Benson, Margaret; Gourlay, Janet: The temple of Mut in Asher: an account of the excavation of the temple and of the religious representations and objects found therein, as illustrating the history of Egypt and the main religious ideas of the Egyptians (London, 1899)

CHAP. III.]

THE FIRST DISCOVERIES.

31

part which he uncovered and that which he was
unable to excavate.

We then worked round the westerly part of the
court, uncovering eight lion-headed statues, of which
five were fairly complete, two had lost their heads,
and one was a particularly large one, of w hich only
the upper half was complete.

Some of these bore the cartouche of Amen-
hetep III., some that of Sheshanq I. But we found
here and elsewhere that it was impossible to
find on the latter any trace of an earlier cartouche
chiselled out. When this is done it is often very
roughly performed. At Deir el Bahari for instance
even feminine pronouns are left where Hatshepsut's
cartouche is usurped by a king's name, and the
erased cartouche shows as a distinctly depressed
oval. Here on the contrary, unless all the front
was chiselled, which is a refinement the Egyptians
were not prone to affect, no erasure has been made.
Sheshanq's cartouche is not so well or deeply
chiselled as Amenhetep's.

As we turned the corner of the north wall towards
the west, we came upon the one good find of the year,
and it was a great surprise to all of us (plan no. 1).

We were riding out to the temple when we were
met by a boy running towards Luxor. He shouted
out " Antica," and told my donkey-boy that he was
going for a rope, for there was a fine discovery.
" Very good—little man so high," my boy said,
holding his hand about two feet from the ground.