Ten Years Ago Yesterday

This was me, taking my ending levels for the day at the dig at Abydos. You can see the Dec 01 04 date stamp in the upper right (I've posted this photo here before, thus the watermark at the bottom).

Things that are different:

• I don't smoke anymore
• About 40 extra pounds
• I'm soon to be divorced instead of recently married
• Hopefully I'm a lot nicer now than I was then.

Ten Years Ago

I was working at Abydos over the Thanksgiving holiday. We had to share the house with dinner. I'm not sure if I'll ever get back to Egypt again, but I had fun a decade ago. 

Unknown Dangers in Ancient Egypt

Artifact - Archaeology Magazine
Monkeys stealing your nose. Or maybe picking it 

Christmas crafting

I like to make at least a few presents every year and this year I got some pretty cool ideas.

Tom needs a place to put his wallet and phone and keys and other pocket stuff, so I thought I'd make a tray. I decided to imitate a sifting screen we use as archaeologists.

I used a plain unfinished tray from the craft store and sealed it. Then I mixed craft sand with Mod Podge and coated the bottom.  

I put wire screen on top of that. 

Then I added "artifacts": beads, modern produced arrowheads, pennies, rocks, a pop top, some shells and some flagging tape.

Then I poured in clear casting resin. I didn't quite get everything embedded fully, but it all does have a coating at least.

The screen I used was very fine mesh so you can't really see the sand, but I still really like the effect.

 

Tom is also growing out his beard so I got him a comb and mustache trimmer. I also blended some oils to use on his beard to keep it healthy and soft.

I got lots of lovely tea and a cute teapot. My electric kettle died yesterday (grrr, it was only a few months old" so post-holiday shopping will involve a new one.

And I got jammy pants!

And I'm going to go get some new Vibram FiveFingers, which horrify my mom, but I looooove.

The doggies got presents too. This is Bunny's first Christmas and the tearing wrapping paper scared her.  She's not quite sure how to play with her new toys.  Oreo has a new stuffy to kill.

And in fine family tradition, we made marinara and meatballs.

How Did Egyptian Folding Chairs End Up in Northern Germany? - SPIEGEL ONLINE

How Did Egyptian Folding Chairs End Up in Northern Germany? - SPIEGEL ONLINE

Depending on where you stand on the theft vs. fair division of finds in regard to the bust of Nefertiti, this isn't the first time the Germans stole stuff from Egypt.

Even the Romans Went Antiquing

Antinous as Osiris, wearing the nemes and the uraeus; the nose, mouth, left part of the face and major part of the bust are modern restorations. From the villa of Hadrian in Tivoli. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The villa's recreation of Canopus, a resort near Alexandria, as seen from the temple of Serapis (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Exhibit one - Hadrian's Villa.
(Actually, exhibit the only, because I'm exhausted and the stupid Topamax is making me stupider

Does anyone else find this Egyptian-style statue oddly posed? It's of Antinous, Hadrian's companion and probable lover.

Anyway, in addition to having Egyptian style stuff commissioned, Hadrian, one of the few Roman emperors to bother actually visiting Egypt, brought some stuff home with him.

This beautiful head of a female sphinx is said to have come from Hadrian's villa.

Head from a Female Sphinx. Found in Italy, said to have been in the ruins of Emperor Hadrian's villa at Tivoli, outside Rome; originally from Egypt, probably Heliopolis. Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 12, reign of Amunemhat II, circa 1876–1842 B.C.E. Chlorite, 15 5/16 x 13 1/8 x 13 15/16 in. (38.9 x 33.3 x 35.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 56.85 http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/egypt_reborn/female_sphinx.php 

In addition to the lovely head of the sphinx, there is this impressive naophorous statue of the Late Period. Naophorous just means a statue holding a shrine - typically a shrine that has another statue in it. Very meta. These become fairly common in the Late Period.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Naophorous Block Statue of a Governor of Sais, Psamtik(seneb) 

Inappropriate LOL skeleton of the day

'Sup, man. Just chilling with my bro.  Been waiting, like, millennia for my Corona, dude.

Source: Photos: Human Sacrifices Found at Ancient China Complex

Thanks to Julie for pointing out this article which led me to the skeleton article.

Archaeology that makes me squee!!!

Today my class took a test the first half of class, so I did some reading to prep questions about the other textbook I assigned: Daily Life in Ancient Egypt
This resulted in the following gems:

The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Feeding Cup
Why, yes, that is an ancient baby sippy-cup. And it is awesome.

