I forgot to mention something yesterday. Jonathan and I
(before our photo shoot) tried to figure out the blocks that we wanted to go on
our first bench that everyone will see. Oh dear, it’s too bad I thought I’d
never need math if I wanted to be a humanities major, because we were having
trouble with addition and subtraction and we even had a calculator! Don’t even
get me started about what happened when we tried calculating volumes. Stay in
school, kids, and do your math problems!
I tried a whole bunch of new things today. We spent the
morning taking some nicer, publishable (maybe) photos, so I got to learn all
about how to take photos with a nice SLR. Dan and I own one, but I’ve never sat
down to play with all the fancy settings. Mainly, we just toggled the F-focus
and the light meter, and I don’t really know what the different settings will
do, but I know how to change them! Once the light got too strong for good
photos, we switched to epigraphy (though to be honest, the light wasn’t much
better for epigraphy, either). So basically what we do is take clear, thick
paper (kind of like what teachers use on overhead projectors) and lay that over
our block after it has been thoroughly brushed clean of any and all debris. Nadine,
Greg, Jonathan, and I probably spent an hour just trying to figure out which of
the various sticky things we had would work best to keep the paper down. In the
end, we went for ticky tac, but late in the day that starts to melt and slide.
After the paper is stuck down, we VERY carefully trace over any intentional
lines and large breaks. Eventually, this will get scanned into the computer and
“inked” in Adobe Illustrator so that it can be published. The hope is that
we’ll be better able to read the inscriptions on some of the more damaged blocks
using this method. I’d love to skip the middle steps and just ink it from a
photo, but it’s not nearly as accurate and it’s sometimes difficult to figure
out what marks are intentional and what are just scratches if you can’t touch
the block. Greg thinks he has in idea for how this could work, but we’re still
going to draw as many as possible by hand while here. I must say, I thought a
lot about Christmas a few years ago when I read Elephant and Piggy books to my
nieces and nephews over and over and over again; epigraphy is a craft that
requires the motto “we will try again” in order for you to stay sane. I had to
completely throw away my first attempt, but to be fair, I apparently picked a
super hard one to start. But my second one was much better!
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| The block. |
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| My epigraphic drawing. |
The red areas are broken parts. I know that not all of the
lines are correct and that I’ve made little correction notes, but it was 102*F
today, I did this in the afternoon, and it’s only the 3rd one I’ve
ever done in my life, so no laughing at it!
The other new thing I learned was how to do pottery
statistics. For the most part, I pretty much only drew pottery last year (for
more info on this, see basically any post from last season). We don’t actually
draw every single piece of pottery that we find, but we do want to have some
kind of a record for all of it. That’s where statistics comes in. I just take
some quick notes on things, including shape, fabric (e.g. type of clay),
diameter, and number. The best part is that I’m only in charge of doing bread
mould statistics, so I can contribute to the team effort, while collecting data
for my dissertation. My current plan is to do block yard stuff until lunch at
1:30, then I’ll switch to bread mould stats and drawing after lunch.
PS. Addie- I hear you like to figure out what’s on my
blocks, so I’m giving you homework! This is one of the blocks that we think
comes from the Saite period and belongs with the chapel that we have many
blocks from. Be careful about where you start! Your Dad should have a list of
all the signs, so see how many you can find (look at the very last few pages of
the sign list, which lists them all by shape and type). I know the bottom is
broken off, but the text makes sense as it is if you also want to try to
translate it. :)
