Today reminded me of that kids’ song: “second verse, same as the first, a little bit faster and a little bit worse!” There was a lot more pottery drawing again today. While I got easy ones yesterday and flew through it all, Tasha gave me some harder ones today, and I almost threw one of the sherds against the wall, I was so frustrated by it. But at the end of the day, I got 10 done, so I guess that’s good.
In lieu of something more interesting, wanna hear about my possible dissertation? Too bad- you don’t have a choice :) I want to look at bread moulds and bakeries, since no one has before. We actually have a bakery at Edfu that hasn’t be excavated and has a TON of bread moulds. So today I went over and picked up a few sherds from the ground (they are considered “crap context” and thus I can do whatever I want with them). Here’s what they look like:
The really big one is from the First Intermediate Period, and the others are from the Middle Kingdom*. They seem to make kind of breadsticks. For scale, the inside diameter of the tube-like ones is about the size of a quarter, and they are about the length of my hand when broken like this.
Here’s the bakery installation. Isn’t it lovely? Can’t you see so much? Haha- don’t worry if you can’t see anything, since I can’t either. That kind of whitish streak in the middle to the right of the cave is an ash layer from the inside of the kilns. To the left of that you might just be able to make out a rounded wall, which is a silo. If you look really, really hard, just in front of and to the left of what looks like a cave, on the ground you can see some small things lined up in a row. They are just to the left of what looks like a stone path headed into the cave. Those are the bread moulds I picked up (I’d previously laid them there for safe-keeping). Cool, huh? Fingers crossed that everything goes as planned and I can excavate this next season!
- Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker
PS. Terri asked for clarification on our work schedule. Saturdays and Sundays are normal work days. We only get Friday off (though we tend to end a little early on Thursdays to pay the workmen). We will get 2 longer breaks: one will come next weekend when we travel back to Luxor for a Halloween party at Chicago House (it’s owned/operated by a group from UofC) Saturday after work). Since our entry visas only last something like 4 weeks, we will then stay in Luxor on Sunday to get longer work visas (so we’ll have free days Friday and Sunday). Over Thanksgiving, we’ll also travel back to Luxor for a day or two (not exactly sure when- and to be honest, we may still go Thursday after work and just get Friday off). To be honest, it’s nice having something to do every day. With little internet and only 1 or 2 outlets that work, computers can’t really be used all that much, and we don’t have a TV. Edfu isn’t really a town we can walk around in safely, so the only option left is to read or talk. There’s not much to talk about when you live with someone, and there’s only so much reading one can do, so it gets pretty boring on the days off.
PPS. I hear that pigeon is on the menu tonight It’s a delicacy here, so we’re going to try it. I’ll give you an update tomorrow.
*See my post on history if you want info on these time periods.
