Mosques, Maadi & Min Statues

This morning, we took a cab off the island of Zamelek into the main city to the oldest mosque in Egypt, Ibn Tulun.  The drive* there was interesting- though the cab driver we had said he knew where the mosque was, it became clear fairly quickly he hadn’t a clue and he had to ask directions from another driver.  A few wrong turns later, we finally arrived there.  It is a really beautiful building, not as ostentatious as some of the more famous mosques (like the Mohammed Ali mosque on the Citadel).  The mosque is operated by the antiquities ministry, but is still a working mosque and is closed during prayer time.   Because it is a working mosque, we had to cover our hair and remove our shoes once we got in.  The colonnaded halls are really beautiful, with intricate carvings in the stone, and we really enjoyed walking around them and through the big courtyard.  Ibn Tulun also has the only minaret in Egypt with an external spiral staircase, and you can go up in it and get a pretty good view of the surrounding city.  You can even see all the way to the citadel and the Mohammed Ali mosque there.   

The colonnade surrounding the courtyard.

In the minaret.

Down the minaret!

After the mosque, we headed to Maadi for lunch and shopping.  Maadi is a suburb of Cairo which is where all the American and British ex-pats live.  Its nickname is “Little America”, which is apt, considering on one block we saw a Hardees, Starbucks, Burger King, Papa John’s, Little Caesar’s, Pizza Hut, and a KFC.  We went for dinner at Lucille’s, which is an American style diner with free refills on drinks, and big platters of diner type food.  I got a BBQ Beef sandwich, which was fantastic.  After lunch, I took the girls to this little shop I went to two years ago with Kat which has all kinds of neat Egypt souvenirs like alabaster bowls, statuettes, canopic jars, etc.  It is run (as far as I can tell) by this really sweet Coptic man who sits out front chilling out all day.  He just welcomes you in, and tells you to ask if you have any questions- there is actually no hassle to buy anything.  He is really sweet and brought us hand wipes to wipe our hands with as a lot of the stone objects were dusty.   Even though Tasha and Janelle swore they were done shopping, they each walked out with something.  I bought a stone mortar and pestle for the equivalent of $6.  I also bought three Min statuettes, which turned very entertaining when the old man told us the story of Min at the town of Achmim as he carefully wrapped our purchases in bubble wrap.   What I could understand of the story was this:  He told us that in the village all the men were gone fighting a war, but the women kept getting pregnant.  The men finally figured out it was a man called Min who was getting them pregnant, so they told him that he could lose his penis or an arm and a leg, and he chose the latter.  Afterwards, the women could no longer get pregnant in the village, so the men realized that that man was a god.  Once they built a statue to him (after he died?  I was unclear about this.), the women were able to go around it seven times, and after then they would get pregnant.   This story segued immediately into a story about how French women come in all the time for Min statues for their husbands.  Apparently their husbands really like the statues?

After buying cupcakes (because, why not) we took a cab back to Zamelek from Maadi (which took us three cabs before we managed to get one who would go all the way there).  There we got off at 26^th July street (one of the main streets in Zamelek) so that Tasha could go to The Body Shop.  We were just about to cross the street, when I heard someone calling my name, which was so weird because everyone who knew me was back in the States or in Luxor.  I turned, and saw that it was Hratch, our old professor and former member of the Edfu team.  He had just come from signing paperwork at the MSA, and by chance ran into us.  He took us for coffee at the Marriott hotel (super fancy, by the way- used to be a palace).  We spent the afternoon catching up with him.  All and all, we had a pretty nice day. 

*I know that people in the States complain about traffic lights and parking tickets all the time, but you have no idea how good they are to have.  In Cairo, there are no traffic lights, and it is a city of 20 million people, with tons of people driving.  There is no other word that I can use to describe driving in the city than clusterfuck.  Combine that with the fact that people park wherever they want (literally, we saw someone parked in the middle of a turnaround on a busy street), I’m amazed I got anywhere today.  

Pyramids & Catacombs

Today was our pyramid day- we headed out to Saqqara and Dahshur.  Basically, the pyramids of Giza, Saqqara, Abu Roash, and Dahshur are all one pyramid field, though the places have different names.  Saqqara and Dahshur are fairly close to each other, making them an easy trip.   The drive takes about an hour from Cairo, and can be longer if there is traffic, which is why we left around 7:30am.  Neither site had many tourists about- we saw maybe a total of 30 other tourists the whole day.  This had the advantage of us being able to get good pictures and look at things in peace, but it also meant that all the guides, guards, and people selling stuff converged upon us.  We had to pay out a decent amount in bakshish (essentially, tips) to get in and out of things, which is standard in Egypt (even to use the bathrooms at public places).

