Medamud, Egypt | An Archaeological Team Discovered an Undocumented Sacred Lake at Montu Temple Site In the Luxor Governorate

A Joint Chinese - Egyptian archaeological team has discovered a previously undocumented sacred lake at Montu Temple site  in Medamud, a village in the Luxor Governorate,located within the Karnak Temple comple in the Luxor Governorate, about 8 kilometres east - north east of Karnak, a site part of an ancient Egyptian temple complex dedicated to the falcon - headed war god Montu.

This discovery reported by Global Times, China’s most informative English - language newspaper, is a newly uncovered rectangular basin, measuring about 6.5 by 6 metres and cover 50 square metres, located west of the Temple of Maat, a small, partly ruined New Kingdom shrine within the Precinct of Montu that was likely constructed by Hatshepsut, the sixth pharaoh of the Eighteen Dynasty of Egypt and later rebuilt by Thutmose III,  also known as Thutmose the Great, the fifth pharaoh of the same dynasty.

 Researchers say that the site including the sacred lake was a ritual space dedicated to Ma'at or Maat the goddess of balance, harmony,  justice, law, morality, order, and truth, often depicted as a woman with an ostrich feather, she embodied the core principles that maintained cosmic harmony and regulated the stars, seasons, and actions of both mortals and deities, crucial in the afterlife, where her feather was weighted against the hearts of the deceased.

The structure over the lake is well preserved, with mud - brick and sandstone elements and steps along the eastern wall.

 Archaeologists found that the banks of the lake were reinforced and repaired several times from the 30th Dynasty to the Roman period. A reused sandstone block in the staircase may date back to an earlier gateway of the Maat Temple from the 25th Dynasty.

 The reservoir has been named the “Southern sacred lake”, distinguishing it from the sacred lake previously recorded in the area and forming a rare twin - lake layout within the same temple precinct.

Additional discoveries include cattle jawbones and reused stone blocks linked to royal figures and the Divine Adoratrice of Amun, a title held by elite priestesses serving as chief cultic representatives in the Amun cult from the Late Period (747BC – 332BC). According to the scientists, these reused blocks will provide materials for determining the origin and period of the sacred lake.

Link

https://tvbrics.com/en/news/archaeologists-uncover-ancient-sacred-lake-in-egypt/