The other thing was this:

...white dogs with large black spots make a regular appearance in Middle Kingdom tombs as pets, and even as guardian deities...

Yup, totally a guardian deity.

The Real Secret of the Holy Grail

The Indiana Jones movies were on TV today. Susan shut it off before it got to the Crystal Skull so I wouldn't throw things at her TV.

I realized something, though. The true power of the Holy Grail is that it turns everything into hydrogen peroxide.
See?

Indy pours Grail juice onto his dad's wound, foaming ensues

Random dude on the internet pours hydrogen peroxide on a scrape, foaming ensues.

Thus endeth your archaeology lesson for the day.

Saying Goodbye to the Galleries

I took some time today to go through the galleries to say goodbye.  Snapped quite a few photos too.


I threw together a slide show of some of the sillier things.

Unhappy Campers

Image via Wikipedia

This is how camp would have looked.  Only hopefully the women would be wearing pants.

Sadly, it looks like I will probably not be teaching the adult archaeology day camp thingy.  Apparently we priced it too steeply but can't really afford to cut things.  Sigh.

Also, it's like eleventy-billion degrees here.  With no AC except the crotchety-ass window unit in the bedroom.  And I'm afraid to go get in the lake because there's all kinds of foul shit (literally) in there and I am slightly immune-compromised.  Also, I'd have to walk through the heat and sun and junk.  I damn near passed out catching a bus earlier. 

I think I may take Oreo and go camp out in the bedroom with my Kindle and the AC.

Things that must be shared

I'm still working on writing lecture material for the day-course archaeology thing I'm teaching later this month and then again in August.

I'm trying to find examples to illustrate various points.  At the moment, I'm trying to come up with an artifact or other archaeological thing that was/is explained or mentioned in an ancient text, thus making it easier to identify.  Pretty much, the idea is to show the back-and-forth nifty-ness and exchange of ideas possible in archaeology and history.

Been trying various Google searches.  His Alien Holiness up there was the first image result for one of them.  I'm about ready to give up.  On everything.  I will become a hermit.  Hermits can have husbands and dogs and books and yarn, right?

Squee! Pottery

Image via WikipediaIn between colds, UTIs, CFS-flare ups, revenge of the grumpy-ass thyroid, and migraines I've been trying to pull things together for the archaeology day-camp for adults course I'm team teaching this summer.

I found the last time I taught that working out a general outline for lectures and then going to look for pictures for PowerPoint (or whatever presentation software) is often really helpful in getting my own brain in gear for teaching.  So, I tend to go type a few phrases in to Google Image Search and see what turns up. This is also immensely helpful in shutting up the little voice in my head screaming "how on Earth are you going to illustrate *that*?" which sends me into fetal-position procrastination.  Because if I don't work on it at all, somehow that will make it less scary.

Seriously, brains are stupid sometimes.

Anywho, as is often the case with the wonder that is the internets, I inevitably find things that are interesting but not of immediate use.  Like this link:

Project Grant Report | Byzantine Studies | Research | Dumbarton Oaks

Kiln furniture!!!  And fabulous incised sherds.  And those are the wasters - stuff that got chucked after the first firing because it didn't come out quite right.

When Progress Isn't Progress

Online petition - Stop the Dams in Sudan!

The two seasons I dug in Sudan were as part of the salvage campaign before the new Merowe Dam at the 4th Cataract was completed and the reservoir it formed filled, flooding the area.

We got to see first hand what that meant for the people who lived in the area.  They were resettled in places not of their own choosing, on land unfamiliar to them, and in areas unsuitable to farming as they were accustomed.

It is unlikely any of them will ever see any great benefit from the dam itself.  The hydroelectric power it produces is intended primarily for Egypt and the money earned from that will go to the dictator in power in Khartoum.

In response to attempts to negotiate different terms of resettlement or a different time-line for construction and flooding, people were killed by state police.  Flooding was begun ahead of schedule, narrowly avoiding harm to those who remained in the area.

The new dams proposed will not be different.  They will not be a source of benefit for the people they displace.  They will be a way to enrich a dictatorial, genocidal regime headed by Bashir.  They are a way for foreign interests to endear themselves further to Bashir and his cronies for their own enrichment and access to oil and mineral wealth. They will also provide a convenient opportunity to displace the remainder of the Nubian ethnic group who managed to hang on to their tradition territory and way of life even in the face of the Aswan Dam built in the 1960s and the ongoing campaign and bias against them in Sudan and Egypt. 