Saqqara, our first stop, was used as a burial ground for millennia- from the 1^st Dynasty through the Greco-Roman period.  The first pyramid, a step pyramid, was built there by Djoser of the 3^rd Dynasty.  Seeing the Step Pyramid finally was really cool- I’ve read so much about it but never had the chance to go.  The area around the Step Pyramid has many Old Kingdom mastaba tombs, as well as later Old Kingdom pyramids which haven’t survived the ages as well as the pyramids at Giza. 

The first pyramid!

Looking at tombs nearby the Step Pyramid (this one is Dynasty 5, I think).

We also got to see the Serapeum at Saqqara, which was probably the thing we looked forward to most, as it has been closed for several years and only reopened last month.  The Serapeum dates to the Late Period and later, and was where the Apis Bull was entombed upon his death.  The Apis bull was part of the cult of the god Ptah, and the Egyptians in the later periods went to a lot of expense and effort to provide for him (along with many other animal deities).  The Serapeum is a set of long caverns with branches off of the sides which held the burials of the bulls.  These are huge black granite sarcophagi, which must have been immensely difficult to move into the catacombs.  The caverns themselves are amazing, carved out of the rock.

The main hallway of the Serapeum.

That sarcophagus is huge! 

After Saqqara we took a short drive over to Dahshur to see the Red Pyramid and the Bent Pyramid, both of which were built by Sneferu of the 3^rd Dynasty.  We were only able to get into the Red Pyramid, as the Bent is closed.  Getting into the pyramid is quite a climb up the exterior, and then down a long shaft into the tomb.  It’s pretty exhausting on the legs- even runners like me and Janelle were dying!  Once you make your way down, you can see the beautiful corbel vaulted hall and then climb up to the burial chamber.  It’s well worth the energy spent climbing down (and back up).   After the Red Pyramid we drove over to the Bent Pyramid just to take a few pictures (and be a bit silly). 

Unfortunately, once we returned to the hotel this afternoon we found that the hot water heater was broken for the hotel.  A cold shower is not exactly what you want when you’ve gotten all dirty climbing around pyramids all day!

Hello, Zamelek!

The view from our hotel room, of the Chinese
ambassadorial residence.

The dig season is finally over and we are finally in Cairo!  We didn’t make it to our hotel until after midnight, so we were pretty goofy tired and not really processing much until this morning.  Our hotel is in Zamelek, which is an island in the middle of the Nile.  It’s a really safe community, where the majority of the ambassadorial residences and embassies are located.   We have a great view of a few of them from our hotel room.

Chili's.  On a boat.

A lot of foreigners live here, which is great for us since pretty much no one gives us a second glance.   It’s fantastic to be able to go walk around and no one stares at you, or asks if you want a taxi, kalesh, or a boat ride.  We walked all over Zamelek today.   Our first order of business was the Chili’s.   The most important thing to know about the Chili’s is that a) there is American style food, including free refills on drinks, and b) it’s on a BOAT.  Seriously. Strangely enough, this is the only Chili's I have ever been to in my life.

After a fantastic lunch, we hit up some of our favorite shopping spots, including Nomad (jewelry and scarves), the Sudanese Refugee Center (lots of handmade house stuff and jewelry), and the Fair Trade Center.  We make a point to only buy gifts and souvenirs from places which are fair trade.  It’s nice that we can get the story behind what we buy, and we know that the money we spent supports the makers directly and that they receive a fair price for their work.  I bought a lot- two necklaces, a keychain, a wooden duck, earrings, and a magnet.  Oh, and another scarf.   I think I may have a problem getting my suitcase packed if I keep buying stuff at this rate.

Our wallets considerably emptier, we also hit up a cupcake place that was absolutely fantastic.  Nola’s Cupcakes had really interesting cupcakes, including Blueberry Buttercream and Chocolate Raspberry.  I had a Cookie Dough cupcake, which had real pieces of cookie dough and chocolate chips in the cupcake, plus in the frosting.  It was fantastic.  I suspect there will also be a trip there tomorrow.

