Day 22: Ambassadors, wine 'n' meat :D

So today was a delicious day.
From start to finish it was filled with things out of the ordinary.

First thing this morning was repacking the truck after valley of the whales.
This turned out to be abit of a mission.
The next thing was tackling the morning traffic.

So satudays are the cow markets down the road from us.
Which means... uhhh... yeah...
Literally 100's of goddam cows... goddam everywhere...
Literally.

So we start off...
And then next thing we know cows... EVERWHERE...
GRIDLOCK COW TRAFFIC.
Cows in cars.
Cows on cars.
Goats behind cars.
Gamoosas in pickuptrucks.
No idea.

We closed the windows pretty rapidly to avoid any uhh... cow... uhhh... yeah...
They were close enough to poop in the windows...
And at 6am in the morning that is not exactly a good wake up...

Anyway...
To the field... was awesome... was a chill day...

Morning was spent excavating hearths and nailing out the transect so that when the ambassador arrived we had lots of pretty neolithic things to show him...

As it turns out none of the hearths were hearths...
soooooooooo...
yes...
but they were very very exciting for the astrophysists / geomorphologists amoungst us...
long story short the shoreline wasnt supposed to be up that high...
and all the hearths were PERFECT beach sand...
and compacted shell deposits...
havent seen anything like this anywhere else.

So yes...
The ambassador turns up , walks roudn the site, checks out stuff out...
I play photographer...

We return to base.
SUPRISE!
Ambassador has bought wine, beer, beef and sausages from NZ for us...
best. night. of. my. life.
seriously.
after eating "quasi meat" for the last 3 weeks, the taste of actual beef.
just. heaven!

my god.

that is all.

just.

yes.

:3

Conditions in the car this morning were a little cramped :S

Barrett and Slaggy shooting in the hearth lithics under Tash's watchful eye

The "hearth" which actually turned out to be a sweet sandpit

The hearth which turned out to be filled with nasty sharp shells :S

Day 21: Whale of a time

Last night was the big night.
Our night off.
Our night under the stars.
Joshs night to go b1g.

As was fortold it didnt matter how early we left, we would be getting to the camp site at darkness.
We had planned to leave at 2.
2 turned to 3.
We then got held up badly at some kind of horrifying police check point...
The only words I have to explain what happened at the check point are mystifying and completley bizzare... i dont really know what it was about... or why... all I know is that a large amount of money changed hands... we sat around for 30 minutes and then we were on our way again...

oh egypt you so silly.

So yes.

Finally we get there.

We then proceed to trapse through the desert.
As it turns out in a circle.

After figuring this out we rectified our course, found our perfect site and got cracking with setting up for the night!

Josh and Bex dissapeared off into the night.
We waited, getting the site ready for the forthcoming return.
Champagne was poured, we gathered.

Not gonna lie. Was more than a little nervous for Josh!

We waited.
And waited.
And then...

SHE SAID YES :D !!

Hoorah!

The champagne was drunk.
Frivolity ensued.

For some reason Bethany had decided back in the US to buy many many glow sticks...
And also a laser pointery thingery ravey thingy.
And brought them to Egypt...

This transpired to be a good move as we began our mid-desert rave partay.

On a serious note.
There was atleast 5-7 points in time last night where I became truly aware of what a unique kind of an experience this is... and how lucky I am to do the things I do... whilst being around the people that I am...

Long story short.
Amazingness.

Soon we all went out stargazing and observed the pristine stars from the desert before returning to base to set up sleeping bags, stare at the stars and attempt to sleep.

The night was cold but amazing. Again another of the truly amazing experiences :3

In the morning we awoke to a clear day, only slightly unnerved to be in the middle of the desert with nothing around...

We proceeded to do some geo-caching and walk the wadi el hitan track.

It was then back into the car and back home.
Whilst the night was truly amazing it was also exhausting.
Truly exhausting.

