Where data goes to live

“Do artifacts ever leave Giza?” Good question. The answer is NO! Nothing ever leaves Giza. AERA collects and analyzes everything they excavate and everything goes into SCA-sanctioned storage. The Giza storeroom and lab are overseen by Dr. Mary Anne Murray. I have a...

To sleep, perchance to dream

The field school’s wireless server at the hotel only reaches far enough to put my room just outside the bubble. So I park myself outside the room with the server (not convenient for Skype). The other night I noticed I wasn’t the only one in the hall. Field school...

A big chance to learn

Afaf Wahba has worked for the Supreme Council of Antiquities for nine years. She began as a curator at the Coptic Museum in old Cairo and for the past two years, she’s been an inspector at the Central Department of Giza. This job does not usually entail field work,...

Staying on…

Just a quick note to say that although I should have left Egypt this morning at 2:00 a.m., I’ve decided to stay and finish out the season with the blog. Please stay tuned for more postings.

The hounds of Giza

Anubis was the ancient Egyptian god of embalming. He is often pictured on tomb walls attending to the deceased during mummification. The inspiration for the god’s identity probably came from the wild dogs that roamed the ancient cemeteries. The AERA osteo team...

A force of nature

With her blond, surfer-girl looks and vernacular, it would be easy to mistake Jessica Kaiser for just another cute denizen of the California beach … until she starts talking osteo-archaeology. Osteo-archaeology is the archaeology of human and animal remains,...