After several months away from Egypt and our students, Will
and I were quite excited to return to Egypt. But of course, something as simple
as that is never straightforward when its Egypt! Due to delays regarding both
antiquities and security clearances, and because Hassan Ramadan wasn’t sure of
his PhD defense date in Berlin, we were greatly relieved when all the stars
aligned in the final fortnight before the season was meant to begin. The gods
had smiled, permissions were granted, and Hassan’s defense was scheduled for
Nov. 2, so that it would be finished before he started teaching. So everything
could proceed according to plan. Phew! Though unlike in previous seasons when
we had travelled together, because JJ’s family is joining us later in the
season, it was easier for her to take a different flight. So Will was left to
take the usual London-Luxor journey on his own, with the two of us rendezvousing
in Luxor. Will spent his time reading, eating, and drinking multiple cups of
coffee in Heathrow while waiting for his evening flight, and trying to remember
to buy the port at duty free in Heathrow. Fortunately he wrote his reminder
about the port on his bookmark! Meanwhile, JJ was schlepping from Philadelphia
to JFK via bus and train before taking the direct New York-Cairo flight,
followed by a connecting flight to Luxor. Whereas Will’s flight was a mere 5
hours and 1 hour time change, JJ’s involved about 15 hours in travel and a 6
hour time change! The one advantage to this was that she was able to sleep on
the long NY-Cairo flight and thus avoid the worst of the jet-lag! JJ reached
Luxor first, settling into the flat in the early evening, and able to enjoy
dinner with Hazem and his family. Will arrived around midnight, and was met of
course by Hazem and our driver Ayman, who had also been asked by our friend and
colleague Owen Murray, also traveling on the flight with Will, to pick him up!
So they piled into the taxi together and shortly thereafter Will walked into a
nice cool flat and we had our first round of hugs and hellos in many months!
Wasting no time, on Tuesday morning we began taking care of
official business, getting papers signed and greetings accomplished at both the
East Bank and West Bank teftishes. An amazing double act, wasting next to no
time. As we were unexpectedly finished mid-morning, we decided to adjourn to
Sheikh Ali’s to have our first inaugural masbut in order to celebrate and have
a mini-staff meeting with Hazem and Sayed to think about the teaching and plan
going forward. This was particularly necessary as the field school would start
the very next day! Meeting over, we bade farewell to Sayed and headed back east
to have lunch at our old stomping grounds – Oasis Palace, where we were once
again greeted by our waiter Ayman. After an afternoon of unpacking, we decided
to round off the evening by touching base at our other favorite watering hole,
Pizza Roma. And as with Oasis we were happily welcomed back by the team of
young waiters and the restaurant manager. Pizza and a cold beer, and we knew we
were back.
Wednesday morning we awoke with the sun bright and early,
and by 7:30 we were at the ferry greeting nearly all of our former students.
Amazingly nearly all of our students were there and accounted for – early – but
for Mahmoud, who had to make his way from Esna. After many rounds of hugs,
kisses, and welcome backs, we headed down to the boat, once again being
captained by Abu Ghalan.
On the west we were met by our microbus, and new driver, Gumsan
Mohamed Ahmed, and like last year a second van
was bringing those who lived on the west, including our Inspector for the
season, Atito Mohamed Hassan. Hazem had, as in past years, worked wonders
during the preceding days and early morning, so that everything we needed for
base camp at TT110 was already set up when we arrived. This year, with ARCE
having finished it’s work in the area, we re-located our breakfast spot back to
its original placement in the ruins of the abandoned house just south of the
tomb. We were greeted effusively by Abu Hamada, and introduced to his new
assistant, none other than Abu Gomaa’s son Hisham, also known as Gomato (a term
of affection meaning “little Gomaa” given to him by the “Spanish Djehuty” team;
rather ironic given that he is the tallest among us!), who would assist with
our feeding and watering throughout the season.
Gomato
Following morning tea and coffee, complete with biscuits and
chato, Will commenced teaching with discussion of the 5 steps of epigraphy
preparation. The students had known to bring their notebooks, so school had
begun! As was the case last year, the first week of this advanced field school
is to be spent in TT110 and other open West Bank tombs learning how to prepare
and epigraphy program so that the students would know how to begin to undertake
the documentation of a tomb, or any monument.