 

Tonight’s plans include a bottle of wine (bought at the aptly named Drinkies) and dinner at a local café.   Tomorrow, Saqqara!

Na-na-na-na. Na-na-na-na. Hey, hey. Goodbye!

Well, today was our last full day of work- tomorrow we store the pottery and work gear in the temple pylon, and leave Edfu.   I've spent the last few days working extra-long days (6am to 4pm) drawing pottery for our ceramicists, since we have stopped excavating.  I like drawing because it's very zen- just you and the pot.  It can be frustrating sometimes though because of how precise we have to be and occasionally we fantasize about throwing the pot sherds or breaking the into a million tiny pieces.  At the same time, Tasha and Kat have been running around packing stuff up and doing last minute recording.  On top of that, Janelle's block yard benches were finally finished, so she had to get all the blocks on them before we left.  It's been a crazy few days!

Working hard drawing pottery.

Janelle showing off the block yard project she and Jonathan were
 working on.  The benches were completed with only
 two days to spare!

Kat making box lists of pottery, as Kiri plays with string
(the boxes have been her playground each year with us).

Now it's time to pack up the apartment and play luggage tetris with my stuff to try and make it fit into one bag.  This time tomorrow, we'll be hanging out in Luxor waiting to fly to Cairo!  Goodbye, Edfu!  See you next year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Even though it's Thanksgiving, we still have to work in Edfu.  (We only have one more full work day left, after all).  But in the spirit of the holiday, here's some things I am thankful for, back in the States:

1) My wonderful, loving husband

2) All my friends and family.

3) Real beds.

4) Fast internet connections.

5) Unlimited hot water showers.

6) No flies, or least not as persistent, fly-in-your-face-constantly flies.

7) Walking down the street and no one talking to me. 

8) Netflix.

9) Choosing my own meals.

10) Alcohol.

11) My cuddly, wonderful cats.

12) Not being woken up at 4:30am by the call to prayer.

13) Reliable plumbing and electricity.

I might as well point out the things I am thankful for here in Edfu, while I'm being thankful:

1) Everyone on Team Edfu :)

2) The steady tea supply.

3) Our wonderful workers who cook for us and clean up after us.

4) Our wonderful workers on site who do an awesome job.

5) Two bathrooms in the house (in previous years we've had one bathroom for 8 or 9 people). 

6) Fun and interesting work.

7) My Kindle.

8) Fridays.

But most of all, I'm thankful we're leaving Edfu on Sunday!

Free Bird (Sort of)

My camera broke, so here's a picture of Patches a few
weeks agoplaying in the Japoozi (the pit where they
mix the donkey manure and mud to form muna).  

Today we (finally) finished work in Zone 3, the enclosure wall area.  We had some last minute finds which forced us to extend work in that area a few days- we found seal impressions in a tiny corner adjacent the enclosure wall.   I sieved my last basket of dirt this morning, around 9:30am, and consequently was covered in dirt the rest of the work day.  We found some cool seal impressions in those layers, but it is a pain to sieve all the dirt looking for them.  And the sieve, made of steel mesh in a wood frame, likes to stab you at random, no matter how careful you are.

Now that I’m free of my responsibilities on site (I still have stuff to finish up at home, alas), I’m sort of a floater.  I have a bit of pottery from Zone 3 to draw but then I’ll alternate work for our ceramicists through the end of the week.   We only have five work days left- the rest of this week, and Saturday.  Everyone is in overdrive as Sunday is Pylon Day (the day we put the pottery and everything we leave behind in Edfu) into the temple pylon.  Sunday is also our last day in Edfu.  After that, Cairo, here we come!

And Then There Was One

Well, we are now down to Greg as the only male Tell Edfu team member.  Jonathan left last week, which was sad , and Aaron left today.  Who will introduce us to stupid YouTube videos like Cat vs. Printer or I Beweave Salon?  Jonathan we'll see back in Chicago, but Aaron is from Australia so we won't see him again until next season.

As a parting gift, Aaron drew us this:

It's the Edfu 2012 dress collection!  Each of us got a different theme dress.  Can you believe Aaron gave up a career in design to do Egyptology?

