EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
Nile Delta research Delta Survey fieldwork at Tell Mutubis (directed by Penny Wilson) and Tell Buweib (Jeffrey Spencer), initially planned for spring 2013, had to be postponed when permissions were not received in time, but fortunately both the Tell Basta expedition (led by Eva Lange) and the Minufiyeh Governorate Survey (Joanne Rowland) were able to work as normal with a new survey project in Imbaba Governorate also initiated (see further, ‘Digging Diary’ p.28). At the time of writing (mid-September), with the current unrest in Egypt, and with the FCO advising against non-essential travel to the Nile Valley and Delta, it is looking unlikely that the EES will be able to send any field expeditions this autumn, though this will be kept under review by the Society. Work planned by the EES Delta expeditions for the last quarter of the year will probably have to be rescheduled for spring 2014. Although not all the Society’s field expeditions were able to work in early 2013, the third Delta Survey Workshop did take place at the British Council in Agouza, Cairo, on 22 and 23 March. Once again the Workshop was hosted jointly by the EES and the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities and the Society is very grateful to the Minister, and colleagues in the MSA, for supporting the event. The Delta Survey Workshops started in 2009 with a more modest one-day conference (see EA 35, p.11) and then expanded to fill two days in 2011 (EA 39, p.3) and this year. The number of Delta researchers attending has also grown and in 2013 around 70 delegates heard 26 papers on recent fieldwork and research in or concerning the Delta and Sinai. Most of the nationalities working in the Nile Delta were represented and about one third of the papers were given by Egyptian colleagues from the MSA, museums or universities. In response to requests for the papers from the 2013 Workshop to be published, it was decided to upload these to the EES website as downloadable ‘open access’
EES Delta fieldwork in Spring 2013. Left: Eva Lange on site at Tell Basta. Right: Salima Ikram examining mummified material at Quesna. Photographs: Aidan Dodson
PDFs and those who gave papers in March were invited to send their text and images for editing and formatting. Since some of the speakers have At the MSA/EES Delta Survey Workshop. already published, Left to right: Aidan Dodson, Joanne Rowland and Fayza Haikal or intend in the future to publish, their material elsewhere, not all the presentations will be available on the EES website, but where possible, links will be provided to online publication elsewhere, as has been done for the paper on the British Museum’s work at Naukratis. Abstracts for all the 2013 Delta Workshop presentations have been uploaded to the EES website (see: www.ees.ac.uk/news/index/227.html) and four full papers were added in August: Aiman Ashmawy Ali The SCA excavation at Tell Basta 2002 Ayman Wahby and Karim Abdel Fattah Some little-known archaeological sites in Dakahlia Governorate Hesham M Hussein and Sayed Abd el-Aleem Tell el-Kedwa (Qedua): Saite Fortresses on Egypt’s Eastern Frontier Manuela Lehmann Skylines, bridges and mud in the Delta and elsewhere Additional papers will be uploaded as they are received, and after editing. Anyone who would like to be advised when further papers are added should send an e-mail asking to be kept informed to patricia.spencer@ees.ac.uk.
Some of the 70 delegates at the 2013 Delta Survey Workshop during one of the presentations. Photograph: Aidan Dodson
PATRICIA SPENCER