Like New York, Cairo is a city that never sleeps, and the floating restaurants and nightclubs along the Nile are a main focus of activity. All expedition leaders have to pass through Cairo in order to complete the paperwork with the Ministry of Antiquities that allows them to dig. We arrived on January 15, signed the contracts on the 16th and were off to Luxor on the 17th for another season in the Mut Precinct.
On January 18 we presented our papers to the Luxor officials of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. Only when that was done could we make our first visit the Mut Precinct. We were very happy to see Betsy Bryan, Director of the Johns Hopkins University Mut Expedition (third from the left). It was a very pleasant surprise to encounter both Salima Ikram, a specialist in faunal remains, and an old Egyptian colleague, Sayed Hegazy (second from the left) at the site.
We also caught up with Abdel Aziz, our foreman for several years; and met Mai, the inspector who will be with us for the 2018 season. Work starts on Saturday, January 20 and we look forward to a pleasant and productive season, if a short one.
The twin spires of Luxor's new cathedral and a nearby minaret seen at dawn on January 19.
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