Crazy Cat Lady Strikes Again

I'm fairly certain the workers think of Janelle and me as the crazy cat ladies.  The newest member of the Edfu team’s cat collection is a gray and white stripped kitten.  I found her today as we were walking in to the temple, by the shops (though we have seen it before).  She is ridiculous friendly, and loves to cuddle- she stayed with the girls at the tents all day (from 6am to 4pm!).   She sat in laps, cuddled with us during second breakfast, and rode on Greg’s shoulder.  If I could take this kitten home, I would, but I have two already and the logistics (and expense) of getting her into the US make it pretty much impossible..  She doesn’t appear to be the brightest kitten- she repeatedly tried to drink the concrete the men are making for the blockyard mastabas, despite Janelle putting out fresh water for her.  She has a lazy eye and all her whiskers are burnt off on one side. She has absolutely no fear of people, which is probably bad for her survival in Edfu.  (Our feeding her and cuddling her probably isn't going to help matters either).  Though, she has survived so far, so there is hope that we'll see her next season.    We'll continue to feed her and fatten her up for the winter.  She needs a name though- something to go with her friendly personality (and not-so-intelligent behavior).  Suggestions?

Janelle gets help drawing from our new friend.

The kitten hitches a ride in Greg's hoodie. 

Edfu Has Awesome Stuff, Which I Can't Talk About

I haven't posted not because I'm dead, but because I've been working on something top secret.  I'm having a fun (if occasionally frustrating) time excavating this area, and I am really excited about the super awesome discoveries we've made in the past few days.  Unfortunately, we've been banned from discussing the latest findings on blogs or Facebook since we are still working on our understanding of the archaeology, and we don't want information going around until we are ready.  So, here are a few photos of what I've been doing the past week, with the important stuff blurred out (sorry!).  

Excavating the Stuff-I-Can't-Talk-About.  

Extreme Total Station-ing.  No total stations were hurt in
the making of this photo.  No promises on
director's backs or knees, however.  Also, I should mention that
the big wall is infested  with sun spiders (big yellow
scorpion things that jump at your face and sting you if you try to kill them).  

In other news, our Old Kingdom specialist (Valerie) has arrived, Jon left last week (boo!), and Aaron is leaving Wednesday morning.  I'm sure Greg is super excited to be in a house full of ladies again.  Oh, and I did mention we have only four days of excavation left in my area, and a TON still left to do?  Everyone is freaking out.  We only have exactly two more weeks in Edfu!

Water Fell From the Sky (Again)

Watching the storm come in from our roof.

It has been a weird, weird few days for weather.  First of all, it got super hot again for a few days (over 100).  Then, yesterday, we got rain.  Real rain, which lasted for about ten minutes and produced enough water to make us move sensitive things under cover.  Rain this time of year is very, very rare, especially this far south.  In the Delta there is rain in late December and January, but early November is very strange.  Then today, there was an honest-to-goodness storm.  We had to run to pull clothes off the lines (underwear was already starting to fly).  The wind was slamming shutters and windows.  Just as it started Janelle called from site (she and Tasha always stay until 4pm to work on pottery/epigraphy) to say that our brand-new tents were starting to come out of the ground and fly away!  Nadine and Greg ran to site to help them take them down before we lost them.

In other news, we'll be having an Obama-themed party on the roof tonight :)

The Demonic Bunnies are Watching

I recently moved into the other apartment Nadine has rented (it’s just across the hall), as we had to reshuffle rooms because of people leaving and people coming in.  My new room is pretty much the most awesome room imaginable (and not just because I finally have a ceiling fan). 

   

Notice that there is absolutely no space to move between the beds.
It makes mornings fun.  

First of all, it has Winnie the Pooh wall runners.  That glow in the dark.

But what makes it really awesome is the wall paper:

Is that the Donnie Darko rabbit?  Why would you put a bunny that creepy in a children's room?  We are all so confused. We have been amusing ourselves by making up stories about what is going on in this wallpaper.  I think the bunny has just killed the bear’s family, and is chasing down the bear who has escaped.  I haven’t decided what the hedgehog is doing.  Watching?  

In other news, there are only three weeks left in the season, and the weather is still ridiculously hot (highs in the mid-to-high 90s).  Hopefully the weather will break soon so we can be more comfortable on site!