Candidly, no one in power is likely to give a damn if you read the petition or sign it.  But I think as fellow human beings, we at least owe the people likely to be displaced a moment of thought and sympathy.  And maybe a small hope that things might change. 

It will be people like this kid.  And places like that run-down goat pen.  And while you might say that being placed in brand new constructed villages will make things better for them, remember that they don't get a choice.  They don't get input into how the villages are arranged or where they're placed.  And if they try to complain or negotiate, they're as likely to be shot or beaten to death as they are given a fair hearing.

Mummies: CT scans of Egyptian mummies show atherosclerosis - Los Angeles Times

Image via WikipediaMummies: CT scans of Egyptian mummies show atherosclerosis - Los Angeles Times

I have the pestilence (cold) from hell at the moment, but this article was really interesting and I wanted to share it.

If you hadn't already guessed, I tend not to have a lot of patience for people who overly romanticize "non-Western" cultures (and often the concept of non-Western extends into the past to mean anything prior to the Industrial Revolution).
Therefore, this article about artherosclerosis, which is typically characterized as a disease of modern life, being found in Egyptian mummies is particularly interesting. One does have to wonder how much the results were determined by the relatively higher social status of the people being mummified and their greater access to diets that may have been less healthy.

It's interesting, though, the number of people who seem to think that if we could just transport some of the basics of modern hygiene and medicine into the pre-Industrial past that it would be a veritable utopia.

Not sure if this is making much sense as I'm loopy from the cold and stuff to kill the symptoms.

Anyway, ancient heart disease. Interesting.

Fun with Hammers

Image via Wikipedia

What a hammer may look like

It's random tales from the field time again, children.  Gather round.

The last time I was in Sudan (2008) I got really, really sick.  Flu with complications.  Wound up leaving our excavation site for about a week to go back to the capital in Khartoum to see a doctor and get meds and junk.  Got to feeling slightly better, didn't want to come home to Chicago, so went back out to the site.  Before you yell at me for the stupid, bear in mind it was January.  No one in their right mind would go back to Chicago in January if they could avoid it.

Anyway we got back and I was still weak and woozy as all hell.  The day after I got back, the rest of the team went on a day trip to visit some other sites, some of which I had seen before.  Having just done the 8 or so hour journey from Khartoum the day before I was like "y'all have fun now,  don't fall in any tombs."

So it was me and our cook, Hashem left at the house.  As an aside, Hashem is a genius.  My god that man can cook.  He made fried chicken!  In a dirt kitchen!  With just two propane burners!  And soup!  He spoke almost no English, but so what.  He would wipe the floor with that Colonel dude from Kentucky.  If he ever for some reason wants to move the the US I will be at whatever government office necessary waving my cane around and yelling about how we need his awesome cooking for the good of the nation.

Anyway, I had stayed in bed a little late that day until I felt like getting up.  Then I staggered over to the dining room part of the house to see if there was tea left in any of the carafes and maybe some packaged cookies or something.  Hashem sees me and conveys very clearly that no, skinny foreign woman who looks like she may pass out at any moment, you are eating real food.  Off he goes.

I take a seat in one of the plastic chairs and hang out, sort of idly watching flies get caught on the fly-tapes we have hanging from the ceiling.  (Remember the fly tape, it's important later.)

Hashem all squinty because some genius
thought staring into the sun
for photos was a good idea

Hashem returns with enough food to feed like 8 people.  I express appropriate awe/gratitude and start eating hoping I can at least manage to force down enough not to offend him. It was good, I just still felt like ass.  He wanders off again, probably to mix his 87 herbs and spices for his magical, magical fried chicken.

There is suddenly this awful, loud buzzing noise.  Enough that I jumped up and away from the fluorescent light we had for use at night even though it wasn't turned on.  Then I look at one of the fly tapes.  A small bird appears to be stuck in it.  On closer inspection, it turns out to be some sort of gargantuan bumble bee.  I'm thinking "Chainsaw Bee" is a good name.  It's stuck to the fly tape, but is so heavy it's pulled the thing down almost to the tabletop.  And it's pissed and sounding even more like a chainsaw.  And skeezing me out, big time.  And shaking and jerking on the fly tape threatening to pull it down and/or release the lifeless but still disgusting bodies of its predecessors. 

