EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
Showcasing the Society Rosenow and Jeffrey Spencer, and in ‘Digging Diary’, but there are many other aspects to our work and we would like to showcase at the start of each issue the many and varied activities with which the Society is involved. It may take an issue or two for this new EES section to settle down and, as ever, we will appreciate feedback and suggestions for future content, but we hope that you will welcome, and like, this new approach. Please do let us know! PATRICIA SPENCER
The layout of Egyptian Archaeology has evolved gradually since the first issue in 1991 and this time we’ve made a more major change. Old friends such as ‘Notes and News’, ‘Events’ and ‘Membership Matters’ are being replaced by a varying number of pages at the beginning of each issue that will summarise recent EES news. The results of our own fieldwork and research, or of projects we helped to fund, are regularly featured in articles such as those in this issue by David Jeffreys, Gillian Pyke, Daniela
Good company in warm sunshine
From 13 to 27 March 2010 a tour of EES members, organised for us by The Traveller and South Sinai Tours, visited sites in Egypt from Alexandria to Luxor. The Society’s Vice President, Alan Lloyd, accompanied the tour as Guest Speaker, with our Cairo Representative Faten Saleh as Guide and Rosalind Phipps as Tour Manager for The Traveller. Safaa Mohammed represented South Sinai Tours. An EES member, James J Batty, sent this report to EA after the tour’s return home.
W Raymond Johnson of Chicago House dsecribing the work of the Oriental Institute in the temple of Luxor. Photograph: Barbara Pentlow
he answered courteously in his inimitable manner. To coin a phrase, we all have something to contribute to life ... but Alan needless to say had done his homework and made a huge contribution to our knowledge. All we had to do was to get out of bed at the requested time for breakfast and it was another fascinating day steeped in Egyptology and with good company in the warm sunshine. Any slight indispositions were attended to by Ros, Faten and Safaa and we were well looked after and wanted for nothing - it was like a large family tour. The ‘highlights’ for me were the ‘Pyramid Fields’ of Dahshur, Saqqara, Abu Sir and Giza, with a trip en route to the Fayum taking in the Meidum and Hawara pyramids. Other highlights were the Red and White Monasteries in Middle Egypt, Amarna and the western valley at Thebes to visit the Tomb of King Ay - away from the crowds. Site visits were also enhanced by the many Field Directors and team members who described their work to us. Unfortunately all good things come to an end: the two weeks simply flew past and I came home wishing that it could have been four weeks, but at least I had made a lot of new friends whom, insha’allah, I sincerely hope to see again in the not too distant future. JAMES J BATTY
Having returned from the EES members’ tour of Egypt as a first time participant, I thought I would pen you a few lines to express my appreciation of this tour. I missed the Anniversary tour of 2008 (see EA 33, pp.3738) for various reasons but was determined to partake of the next one if possible. Having been an EES member for many years and been with other organisations to Egypt, I had long thought that a members’ tour would be an obvious choice and I was not disappointed. It was beyond my expectations. Roughly a third of the members meeting at Heathrow had been on the previous tour but newcomers were made immediately welcome and it turned out to be the best trip that I have ever made to Egypt, with wonderful company. I am not going to go through the whole comprehensive itinerary [see the back of EA 35], but we wasted no time. We had a good flight - no strikes or volcanos to interrupt the schedule - and once arrived in Cairo we were rapidly ensconced in a coach by Ros, our outstanding Tour Manager, who, with Faten, Safaa and our driver Gallal, made such an important contribution to the success of the whole two weeks. The hotels and food were excellent; site fees and gratuities were all taken care of. Alan gave the lectures and was always available for questions, which Mandy Mamedow of the University of Potsdam/SCA team at Tell Basta describing ceramics found at the site. Behind her are Faten Saleh and Ros Phipps. Photograph: Barbara Pentlow
The EES group outside the reconstructed tomb of Ptahshepses at Abu Sir. Photograph: James J Batty