Now it is time to chill out.
Kick back.
Drink a beer and contemplate what tomorrow holds.

photos to come soooon

First approach to the site

Hamman and co cooking our foods :D

The view on wake up in the morning

our camping area

The geocache

Simon and Marcus getting down to truck pack up

View out over wadi el hitan

The sign that looks like tie fighters on the way home

Day 20: I think the crews gone crayyzayy!

So today... today... was a crazy day in the field...

Words cannot describe...

I started at like 7am with copious laughter... and didnt stop... till just now...
Seriously...
My abs hurt...

So long story short it was a good day...
My camera is in my bag so will upload photos later tonight...

But know this...
1) we live up the road from a factory that smells like doughnuts... turns out... plastic bag factory...
2) tomorow we travel to valley of the whales for our camp out
3) I am SO EXCITED FOR TOMOROW
4) Its really goddam cold right now
5) I found a bead and epipaliolithic arrow point today :3

6) today was a good day

Day 19: Luke! LUKE!

Today I captured a magestic picture of star-wars in action.
Legit.
No photoshopping here.

The live scene captured this morning outside the skywalker house

Anyway. In seriousness. The house really really really does look like Uncle Owens house. I am sufficiently happy with the setting of this transect here :3

So today I woke up feeling a little bit less than chipper, but decided that I was going to be good enough to go to the field...

So off we went...

Into the now winter temperatures of the desert.

A northerly was blowing today which meant extra cold and extra wind :S not cool when ya feeling sickly :S

Luckily today was my first day off of the survey team as I dont think I could manage another day staring at the screen wizzing round shooting in points whilst feeling sickly.

So today it was artifact analysis duty: nailing out and analysing 800+ artifacts :O

More fun than it sounds, trust me :3

One of the cool artifacts from today was another epi-paleolithic projectile point:

woo! epipaleolithcness!

Not quite as nice as our last one, but pretty cool none the less!

The rest of the day wizzed past, the only other excitement being the giant ants:

oh god so big :S

And a human sized tumble weed that blew across the transect (photos forthcoming)

We all were feeling the other side of hump day today and on the way home were more silent than usual... 

UNTIL!

Second lunch time.

So usually second lunch is some form of fish or somthing else relatively averagely appetising which we kind of shove our faces with without really tasting it... but not today... oh no...

Today was fried chicken and some form of delicious pasta...

hump day no longer was a feeling...

WE FELT LIKE KINGS.

Seriously though. delicious. amaze. yes. 

10/10

Happyness :3

Day 18: Hump day

Today is hump day.
It represents the midway point of our field season.
And the supposed transition from feeling like OH GOD 4AM WAKE UP AND 10 HOURS IN THE SUN AND OH GOD IM SO TIRED to feeling more like OH GOD ONLY 2 1/2 WEEKS LEFT AND SO MUCH TO DO...

As far as I can tell this means a transition from one kind of panic and sadness to another.
I for one was definitley starting to feel it today. By 3.30 I was absolutley spent, like hit the wall.
Hard.
People would be talking and I just wouldnt register.
Shooting artifacts was ok, I would get into my groove and just go, but as soon as there was somthing new or somthing to interact with and I was just blank...
Functioning on minimum.

This functioning may have been due to extreme blood loss earlier this morning...

So...
This story starts last night at 9pm with a sleeping tablet...
And ends this morning at 4am with what appeared to be some kind of hack-slash film scene on my pillow...

I have been prone to nose-bleeds for some years now, on account of some nose accidents... and I must have hit my nose at some point during the night, causing it to bleed.
Profusely.

So long story short, aside from being a truly horrifying scene, I had actually lost enough blood to feel really really lightheaded when I woke up.
Staying home wasnt an option today as we had 2 of the crew already out of action with illness and bad backs and the third of our crew off on survey duty.

The next reason was that we had the australian with us today.
And we needed to give her shit.
All day.
No amount of blood loss was going to stop me from this pleasure.