Pretty sure
it was about the size of a Space Bee

So, after rescuing my plate of food from possible contamination by the chainsaw bee, I look around for a way to kill it.  I was wearing flipflops.  No way.  All the books available 1) belonged to me and 2) would have been ruined by Chainsaw Bee guts.  Other options included plastic chairs,  plastic tables, or either of 2 laptops.  There was also the option of yelling for Hashem, but I didn't know the Arabic for "the sickly crazy foreigner is a chickenshit and there is a huge fucking Chainsaw Bee up in here."

Then I spotted a hammer.  Score!

At first I tried smacking it with the hammer while it was still on the dangling fly paper.  In retrospect, this is probably the most obvious evidence that I was still pretty unwell, because even I would ordinarily recognize that as a bad idea.

My feeble swipes at it finally knocked Chainsaw Bee to the ground however.  Victory was to be mine!

There I am, crouched on the ground with a good-sized hammer in my hand, raised over my head prepared to strike with a no doubt manic/feverish gleam in my eye when Hashem comes back.  He stopped and blinked.  I waved my free hand feebly and gestured at Chainsaw Bee.  He sort of nodded.  And went away.

I smashed the fuck out of Chainsaw Bee.


I considered finding Hashem and trying to explain but, again, wasn't sure how to express "I'm stupid and there was a bee" in either Arabic or pantomime without making myself look even crazier.

Instead, I finished my brunch.

Acanthus (ornament) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Image via WikipediaAcanthus (ornament) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

"The Roman writer Vitruvius (c. 75 BCE — c. 15 BCE) related that the Corinthian order had been invented by Callimachus, a Greek architect and sculptor who was inspired by the sight of a votive basket that had been left on the grave of a young girl. A few of her toys were in it, and a square tile had been placed over the basket, to protect them from the weather. An acanthus plant had grown through the woven basket, mixing its spiny, deeply cut leaves with the weave of the basket."

I did not know this story, as my knowledge of Classical Antiquity is spotty at best, but I find it very touching, somehow, regardless of whether it is true or not.

Then again part of why mortuary archaeology is so interesting to me is that it's such an immediate contact with people - not just the person interred, but with whomever took the time to carry out the steps of a proper funeral.  It's often a last act of compassion for a fellow being and there is a certain deliberate care to do it as right or properly as possible.  And there is often an ongoing element of interaction between the living and the dead.

Native Americans modified American landscape years prior to arrival of Europeans

Image via WikipediaNative Americans modified American landscape years prior to arrival of Europeans

My Twitter followers will have already seen my response, but because I am particularly arthritic and therefore grumpy today, I wanted to reiterate:

No shit, really!?!?

[sarcasm]
Humans modified landscapes in which they lived? Even the Injun ones? I may die of shock.
[/sarcasm]

Don't get me wrong, having quantifiable evidence is good and the study is pretty cool.  I just tend to get pissy about the tendency some people have of thinking humans were somehow way more stupid or incompetent in the past.  Especially non-European humans.
We're all still pretty much the same.  People in the past and people now are still just as capable of epic awesomeness of achievement of the WIN! or FAIL! variety. And even of somehow managing both at the same time (Ramses II at the Battle of Kadesh, I am totally looking at you.  "Derpty-do, I'll totally believe these random spies and just go on way ahead of the rest of my army and get caught by a huge enemy force...")

I'll go back to grinding my teeth and being aware of each and every joint facet/point of contact in my shoulder, fingers, and sacro-illiac now.

Before the Pyramids Sneak Peek (3)

Before the Pyramids Sneak Peek (3)

Some wonderful photos and peeks behind the scenes of the OI's latest temporary exhibit "Egypt Before the Pyramids." Beautiful, beautiful Predynastic pots. Very nifty.

These are on the Oriental Institute's Facebook page, but you should be able to view them even if you are not a member of Facebook.

My Official Response Is As Follows: "Daaaaaaaaaaaamn"

Image via WikipediaUnreported Heritage News: Ancient Egyptians made the arduous trek to Chad ne...: "View From Egypt to Chad in a larger map The Bodele Depression. New research suggests that the Egyptians travelled to this area. Today it..."

Go read the article and look at the pictures.

I wonder what this will do to the ongoing debate over which ancient Egyptian place-names apply to what areas in greater Nubia and Africa

Also: ZOMG A country in Africa had contact with other parts of Africa!