11th
Back to Quesna
Wednesday 10th and Thursday 11th April 2011
Our first two days back up at the site were spent meeting our colleagues again and the famous opening of the storeroom where we keep our equipment and where we have our on-site conservation ‘lab’, where pottery analysis takes place and where there is generally much coming and going throughout the season. The first real job of the season is to clean the room out, so helped by my three Egyptian colleagues, we moved the equipment out and got to the task of literally brushing away the cobwebs and sweeping out the accumlated sand which gets in under the door and from other places while we are away. Some of the stored items are also for the flat, so these were also taken out and brought home on Wednesday night.
We took a walk across the site on Wednesday before leaving, and thankfully discovered that all was as we had left it and it was useful to walk over the areas that we hope to work in during the coming weeks - starting with a geophysical survey from next Sunday. The head of the local workforce came up to see us - and also helped with the cleaning of the room - and we agreed the rates for this year (the price of food is ever increasing here) and our first day of work, this coming Saturday.
The tomb where we had worked last summer was as we had left it - under a cover and with much of the backfill still there, although unsurprising, given its location on the edge of the gezira, some of the sand that we had put back, had long since blown away. Nevertheless, with the protective cover, all appears to be well. The mastaba remains closed until after Ramadan and the feast. It will be one of our main places of work for this year’s field school students. The field school will be the first in Minufiyeh and both we and the students, who will come from various locations in the Delta are looking forward to it very much. We have already met two of the students during the past two days!
It is now Thursday evening, with our first day off of the season tomorrow. This will be a day for catching up on work from back home, but also visiting the local souq for the first time this season, to stock up on fruit and vegetables and chicken. We will also visit our policeman from previous season, sadly with a broken leg and unable to join us this time. Work will commence in earnest on Saturday morning at 6am!
