15th
A great day’s work!
Monday 15th August 2011
A lot was achieved today - and thankfully, although the weather was not quite as cool as on Saturday - there was sufficient respite from the sun to keep us moving. We decided to start at 5.30am to take advantage of as much cool weather as possible. The workers continued to clean in the area of the Falcon Necropolis - and by 10.30, their finishing time this morning, they had completed the task and the area is now ready for surveying! Everyone worked very well together in order to clarify the location and extent of the surface of the mud-brick remains. Some of the mud-brick remains were very clear, but others much more difficult to follow - but good team work produced excellent results and has provided us with some additional information concerning this structure.
A normal working day outside of Ramadan is often 7am through until 1.30pm, which would be possible during Ramadan in the winter, but in the summer, it is far too long a day without water. The workers, however, were all in very high spirits again - and although I was helping with the survey today, I made several visits to the area of cleaning to see how work was progressing and to talk with the workers!
The first day of survey also progressed very well. Fully charged up (the total station anyway!), we took a large number of survey points in the area between the Falcon Necropolis and the Old Kingdom mastaba tomb before stopping at c1.30pm. Until 10.30am I was helped by one of our workers so that two of us were walking with the staffs/prisms to allow our surveyor, Kris, to take the co-ordinates of the points much more quickly. We also started to lay out some pegs for the geophysical survey which will be able to start tomorrow. The batteries for the surveying equipment have taken rather longer to re-condition and charge, but they will be ready to go tomorrow!
There was grid-lock on the main Cairo-Alexandria highway as we came to the end of the minor asphalt road which joins the highway just before Quesna. Traffic in the direction of Cairo was at an absolute standstill, so we ended up driving through the town of Quesna, where the traffic was also horrendous, but eventually we managed to get out of Quesna via the back road and on the road to Shibin, which was much quieter!
The afternoon was spent preparing food for Iftar (now around 6.40pm) and doing some washing, cleaning and accountancy, as well as more re-charging of batteries! The male members of the team - all but myself - have just gone to the local barbershop for shaves and haircuts! The barber is only 5 minutes from the flats that we stay in and a visit is quite an event! He offers quite the full service including deep face cleaning … usually producing a glowing complexion! Photos to follow!
The Total Station ready for action at Quesna once more!
