Precinct of Mut
To the south of the sacred lake is a vast amount of land currently being excavated by Betsy Bryan and her team from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.
The Mut Temple proper was made of mediocre sandstone and it is positioned north and south and is directly aligned with the Precinct of Amun.
The Brooklyn Museum mentions one other important monument found on the site is the Taharqa gateway that is about 7 yards wide and is oriented south and west, it was built to enlarge the Mut Precinct and opened a new pathway to Temple A.
The sacred lake, Isheru, was man made and held religious importance to the cult of the goddess Mut.
[1] Mut was the Egyptian sky goddess and her symbols were the vulture, lioness and the crown of Uraeus (rearing cobra).
[1] Amenhotep III was originally thought to have been the first to build the Mut Temple, but now evidence tells us he contributed later to the site.
Ptolemy VI during the Ptolemaic period erected a small chapel inside the Mut Temple proper.
[1] The photographs, journals and maps that dated to the early excavations have added insight as to how the Mut Precinct could have looked at the time of each exploration.
During her excavations Benson cleared the First and Second courts, as well as the Contra Temple and uncovered many high quality pieces of statues.
[4] Amenhotep III described Sekhmet as the terrible, mighty goddess of war and strife and her origins came from the earlier Memphite triad as the mother-goddess, and she eventually became recognized with the local Theban deity, Mut.
[4]: 3 According to Porter and Moss (1960), most of the statues came from the actual site, but some possibly came from the Mortuary Temple of Amenhotep III on the west bank of the Nile.
Between 2001 and 2004, the Johns Hopkins expedition catalogued quite a number of female figurines found in the industrial areas south of the Sacred Lake.
Type 3 figurines are molded from Nile silt or marl clay with flat backs, heavy hairstyles and high foreheads.
Type 4 are made from Nile silt as well and are greatest identified by their pinched heads, projecting arms facing outwards, one existing breast and wide hips.
[6] Between 2002 and 2004, the excavation of the Mut Precinct, conducted by Bryan and her team, revealed a section of New Kingdom work fixings that included baking and brewing centers, as well as granaries.
In January 2006, the expedition, after clearing some debris, found a life-sized statue of Queen Tiy, the wife of Amenhotep III, made of granite and that dates back to the 21st Dynasty.
