On Saturday we returned to the West Bank and the students returned to
working in their assigned research tombs, carrying on with the research steps,
comparing and contrasting the tomb walls with the published material. We left
them to it, only checking in briefly to be sure everything was clear. At breakfast we were joined both by our former
student Mahmoud Hassan, and by our friend and colleague Hratch Parpazian from
Cambridge University. Despite the trek across the desert, Hratch arrived laden
with not just Egyptian sweets, but chilled sweets, having had the foresight to pack
his rucksack with ice! We had already arranged that our former student Mahmoud
Hassan, who is working in a nearby tomb, be available to demonstrate to the
students the program he had created the previous year to document his tomb.
Mahmoud generously offered to show the students his work after the breakfast.
This was an excellent opportunity for the students to have reinforced what they
had learned from their work in TT110 and TT41. While Mahmoud took our students
to his tomb, we brought Hratch over to TT110 and gave him a tour of the tomb
and our work in it. And following Mahmoud’s presentation, the students went
back to working in their tombs for the rest of the work day.
JJ and Will with Hratch
Mahmoud Hassan presenting his work
Sunday continued in very much the same fashion, with the
students in their tombs until breakfast, when we had unexpected guests. We were
delighted that our former students Rasha and Abu el-Hagag had taken up our
invitation to visit and joined us for breakfast. For Rasha, it was a chance to
meet our new students, as she has been away from Luxor and Egypt living in
Saudi Arabia with her husband and son. The reunion was made all the more
delightful as Rasha brought both cakes and Egyptian sweets, along with cold
soda! After breakfast, it was back to work for everyone, with the students wrapping
their research projects and Will and JJ checking in to be sure each group would
be ready to begin their presentations first thing Monday morning. While JJ and
Will were checking on the students, Sayed and Hazem kept busy by preparing the
students’ computers for the digital component of the field school, which was
set to begin at the end of the week.
Monday morning brought the moment of truth for our students. In order to
maximize the degree of communication in the presentations, we had insisted the
students speak in Arabic because it was as much about the students presenting
what they had learned as their colleagues learning from their experience. We
decided to begin with the tomb furthest away, and involving not 2 but 3 of the
students: the tomb of Ramose, TT55, which had been assigned to Mahmoud, Safaa,
and Rasha. They did a marvelous job taking their fellow students and colleagues
through the tomb, following the research steps and dividing the presentation up
into equal parts, beginning in the courtyard where Safaa walked the students
through the architecture, to Mahmoud in the tomb explaining the decorative
history, and finishing with Rasha and the epigraphic analysis.
There was just enough time after the trek back and before
breakfast for our Inspector Atito to explain to the students the research he
had been doing in TT110. Since the students themselves knew the tomb so well,
it was an excellent opportunity for Atito to benefit form their experience as
well. Seeing as this was all entirely new to Atito, he did a very good job in
applying the research steps and noticing many of the issues familiar to us from
our work in the tomb. He also timed his presentation perfectly, finishing at
exactly 10:30 in time for second breakfast!
Second breakfast was probably enjoyed more by the students
who had already completed their presentations, than the others who were still
waiting to know who would be next. After breakfast, the presentations continued
with Amira and Alaa Talaat taking us through their work in TT296, a very small,
single-chamber, elaborately painted Ramesside tomb – quite the contrast to
Ramose. Again, we were very impressed with their presentation and seeing as the
tomb was so small, especially with all of us inside, their presentation
necessarily became more of a dialogue with them sharing and commenting upon
each other’s contribution, with Alaa Talaat taking the lead on the decorative
program and Amira on the epigraphic analysis.
An unexpected discovery!
We finished the day in good time, leaving the final two presentations
for Tuesday morning. Monday afternoon found us back at Hazem’s for our weekly visit and home-cooked Egyptian meal, this time another of our favorites: mashi (rice-stuffed vegetables), which provided us with generous leftovers for home.
