THaWS Project – Start of the week survey at Kom el Hetan
The start of another busy week in Thebes and the team headed back to the West Bank to commence GPR and ERT survey in the vicinity of Kom El Hetan and the Colossi of Memnon. The bus stopped however for a short visit to the impressive brickworks on the east bank to the south of Luxor. A massive chimney and a series of arched entrances leading to the kilns mark the site on the banks of the Nile.
Chimney at the brickworks
Staircase on western curved side of the brickwork kilns
In addition to the main double row of kiln entrances and the office building, a set of mudbrick stairs run up to the terrace of the kilns. A great little industrial site in some disrepair, and a diversion to the main tasks of the day on the West Bank.
The team also visited the University of Memphis team at tomb TT16 . Amazing wall and ceiling paintings in the first and second chambers, and really interesting to see how work was progressing. However this still wasn’t getting our tam on to the main business of the day.
We finally got to Kom El Hetan and the Colossi of Memnon Project who have spent the last 15 years excavating and reconstructing the colossi and other statues of the temple of Amonhotep III. The plan was to expand on last year’s survey with the kind invitation of Dr Hourig Sourouzian using GPR and ERT in the area of the Colossi to look at the line of the canal running between the Colossi to the Nile.
Dominic Barker using the GPR at the Colossi of Memnon
GPR survey under way
A grid for the GPR survey was established, and the first 15m of the ground behind the Colossi were surveyed today. Some correlations in the results in terms of the temple axis and position of the Colossi, but any further inference will have to wait for more data processing.
A 95m ERT profile was also set out immediately to the west, going to a depth of approximately 8m to see if the profile of a canal is visible.
ERT profile at the Colossi
Hopefully the results of the survey will give us some idea of the presence or absence of channel and other features associated with access to the area from the Nile. Work will carry on here tomorrow, with some more GPR profiles corresponding with last year’s work to be completed.