Why Team Edfu Needs a Bone Specialist

At Edfu, we have lots of silos.  And inside those silos, in their fill (the materials deposited as trash after the silo fell out of use) we find all kinds of interesting things.  We have found ostraca (pot sherds with writing on them), seal impressions, figurines, furniture pieces and even two complete hippo skeletons.  So we have learned to expect the unexpected when excavating a silo.  Today, one of the workers called Nadine and I over to the silo he was working in, and when we got there we saw ribs and a spine.  We both thought they looked like an infant, which is weird, because in ancient Egypt generally infants who died were buried within a house or occasionally in pots in a cemetery.  Then we saw a long bone that looked like an adult rib.  Which would be even weirder- did we have a death pit?  Death pits make for really interesting, if morbid, articles. Two hours of painstaking excavation with tiny brushes and dental picks later, and this is what we saw:

Definitely not a baby.  It’s a canine of some sort, and there appear to be more skeletons nearby that will be excavated tomorrow.   It looks like that, like always, the Edfu silos were used for trash, and for some reason someone threw in some dead dogs (poor puppies!). 

Also, we did not see people chanting in the temple today. *wink wink*

Happy Halloween!

Last night was the infamous Chicago House Halloween Party.  Chicago House is the Oriental Institute's research center in Egypt.  It's been around since the 1930s and is a very prestigious institution, with a lot of history and a great deal of clout in the Egyptology world.  This means that if you are invited to the Halloween Party, you go.  Ray, the director, invites all the local foreign missions as well as the Edfu team (we have to travel about two hours after a full day of work to go, everyone else is in Luxor).  The foreign missions don't really understand Halloween, as its an American holiday, which means it is up to the Americans to teach everyone the true meaning of the holiday.

Team Edfu does not disappoint.

The best part is Jonathan as Vanilla Ice.

This year, we had the theme of the Ninja Turtles.  Kat, Tasha, Janelle, and I were the turtles (I was Rafael), while Aaron, our Australian pottery person, was cajoled into being Shredder.  It turns out that Aaron had a background in fashion design before switching to Egyptology, so he put together a pretty awesome costume out of things he found at the Suk.  He totally outdid us on the awesome factor.   Jonathan went as Vanilla Ice, which almost no one understood.  People figured out he was Vanilla Ice pretty quickly, but couldn't fathom how he was connected to the Turtles.  For those of you who didn't watch the live action TMNT movies growing up, you should watch the end of Secret of the Oooze.  For some reason, Vanilla Ice is singing the Ninja Rap  (Go Ninja, Go Ninja Go!).

Having someone throw Egyptian
bananas at you is not pleasant.

Anyways, we were a big hit.  Greg was also pretty funny as Mario from Mariokart (he kept throwing bananas at Janelle).

I should also point out that Team Edfu totally brings the party to the Chicago House Halloween Party.  We danced to everyone song, and we even taught everyone else the Macarena.  I think someone took video of that, which I hope never, ever ends up on YouTube.  We were fairly tipsy by that point.  Other high points include Aaron drunkenly doing a Cossack dance, the entire Edfu team singing Livin' on a Prayer, some running man lessons, a Gungnam Style interlude, and Aaron and I doing the MC Hammer dance.

There's a reason we are always invited back each year :)

Seal-palooza

No, not seals the animals.  Seals as in seal impressions.  The ancient Egyptians really, really liked administration and bureaucracy (modern Egypt really isn’t that different- try to renew your visa sometime and you’ll see what I mean), and sealings were a large part of administration.  A sealing is a piece of mud which was stuck over a door, box, letter, or bag, which then had a scarab seal pressed into it, leaving an impression of the design on the seal.   Thus, if the sealing was broken, the person would know that someone else had gotten into their shipment, letter, or storehouse.  They were in the most widespread use during the Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period.   In Edfu in the columned hall area (Zone I), we have pulled up over 1,000 sealings in the past five years.   We thought that when we moved over to Zone III on the other side of the site, we were done pulling them up.

We were so, so wrong.

A sealing I found inside a pot. 

In an area approximately 50 cm x 75 cm I excavated a few days ago, I found over 100 sealings.  Nadine had previously found in that area 65 sealings.   The area was adjacent one of the silos, but was actually a fireplace.  How did so many sealings end up in a fireplace?  Your guess is as good as mine.  The really neat thing though was that these appear to be earlier than the sealings we found in the columned hall area.  It would be really, really cool to develop a chronology of sealing designs which could be useful for dating strata, since we have so many.