The next morning, following tea and coffee, it was Rehab and Mina’s turn to present on their research in the beautifully painted tomb of Menna, TT69, another very small tomb. As with the day before, Mina and Rehab impressed us with their thorough analysis of the tomb’s decorative history, which was made all the more difficult by areas of re-working. Seeing as Menna is a well-known tomb that has been open to the public for over a century, they made excellent use of earlier photographs and publications, as well as referencing the most recent high-tech digital work in the tomb by Melinda Hartwig.
The next morning, following tea and coffee, it was Rehab and Mina’s turn to present on their research in the beautifully painted tomb of Menna, TT69, another very small tomb. As with the day before, Mina and Rehab impressed us with their thorough analysis of the tomb’s decorative history, which was made all the more difficult by areas of re-working. Seeing as Menna is a well-known tomb that has been open to the public for over a century, they made excellent use of earlier photographs and publications, as well as referencing the most recent high-tech digital work in the tomb by Melinda Hartwig.
We were more-or-less on schedule for the final presentation
by Walid and Hala, with the understanding that second breakfast would be delayed
slightly until they had finished. In a sense we had come full circle, and after
2 small painted tombs, we were once again in a large, carved tomb similar to
Ramose, that of Kheruef, TT192. Walid and Hala did a superb job dividing up
their presentation and walking us all through the tomb’s immense courtyards and
spaces while drawing our attention to the tomb’s architectural and decorative program.
They paid particular attention to the Chicago House publication, providing an excellent
analysis of the earlier epigraphic program, and commenting upon how they might
do it differently incorporating more recent technical advancements.
Beam me up Scotty!
With all the presentations complete, JJ and Mr. Will took
the opportunity to review with the students each of their presentations and praise
them for how successfully they had understood the research assignment in order to
give varied and impressive presentations, incorporating not only printouts and
photos from their research, but also computer illustrations. Seeing as this brought
to a conclusion the first 2 weeks of the school with epigraphy programming and
research, it seemed an ideal opportunity to take advantage of the grand
staircase leading into Kheruef for a last group photo of what is clearly a happily
relieved field school!
Seeing as we still had some time in hand, we delegated Hazem
to take on the teaching role, giving the students a little bit of introduction
to the setting up of their computers for the digital portion of the school
which would start the next day with the arrival of the newly PhD’d (mabruk!)
Dr. Hassan Ramadan.
Feeling pleased and proud, Will and JJ decided, with very
little encouragement, to celebrate the successful beginning of the school by
going to, guess where? Pizza Roma, for guess what? Cold beer!
With the arrival of Hassan Ramadan on Tuesday night, it
meant that Wednesday morning found us not on the west, but back at Karnak Lab,
behind the Khonsu Temple area of Karnak, where the students would be taught by
Hassan for the remaining 2 weeks of the field school. It also meant that our
student Hussein has returned to the field school for the digital portion. Since
Hassan had successfully defended his PhD in Berlin less than a week before joining
us in Egypt, we wanted to acknowledge this accomplishment straightaway, with a
cake for second breakfast. The cake was from Twinkies, the famous bakery by the
railway station, but the distance from the site meant it had a rather convoluted
arrival via taxi, our on-site helper Mostafa, to Hazem, and finally to Hassan Ramadan!
Despite the lack of plates or cutlery, it was much enjoyed by all.
Tuesday and Wednesday were spent in much the same fashion,
with Hassan beginning his teaching of which Illustrator tools would be the most
useful for the kind of digital drawing the students would generally be doing. Seeing
as Hazem and Sayed had gone to great lengths to prepare the students’ laptops,
and the lab, in advance of Hassan’s arrival, Hassan was able to hit the ground
running. And we found within a very short time the students were all working
with very intense concentration, without anyone seeming to fall behind.
Alaa Talaat's first attempts ...
As with the previous week, on Thursday we adjourned at the end of the
work day to Pizza Roma for a staff meeting, now of course including Hassan. We
were able to go over the completion of the research and presentations, bringing
Hassan and Yaser up-to-date, as well as clarify and plan how the upcoming weeks
would proceed. A quiet night in was obligatory, seeing as we will need to be up
even earlier than usual to be collected for our field trip to Abydos on Friday,
at 5:10 am! As in previous seasons, we will post a special blog about the day’s
outing and subsequent adventures. So expect another report at the beginning of
next week in order to keep up with us!