Consumed chocolate to get blood sugars back.
Hit the field.
She will be right m8.

Anyway! We got to the field with only a minimum of chastising to the australian, mostly comprising of afew STRAYYYYYYLIIAAAAAASSSSS and WHERE THE BLOODY HELL ARE YA?

Today was also my last day on survey, which began with shooting out the remainder of L1T8 which is a dense epi-paliolithic site.

Thousands of artifacts are scattered around the surface with a large amount of fish bone around as well. Of note in this transect is that they were using smaller cobbles than we have previously seen in the neolithic sites, which is inkeeping with the trends of previous years surveys in the Fayyyum.

This change in size is on account of the different tool manufacturing processes and needs, with the epipaleolithic people manufacturing more micro-liths and arrowpoints whilst the neolithic peoples were using more sliced core technologies to make larger flatter flakes as we saw in K basin in the first weeks.

Anyway.

We quickly trained the straylian up on lithics and set her loose on the transect doing artifact survey.
Karl and I played human etcher-sketchers marking in the last of the geo-morph before shooting in the remainder of the transect arms for artifacts.

By the end my head was spinning.
But there was a suprise in store :3
A new desert creature for us!
PRESENTING:
SPIDEY THE SPIDER!!! :D

what. a. cutie!

Usually im not a fan of spiders.

But spidey was pretty cute.

Till it moved at me.

And then i freaked out.

Oh god oh god oh god.

After we lost spidey into the desert (oh god probably in my bag or in my clothing :S ) we moved on to L1T28, marked out, geo-morphed and then shot in for artifact analysis 300 artifacts and 580 bone (in 2 hours). 

The fish otoliths out here are HUGE! like seriously, kind of thumb sized, which is much bigger than most fish specimens I have seen back in NZ... According to resident know-all and paleo-ecology specialist Marcus the fish that used to be in the paleo-lake were huge. like catfish. 2m. bigger than humans kind of sized. 

Terrifying.

We closed down after shooting out the portion of the transect arm and piled into the truck. 

My last day on survey for this half at a close.

It has been a crazy 6 days.

From military scares to lizards in my jumper.

Im looking forward to returning to artifact analysis, and to not rushing like a crazy crazy crazy person to get the transect shot in before sun-down. 

Tonight to celebrate hump day we drink on the roof and toast to a first-half of the field season well down.

My mid-way retrospective for now is thus:

Ive learnt alot.

I love the team I am working with.

I love Egypt.

I am looking forward to eating roast. Mc Donalds. Chocolate. Fizzy drink. Sushi. Burgers. OH GOD SO MUCH. 

I am looking forward to the next half of the field season and the things that are in store for us in the coming days :3

Day 17: Adrenaline and lizards

Today started like most other days that I have been on survey... Drive to the field... Set up... Shoot in... Shoot out...

L1T23 was filled with artifacts and pottery down two arms but was sparce down the others meaning we got most of it shot out before second breakfast.

After second breakfast however we were in for a little suprise.

Enter Lizzy :3

Lizzy is a desert dwelling Lizzard.

And he was the cutest thing I have ever, ever seen :3

Apart from maybe snakey. 

Either way.

So cute.

Now Lizzy was no normal lizard.

He was crazy.

Magnoona as they say here.

He was pretty incistant that he was to live inside my jacket.

Or underneath the total station boxes.

Or in Karls bag.

None of these are good places for a lizard.

We managed to chase him into a hat and deposit him off in the desert.

But he was a clever one.

He came back.

We return from shooting out the rest of the transect and I almost wet myself when Lizzy shoots out from under the total station past my foot and into my jacket again.

Goddam Lizzy.

This is no place for you. 

Finally we remove him from the general clothing and box area.

Suddenly a spider appears.

Lizzy is hungry.

We chase the spider towards our lizzard friend.

Lizzy obliges.

