16th
Finishing things up!
Sunday 9th and Wednesday 12th October 2011
Sunday saw the last real day of work up at Quesna! There were many small tasks to be completed and, importantly, the re-organisation of the storeroom before closing the site on Wednesday! Our conservator, Yasser, and one of the team from Berlin, finished work on one of the ceramic coffins, while some of the small finds were drawn by our illustrator who came up from Cairo for the day! Then the task of transferring boxes, chairs and tables from the teaching room back into the main storeroom! A busy, but satisfying day - it is always good to leave things in very good order ready for the next season!
Finishing stages on one of the reconstructed coffins!
On the Wednesday, with the exception of drawing a final coffin (the one pictured above!!) the main business of the day was awarding the certificates for the successful completion of the fieldschool - also recorded on video by one of the students! It was a really special event - the closure of our first fieldschool at Quesna (generously sponsered by the German Academic Exchange Service, at which Jo had given a talk the night before!) - and the closure of the season at Quesna. The students were so grateful for the knowledge learned and we were grateful that they had been such active participants at the fieldschool. The attendance was overwhelming and it was incredible, although unsurprising, to see the desire to learn new methods and techniques for recording the cultural heritage of this wonderful country.
Students receiving their certificates!
Nearly the whole fieldschool team!
