the area. Sometimes the team were competing with the Army who wanted to get on with the redevelopment whilst the SCA were trying to excavate. Further excavation will be taking place when some more houses are demolished in the area.

When they started work, Karnak was surrounded by slums, shops and the stadium and could not be seen from the Nile. The parking area was directly in front of the temple and there were guard towers and a checkpoint that were unneeded and created the wrong impression for visitors to Karnak.

The original redevelopment plan was based on the knowledge of the temple at that time which in itself was based on an interpretation of a plan in the tomb of Neferhotep TT49. This has proved to be incorrect and the redevelopment plan has been altered as a consequence.

It is now believed that the first pylon shown in the tomb of Neferhotep is the present third pylon so the water basin or marina shown in the tomb was actually in the area of the current hypostyle hall

Chevrier did make soundings at the front of Karnak but basically the area had not really been excavated. The excavations of the SCA revealed mud brick constructions, and they managed to convince the army to let them investigate further.

They then found a big wall and in front of it was Nile sediment which indicated that there had been an embankment and that the Nile came right up to the front of Karnak. Later on when the Nile retreated there was Roman occupation at the front of Karnak and the wall was used as foundation for the Roman structures,

Mr Mansour was quite revealing about the difficulties of balancing the needs of tourism, redevelopment and excavation and how they had to persuade people like Dr Samir Farag the governor of Luxor to alter their plans.

The additions consisted of recycled blocks from the 29th dynasty and he believes that in Ptolemaic times they had to increase the height of the wall to partially protect Karnak from the flood waters of the inundation. They found remains of the flood on the third course. The wall did not prevent the flood entering the temple. Nile sediments were found right next to the temple. The occupation of the site began in Ptolemaic times. In the course of the excavation they found amulets, seeds and Roman period statues.

Below are two photos showing the front of Karnak temple before any restoration, and how the annual inundation affected it.

In 1972 excavation took place at the front of the temple and the harbour quayside was found, with the ramps leading to the riverbank, with houses on top. A third ramp was discovered once they started and then further work revealed that Taharqa had put his more gently sloping ramp in the middle of an older sharper sloping ramp.

Taharqa's ramp - taken 3 weeks ago - below is a general view of these excavations

A structure variously identified as a sink or fish pond is thought by Mansour to be a remnant of a tower for keeping pigeons to supply food for the people who made their homes on the ramp. Courses were laid in Ptolemaic times evidenced by the chisel markings.

By this time the quay had ceased to function and the wall was extended to protect the temple. Objects found during the excavation include lots of pottery, offering tables, beads, coins, iron and bronze nails, small statue of Osiris and parts of other statues which had been used as hard core. Many of the remains depict Horemheb and Tutankamun s so the back filling of the area probably took place in the 19th dynasty.

The Roman period occupation was on a much higher level so that is why the wall was protected from being recycled as it had been buried centuries before.

They found some canals which lead to some Ptolemaic baths; these were only used for a short time before the Romans built on top of them. There were two baths based on the wall, the upper surface was exposed so the Nile must have shifted by then. There were 2 basins supplying the baths and they were tiled with mosaics of fish and dolphins with dolphin shaped armrests at the entrance. Baths were an ancient version of the coffee shop and men would meet and do business in them.

Behind the seated bather would be a niche where he could put his towels and clothing.

The pottery found in the area enabled the excavators to identify it as a Ptolemaic building.

A jar containing Roman coins was found, one of the biggest found in Egypt. In it were a total of 316 coins some of which came from the reign of Ptolemy III and had a hole in the centre which was filled with lead which identified them for use in Egypt only.

 

(Jane's blog can be found at http://touregypt.net/teblog/luxornews/ )