Egypt

Giza Plateau dig diary

AERA Blog

The season at Giza is getting underway with staff arriving and opening up different areas of the operation:

AERA’s Giza Lab officially opened for the season on Sunday, February 1st, 2009. This funny place doesn’t look like much from the outside – a low, one story brick-and-cement bunker painted a yellowish dung color – and of little consequence nestled amongst Giza’s imposing pyramids.

When the rusty metal door opens with its loud clang, however, a different impression emerges as one’s eyes adjust to the light, and especially as one descends into the heart of the lab. The space is much larger than imagined and everywhere, boxes! These, stacked high on floor to ceiling shelves, are all labeled with the details of their contents and of their origin.

These six rooms contain the narrative of the nearby settlement of the Giza pyramid builders, the traces left behind by the inhabitants of this Lost City. Our large and diverse lab team hails from 12 nations and it’s our job to recover stories from the pottery, objects, human bone, animal bone, plants, mud sealings, chipped stone tools, pigments, plaster, wood charcoal, roofing material, mud brick.

There is much to do before the lab crew begins to arrive this week and, as ever, our Egyptian inspector and my team of local workmen are on the job.

See the above page for more, including details of team members.

- Aera 2009 Annual Report From Giza
AERA Ancient Egypt Research Associates I could have sworn that I had posted this before, but I cannot find it on the blog, so above is the link and apologies if this is a repeat posting. The following is part of the introduction by Mark Lehner. It is...

- News: Oldest Olive Wood In Egypt
AERA I have no idea when this news item became available on the AERA website because it doesn't actually say (unless I'm suffering from selective blindness), which is more than a little frustrating. I don't appear to have posted about it before...

- Aera Blog - Season Ending
AERA blog The Ancient Egypt Research Associates team who have been working for another season in Giza are now beginning to pack up and go home, but their blog is still online with lots of posts and photographs to review. Here's Brian Hunt's post...

- Aera Blog For Giza Plateau Mapping Project
http://aerablog.wordpress.com Thanks to Brian Hunt for the information that he is going to be maintaining a dig blog for AERA’s Giza Plateau Mapping Project this season. There's a link to the blog from the AERA (Ancient Egypt Research Association)...

- Book: Giza Reports Volume 1
http://www.aeraweb.org/gizareports.asp Details of this new publication (inluding Contents listing), available in late Spring 2007, can be found on the above page: "Ancient Egypt Research Associates and the Giza Plateau Mapping Project are pleased to announce...

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