Mystery of the black pot!

Hello campers and Hi de Hi. Sorry about that we have been watching Maplins on the computer and it seems to have rubbed off. Still having difficulty uploading pix so I think you'll have to wait unti we get home. In the meantime we have discovered a mysterious black pot which is wheel made and burnished and definitely not Egyptian. It was inside the new cave which which is now open but so full of sand it is hard to tell what might be in there. It is a big mystery but it might be Aegean or Near Eastern. Hmmm the big problem is that it is in about two zillion bits so guess who has to try to stick it back together and then draw it. We are working hard on all the rest of the pottery and think we might have found a bit more from Crete which is exciting. They also have masses of bits of wood from ships and we found a wooden spoon and a sandal, both perfectly preserved.

We had a mini trip to Cairo last week and ended up volunteering (err being volunteered) to collect some special chemicals which our conservation specialist needed. These turned out to be metal cans full of white powder. Not good when you are flying. Nevertheless, armed with a letter from the Italian Embassy and a whole rash of official looking seals and stuff we presented ourselves at check in, smiled sweetly, explained the situation and brandished our letters and bingo we were in. The bag was covered with stamps and stickers and that was it. Phew.

Aside from that it has been around 30 degrees here the last two days and I managed to sunburn my arm yesterday. The first time I have ever been burned in Egypt. Stupid girl. However, our plant and botany specialist soon came to my aid. Identifying one of the local desert plants as an aloe she chopped a bit off it (rather a prickly looking bit I might add) and started rubbing my arm with great enthusiasm. I must admit I was a bit worried at this point but apart form turning rather green and slimy my arm soon looked and felt better. It just goes to show how useful it can be to travel with a botanist!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=171772&id=532473012&l=6a617ec8a2

Just a quick blog to say that you can see me and my bits of pot at my face book account the address is the title for this blog. Its very slow to upload anything so make the most of this. NB Facebook account is Sally Swain. We have begun to clear the entrance to the cave and its is sealed with mud brick so everyone is keen to know what is inside. Yesterday the stele was cleaned and uncovered and joy of joys it is a royal inscription of Sesostris II who was king of Egypt in the 12th dynasty around 4000 years ago. We have deck planks and other ship timbers including bits of oars and also a wooden mallet. Even better the inscription on the stele mentions the famous land of PUNT, so we know the expedition set off from here to go to Punt. Its wonderful, a bit like finding an inscription that mentions Atlantis! As the stele was cleared we all stood and watched. The Hieroglyph of the sun god had colour left on it. You can imagine the excitement as the royal name was revealed.

Hi I'm having another go at adding some pictures but the connection is very slow so this might be another pictureless blog.Work is going well and all the pottery is behaving as it should which is a relief. Work is going on to clear the entrance to the cave and the stele which marked the cave entrance was lifted yesterday. It is covered in sand and can't be uncovered until it has stabilised a bit so we don't know what it says yet but the hieroglyph specialist arrives tonight so we might find out soon. Its so exciting. It's a really big stele and you can see that it has writing on it but without brushing more sand away it is impossible to see what it says. Happy New Year to you all. Try looking at Facebook and I'll see if it's any easier to put pictures there.

What have we ear?

Well we have arrived and almost immediately the excitement has begun with lots of bits of interesting pottery from all over the place including South Arabia and Nubia as well as Egypt. Our wood specialist has found some ebony fragments and most exciting of all we have a new and apparently un opened cave! COOOOO. Apprently it smells very musty!

In my little ceramic corner of the world I have thousands of bits of big storage jar and also this very odd looking thing which might come from a jar called a Bes vase showing the face of the god Bes. He was popular with ordinary people and though to ward off evil. Mind you I only have one this bit which might or might not be an ear...erk.

Lots of other interesting little problems are occupying me so this is all for now, but as you can see the weather is great and the sky is blue watch this space for more about the cave. It could be very exciting. It takes ages to upload pictures so please be patient if there aren't many.

A new post hmmm. This blog seems to be a lot about France and not much about Egypt so here is an update just in case you were wondering what had happened to the archaeology. Season opens on 28th December and will run for about three weeks. We will begin by processing the buckets left over from 2007. These are likely to contain a lot of big bits of storage jar but I am holding out hope that there might be a bit more Cretan cup lurking in the bottom of a bucket. Well, we will see what transpires. How exciting. Our Cretan pottery is one of the oldest pieces ever found in Egypt...hoorah.

As for the picture, well I hope to be doing a bit of snorkeling and diving in my time off. At a balmy 28 Celsius it should be just right for a bit of relaxation after work.

A Grand Day Out

Almost our last day so a la Wallace and Grommet we decided to have day out instead of being sensible and starting the packing. We have been promising ourselves a visit to the Chateau Colombier near Rodez; so after breakfast in St Antonin off we went. It was an amazing experience. They have a Medieval zoo and the Chateau itself looks like a film set inside and out. According to the information it has been in the same family for 30 generations and at least since the 12th century. A lot of work has gone into making it a fascinating place to visit.

The Kitchen has been reconstructed and there were all kinds of herbs and plants on display so the smell was headily wonderful. Look at that fireplace, just right for roasting a pig.

I definitely think this looks as if it should have come from the set of Lord of the Rings or similar.
Any minute now a trumpet will sound and someone will declare that their Lord is without. Without what? I can't help asking. There certainly is a lot of history round here even if it is rather modern. (Only a little Egyptologist's joke.)

This, however, was no joke. Have you ever been this close to a lion? Fortunately it was asleep, just like a great big Amelie. To be honest there was also a thick double pane of glass between us, still it was an impressive sight. We also saw bears, wolves, deer and other more domestic animals all associated with Medieval imagery. We especially liked the brown cows which come from this area. They still had their large and formidable looking horns and each one had a wonderful bongly bell with a different note.

It was obviously bears' snooze time. Never mind being a Medieval icon! Check out those paws.

Finally a view of the Chateau and the formal garden which contained a lot of medicinal plants as well as roses from Damascus which were originally brought to France in the Medieval period by returning crusaders. They had a wonderful scent. All I can say it that it was much better that rotten old packing. Tomorrow, however, we shall pay for our profligacy but not until we have been out to lunch. It's a tough life!

Showers and Lightning

One of Spike's favourite occupations is to fight the shower fairy. The plug hole makes a very compulsive gurgling sound and obviously whatever it is that causes it has to be captured and dealt with. The metal drain cover also makes a most appealing clanking noise especially on the tiled hall floor outside the bathroom. Yesterday morning he had to be evicted from the shower by four different people but that wasn't the end of his troubles.

A minute or two later the promised thunderstorm finally arrived with a bang, quite literally; causing Spike to arrive in our room at top speed and fluffed out like a bottle brush. The storm rolled around overhead and as you can see Spike was less than impressed. We were all a bit less than impressed a while after that, when there was a huge explosion with fizzling and a strong smell of ozone. It was pretty clear that something had been hit.

Unfortunately further investigation showed that it was the church spire which had taken a direct hit. Slates were scattered about all over the pavement.

The hole is pretty big but hopefully the insurance will cover repairs. Our house is insured against lightning strikes, I've always thought this was a bit of overkill but now I'm rather glad that it is. At least the storm has cooled the weather down. Yesterday morning there was a beautiful soft autumn mist and it was deliciously cool. Spike and Amelie both like it a lot more and there has been a lot of hurtling up and down the stairs. They like us will miss being here.