I’m supposed to be working on database stuff but the internet is not working so I am just typing a blog entry on microsoft word. The days are going by quicker…I am learning more about methodology and things like how to use the camera equipment, how to use all the different logs we have etc. There is a lot of paperwork in archaeology. So far, I like working in the lab more than I like working in the field, which is not the standard amongst archaeologist from what I understand. The work in the field is still pretty early on though and our team isn’t even all here yet. Hopefully by Saturday or Sunday we will break off into groups, dividing the Khentkawes site into 4 parts and work on recording as we re-backfill. It is important to cover the squares as soon as possible so that the information can be as preserved as possible. Any amount of of rain or wind can do a lot of damage to a site, especially one like this that has been reduced to centimeters after decades of trampling humans, horses and camels. The destruction of the site comes after exposure from a 1930s excavation done by the University of Cairo.

Like I said, hopefully once we are more organized, I will be able to enjoy and appreciate everything that I do a bit more. As it stands, I’m given very little instruction and then left alone on the site…when I do finish whatever it was that I was told to do, I usually return to sketching until someone shows back up to tell me something else to do. The problem with this project is that it has gotten so big that the administrators, who are supposed to be working in the field, are constantly doing other operations…whether it be accomodating the chaotic schedules of everyone here, setting up the house, taking potential donors on tours, working out any type of legal issue, and I’m sure I’m only scratching the surface here. But like I said…a lot of time, especially because I’m alone, I have no idea what I am supposed to do next. Usually I just reread the London Manual of Archaeology or some of the previous reqports on excavations at Khentkawes.

If I continue to feel this uninspired about this kind of work, at least excavations only last until mid april and then I can turn to writing, something I actually enjoy doing….and if finish up writing earlier enough, I supposed I can either come home earlier, work in the lab, or just travel briefly…something who knows. I will still want to see what its like to work on another project before making other decisions about the direction I’m going with my career…though really, I think the discipline needs more people to shack up in labs and actually analyze more material as opposed to more people digging around…so much stuff has been dug up that has never been looked at.

I think uninspired was the word I used earlier…it pretty much sums me up right now. I’m tired, I’m frustrated…I’m someone passionate about information, knowledge, facts, data….but a majority of what I seem to be picking up is “fake it ‘til you make it.” I was told that I’m being thrown into this head first to see if I will sink or swim….seeing as though I am demanding more responsibilities (hence why I now work on the database in addition to survey, mapping and excavation), and the fact that I’m organizing the smaller tasks and being asked questions by students who already completed the field school when I’ve never been to a field school ever, and that I’m the first to voice exactly what I think is and is not time efficient, I would probably say that I am swimming just fine….one thing I was asked to do today though was to create labels and log any new features I saw on site…a new feature is just basically anything that changes or is different within a certain context…if it sounds kind of vague or abstract, that’s how I feel about it too. I was told to do this, and per usual all individuals in charge disappear. So I’m staring at squares, which already have some features labeled from previous seasons….and I have no idea what is and isn’t a distinguishable feature…for example if you are looking at a wall, and this is the with a few centimeters of sand removed from the surface, we aren’t talking deep levels here…how am I supposed to know whether or not a mudbrick wall, as I am seeing it, is one continuous feature, or if it is broken up by different rooms and buttressed by different installations? Are there ways to determine this? You betcha! Have I been taught…no…Is it obvious…in some areas yes, in some areas its really ambiguous…I’m a conservative archaeologist…I do things with certainty…when I explained that I don’t know, but that I want to know and I want to know how, I was told that archaeology is like poker…true analogy…that if I say it’s a new feature, keep my bluffing face on, and chances are, most people will agree with me. This is very UNSATISFYING information to me….and if I ever run a project or a field school, such things will never be uttered.

Oh well. I do get to spend every day at a place most people never even get to see. I think one of the things that is really just offsetting to me is the underlying anxiety that when I leave here, on paper it should appear as though I have all of the excavation experience in the world given the reputation of the project and the reputation of the excavators on board, but if things continue the way they have been, and I still walk away feeling this aimless, I fear I will wind up on a project with high expectations but really having no idea what I’m dong or what I’m talking about. Fortunately enough, each project kind of does things their own way so any fumble I make, to an extent, could probably just be chalked up to that kind of difference…but hopefully my fears are unfounded and I will leave here a pro…and hopefully a happy one….who doesn’t write in run on sentences. In shala (if god wills it). But I suppose the earliest archaeologists didn't have any direction either and they just relied on a common sense, and accute detail....so yes, here's to common sense and anal retentiveness.

Ah I was able to upload some photos:

Here is a shot I took after climbing some huge formation. Obviously the more well known pyramids can be seen, but Khentkawes (not neraly as well preserved, nor massive) is in there too, on the left.




Here's a close up:



And here are pictures of the workers unbackfilling.




Thats probably the extent of what I can post from the site without getting into trouble.