El-Amra

We are continually amazed at the size of el-Amra and the variety of periods represented there. However, there have been multiple trials and tribulations in our work (some of which we will not mention here, following the idea that discretion is the better part of valor), not the least of which was our EDM (the major piece of equipment needed for surveying) malfunctioning.

Jane and Melinda contemplated kicking the machinery, but managed to keep themselves under control for the couple of days of troubleshooting which were required to find out that the problem was due to a faulty cable. A cable is on its way from the US to Cairo now, but in the meantime we’re manually crunching numbers in the field to make due. Since the Polish magnetometry team is arriving Saturday afternoon, we were in a bit of a panic about being able to lay out an area for them to start surveying. In the meantime, Antonio has been collecting and processing pottery, which has started to become overwhelming already, though we’ve only been collecting from one of the three cemeteries so far.

El-Amra is predominantly known for its predynastic activity, being a type site for a division of that period (originally called the “Amratian Period” after the name of the site, though most scholars now call it the Nagada I Period). However, it has some earlier activity and a lot of later activity too, including Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom use of the cemetery. The areas with later tombs have not been previously excavated (at least not officially), but we have already found evidence for these periods form surface collection.

Birthday 9/9/07

For my birthday, we had a cake, pastries, and ice cream cones. The three of us felt fairly sick after trying to eat some of each after having eaten a lot already. However, the house staff seems to have enjoyed the gorging and going into sugar shock afterwards, especially since the beginning of Ramadan (a month of daily fasting during daylight hours) was approaching in just a few days. I didn’t make a big deal of the day, trying to forget (at least for a time) that I was starting a new decade of my life. However, I named this the decade of finishing things.

Our site! 9/11/07

After our inspector arrived on Monday, we had lunch and then proceeded to the site… well, sort of… We had some trouble finding it at first, since we had not been allowed to visit it until we had permission to survey it. We wandered around in a quarry for some time before Reis (Arabic for foreman) Ibrahim (the head of the family from Guft who are our survey and excavation foremen/supervisors) found a local man who knew what site we were looking for.

When we found it, we were amazed at the size of it. Having seen the maps available (which are old and not at all detailed), we knew that the site was large, but that didn’t prepare us for seeing it in person. It is well over a square kilometer in size.

Tuesday, we had to head back to Qena with our inspector so that she could sign papers with the Qena inspectorate. We worked a few hours in the morning and then left for Qena straight from the site. Having gotten up early and the weather being hotter that day, Qena didn’t seem nearly as charming as it had two days before. However, we did get a chance to take a few pictures near Nag Hammadi this time.

(See my previous post on Qena for another picture)

Qena 9/9/07 (a.k.a The first trip to Qena)

Though we are staying at Abydos in Sohag Province, the site we are working at is a few kilometers away, just over the line into Qena Province. So, the Sunday after we arrived, we drove to Qena (city) to meet with the inspectors there and make sure we were ready to start work.

The drive to Qena was absolutely beautiful. Around Nag Hammadi, the Nile and the high desert cliffs become very close on either side of the road. We marveled at the sight. Arriving in Qena (and thence wandering around trying to find the office of the inspectorate), we were impressed with how clean and pretty the city seemed. However, upon finding the local inspectors, we discovered that they had no idea we were coming (apparently they didn’t send word from Cairo about our project at all, much less that it was approved), and our assigned inspector was already working at another site. Luckily, we had multiple copies of our permissions in-hand and the head inspector was very accommodating. It took some time (and a trip from one office to another), but he found another inspector to work with us, who would arrive at Abydos the following day. Though, the site is in Qena, they assigned an inspector from Sohag to our survey project, since one was not available from Qena.

The following afternoon, our inspector arrived, turning out to be a beautiful, young, Coptic woman in very western dress. She had some difficulty reaching the house because the local police at the check point in Abydos did not believe that she was Egyptian at first, and had to be convinced that she was indeed an inspector. Our inspector has been wonderful with us, though she continues to be mistaken for a foreigner along with the three of us (not that they are mistaken that we are foreigners, but they never seem to remember who we are and that we’re not tourists from day-to-day on our way to and from the site).