This continued until second breakfast, which was a
delightful spread of tamayya, fuul, potates, fired aubergine, gibna, salat, and
mounds of aish balady. It was familiar but wonderful, and benefited from our
experience the previous seasons in creating a buffet of choices so each could
make their own sandwiches, thus dispensing with the confusion, and
disappointment, often created by ordering! After breakfast, Will took the
students into TT110 to demonstrate the steps he had spoken to them about
lecture-style for the first part of the morning. It was a terribly hot day
(38C/100F – outside, add another 10-15 degrees inside with a dozen students in
a tiny tomb!), so JJ left Will and the students to sweat in the tomb and headed
back to the East Bank with Hazem to finish off some paperwork. Carrying on
admirably despite the heat, Will demonstrated the method by which he and JJ had
originally divided the walls for the epigraphic program, utilizing an
unfamiliar (to the students) wall. JJ and Hazem waltzed in by step 4, just in
time for JJ to contradict and correct Mr. Will. This, as in previous seasons,
led to a general discussion regarding the organization of the necessary sheets
required for the documentation, an arrangement where there is no right or wrong
answer, so discussion, explanation, and clarification is excellent so that the
students get a sense of evaluating all possibilities and in theory coming to
the best decision.
Come 1pm we were all more than ready to leave the tomb and
make our way back to the buses and home. Will and JJ refreshed and recovered
with lunch at our traditional spot – Oasis – complete with large, icy lemoons.
Thursday morning we introduced the students to TT 41, an
adjacent tomb open to the public, which would provide them the opportunity of
planning their own epigraphy program for a particular wall in the tomb, using
the methods they had just been taught. At morning tea and coffee we informed
them they would be working in pairs, and provided the names and walls they
would share. The idea being that they would work together not only during this
portion of the school, but also when they begin their research projects with
JJ. Unfortunately, just as morning tea was ending, Abu Hamada
slipped and twisted his ankle quite badly, meaning he had to leave to have it
seen by a doctor. As we found out later in the day, the fall was serious enough
that they put his ankle in a cast, and of course he would not be able to return
to us for the remainder of the season.
Before second breakfast JJ and Will walked them through the tomb, introducing them to the tomb in general, and discussing how they would go about undertaking each step in each room of the tomb. After breakfast, we chose 1 wall in the court of the tomb to focus on with students, going through all 5 steps involved in preparing an epigraphy program. This proved an excellent exchange because it was clear that the students had truly grasped not only the concepts but also the particular considerations of how to organize the sheets for a wall based upon the wall’s condition, size, and decorative program, as well as any restrictions due to the availability of the materials necessary to record it. Mr. Will was very pleased that they all seemed to truly understand that there is no “right” way of doing it, but there are many options and they as epigraphers would need to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of any combination and then decide which was the most appropriate. This would put them in good stead for when, on Saturday, they would be doing it for themselves.
Before second breakfast JJ and Will walked them through the tomb, introducing them to the tomb in general, and discussing how they would go about undertaking each step in each room of the tomb. After breakfast, we chose 1 wall in the court of the tomb to focus on with students, going through all 5 steps involved in preparing an epigraphy program. This proved an excellent exchange because it was clear that the students had truly grasped not only the concepts but also the particular considerations of how to organize the sheets for a wall based upon the wall’s condition, size, and decorative program, as well as any restrictions due to the availability of the materials necessary to record it. Mr. Will was very pleased that they all seemed to truly understand that there is no “right” way of doing it, but there are many options and they as epigraphers would need to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of any combination and then decide which was the most appropriate. This would put them in good stead for when, on Saturday, they would be doing it for themselves.
As in previous seasons, seeing as it was Thursday and the
end of our first, short, week, we arranged to have lunch at Sheikh Ali’s with
Hazem and Sayed, as well as Yaser who we had not yet seen. This way we could
all discuss the field school and bring Yaser up to speed on our plans. As with
our other favorite venues, we were welcomed back by the staff and given our
favorite table in the courtyard. We reminded them that we would be back for the
end of season graduation celebration, and once again they kindly declared that
the restaurant was to be our “home” and available to us whenever we needed it.
Bowl of tahina at Sheikh Ali
Today our first Friday of the season, was spent in traditional fashion working at Chicago House library in the morning and joining in for the
famous Chicago House lunch. We were fortunate to find Chicago House Director
Ray Johnson free so we could chat and catch up, as well as meeting colleagues
and friends like Brett, Kelly, Margaret, Owen, Anait, and Gina. And, as is often
the case, discovering unexpected friends lurking in the stacks, like Hratch
Parpazian (previously an epigrapher at CH and now Reader in Egyptology at
Cambridge), Aude GraΓΌzer-Ohara,
and Kimberly Watt, both friends of Will’s from Cambridge currently working in
Luxor. We spent the afternoon clarifying which tombs we would assign the
students for the research portion of the school based upon what was published
and housed in the Chicago House library. We had also learned that our good
friend Luigi Prada was in town from Oxford leading a tour, so we ended the day
by meeting him for drinks and had a delightful time catching up on all things
Egyptology.
Selfie with Luigi
