The Expedition - 1. Chapter 1

“Mrs. Mathews, will you check and see if Dr. Ashraf is in his office? If he is. pleases ask him to come and see me.”

I continued to study the latest NASA photos of Egypt. There was something strange about this newest photo. “Mahmoud, I’ve been looking at the latest NASA photo of Egypt. There is a dark object showing up in this quadrant. Take a look.”

I watched as he looked at the photo. “Let me get the previous photo. I’ll be right back.”

Dr. Ashraf and I are archeologists and teach at the University of Cranfield. We have been together on several expeditions in Italy, Greece, and Egypt. If my observation is correct, we will be spending the summer in Egypt.

Egypt isn’t foreign to us. Dr. Ashraf is from Egypt, and I met him on my first expedition to Egypt. Since then, we have been a team.

“Howard, I think you may have found something. This area of Egypt is barren. It’s too far from the Nile, and to the best of my knowledge, there isn’t any water in that area.”

For the next two months, we prepared for the expedition. Mahmoud contacted Dr. Mostafa Atef of the Egyptian Department of Antiquities, a division of the Cairo Museum. He would be a part of the expedition.

I ordered three containers to hold our supplies and equipment. I augmented our GPR with LIDAR. This device will expand our use of the GPR. It will allow us to get an idea of any structure underground.

With school out for the summer, we headed to Cairo, Egypt. We would meet Dr. Atef in Cairo and then take a boat up the Nile to the city of Aswan. Total flight time was a little over 5 hours, but by the time we had cleared customs and made arrangements to have our containers moved to our hotel, seven hours had passed. Dr, Atef met us at the departure gate.

“I have arranged for your containers to be delivered to the boat. I suggest tonight you stay at the hotel and we will leave in the morning. It will take the boat about five days to reach Aswan.”

“Mostafa, why don’t you have dinner with us, and I’ll show what has piqued our interest?”

We checked in at the hotel and planned on having dinner there.

Over dinner that evening, I showed Mostafa the photos. “I don’t think there is anything there unless it is buried quite deep. This photo is quite interesting. I’m glad you have included me in this exploration.”

He was right. Until we found something of interest, it was an exploration of the site. If we find evidence of something of interest, then we will gear up for a full expedition.

We rose early in the morning, excited to get started. Over breakfast, Mostafa told us about the area on the map. “This area here is part of the Al Wahat Al Dakhla Desert. The only settlement in this area is the city of Mut with a population of approximately 24,000.”

We bordered our boat in Cairo and headed toward Aswan. Total trip would give us plenty of time to discuss the photos and the area where we would eventually set up camp.

“Mostafa, where is this area in terms of Mut and Aswan.”

“If the photo is any indication, it seems to be at the intersection of a direct line from Mut south and Aswan east.”

“MUT is an odd name. What does it mean?”

“MUT was an ancient goddess that was worshipped as the mother of the gods and goddesses. She was also considered the mother of creation. And sometimes referred to as the divine mother. Her husband was RA, creator of the universe. The wives of the pharaohs were her priestess. They had one son, Khonsu known as the lunar child.”

“And this city was named after her?”

“They built the city around an oasis. This area is part of the Great Western Desert. Since MUT was considered the mother of creation, the settlement was dedicated to MUT. Thence the name.”

“I think it is strange that these ancient people create a religion similar to the religion of the Hebrews and Christians of today. Ra would be the same as the Biblical God, and MUT could be similar to the Biblical Eve. It seems that people always needed a god in their lives.”

“I believe in their need to understand the world around them. They created these gods. They would be someone they could turn to when they couldn’t handle the problems in their lives. They handed these problems off to these gods to handle for them.”

“So this dark spot on this photo could be something to do with MUT?”

“I don’t know, but it is certainly a possibility. Mostafa, in your knowledge of the expeditions here, has anyone turned up a site, building, or pyramid dedicated to MUT?”

“Yes, there are the ruins of a temple in MUT. The Karnak temple was built as a cult temple dedicated to MUT and RA.”

“So it is possible this dark spot could be a temple.”

“It is possible.”

When we arrived at Luxor, Mostafa made arrangements for trucks, equipment, tents, and men to meet us in Aswan.

The trip from Luxor to Aswan took a little over 3 hours. Arriving in Aswan, I was ready to head to the site. Mostafa laughed, “We have the equipment but we need to buy drums of water and food to last for two weeks. I need to set up an account with the vendor. When we get low on supplies, I can send a truck back. Periodically, we will need to pay for our account.”

I knew from previous expeditions this was the standard operation when working in the desert. I was just excited about getting to the site.