Mut 2008: Sights at the Site and Beyond

The Brooklyn Museum’s archaeological expedition to the Precinct of Mut at South Karnak took to the field again in January-March 2008. The season’s work is chronicled in words and pictures in the 2008 Dig Diary on the museum’s website. The photographs presented here offer a glimpse beyond the Precinct. Photos and commentary are both by Mary McKercher, photographer for the Mut Expedition.

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.

-Mary McKercher

About the Mut Expedition

Since 1976, the Brooklyn Museum has been carrying out archaeological work at the Temple Precinct of the Goddess Mut (pronounced "Moot") at South Karnak, an important religious site for almost two thousand years. The Mut Precinct is perhaps best known for its statues of Sakhmet, many of which are now housed in museums (including the Brooklyn Museum). Hundreds of these statues remain within the Precinct's walls. The Museum's team, which has shared the site with an expedition from Johns Hopkins University since 2001, continues to explore how the Mut Precinct grew and what its inscriptions reveal about ancient Egyptian religion and life. Both expeditions are also devoted to the conservation and restoration of the site's monuments.

More information at the Brooklyn Museumwebsite.

More Mut photos in this Flickr Collection.

Read the Dig Diary 2008!

26 photos | 158 views

items are from between 13 Mar 2007 & 13 Mar 2008.