No more spider :3

This morning the moon was still out :3

And also there were really pretty cloud formations

Lizzy the lizzard!

Anywhoo. Lizard excitement over for the day we press on and pack down the total station to move transects.

All of a sudden :O

Our guard rushes over and is like OH GOD NO NO NO NO NO YOU CANT GO THERE

We are like wut.

Its a desert. wut. 

After abit of a debarkle it was found that we had stumbled into the military exclusion zone.

The really really low flying chinook suddenly made sence.

We regretted waving at it.

Our guard is still abit panicky and is telling us to get out now.

In true Simon fashion he replies: Whats the worst that can happen?

Our thoughts turn to the mounted guns, artillary shelling, F16s and abrhams tanks we know are in extremely close proximity.

We try not to think about what is the worse that could happen.

Luckily we manage to shoot out the rest of the transect with no dramas and moved on quickly.

Simon and Bex went on to scope it out and us kids stayed back at the truck to sort nails and tidy.

20 minutes later we get the call to move.

I got the call to drive the truck down.

So this is the first time I have driven on the wrong side of the road.

And its in the desert.

And its the wrong side of the road.

And the wrong side of the rover.

Everything was wrong.

The policeman who escorts us was obviously not used to women driving as he looks at me points and says you? and makes driving noises.

Im like iowa! (yes)

And he starts making prayers and then laughs at me.

So I ask him: Do you not trust me?

And he says: La! La! La! La! La! (translation: no no no no no no no no no)

It was time to yallah so we started off and drove across the desert.

Despite everything feeling horribly horribly wrong it all went smoothly and we made it to the end in one piece (much to the guards suprise)

We get to the end and the guard feins suprise whilst I say various things like iowa! malish! (yes, its ok! no problem!) and he just shakes his head.

We continue for the day with another artifact heavy transect.

This density at this lower elevation from the epi-paleolithic was pretty suprising so some analysis back at base will be done to figure out this little conundrum. 

Anywho. 

Go to leave.

Stuck.

No movey.

No automobile.

Sand-bogged down.

Definitley NOT my fault :P

After awhile all 11 of us pile out of the van and push it up onto the roadway once more and trundle on our way.

No harm done.

The small brown smudge is a chinook. I wasnt brave enough to take photos when they were close :S

Back at base now, feeling good to be back.

Today was pretty intense.

Coming down off the adrenaline from the military zone is a thing thats happening now and sleepyness is getting more and more.

L8rz nerds. 

Day 16: When the going gets tough. The tough screw their knee up.

Today started like most other days in the field.

Loaded up the truck.
Set off to the field.
Get to the field.
Unpack truck.
Set out transect.
Set up total station.
Begin survey.

But then everything took a turn.
A wild turn.
Actually, multiple wild turns.

The first treat in store was what appears to be the house of Lars and Beru from star-wars.
:3
Luckily today I packed my storm-trooper. as one does for the field.
And we did a large-scale renenactment of the return to the house scene and the sandcrawler scene.
It was pretty majestic.

These blast marks. Too accurate for sand-people.

Close-up of the Skywalker household... tomorrow I hope to get a picture at sunrise with the two suns in the background. Luke posed dramatically on the small hill. 

But then the fun had to end :(

and it was into serious mode...

And onto the thousands and thousands of artifacts.

Epi-paliolithic artifacts.
Everywhere.

I had said goodbye to ducky #1 today on the total station and was incharge of teaching Karl (our honorary kiwi from america).

Bad day to learn the ins and outs of survey :P
Hurridley I attempt to teach him set up. levelling. job-structure. file systems. protocols. etc etc etc.
In the end Simon is harrassing and we must make haste.
Like Shadowfax.

So I take the reins and start shooting in the flakes, cores, tools, MNFs, ostrich egg shells, bone and pottery that littered the surface.

So we start shooting in on one quadrant. And quickly realise just how big the job is that lays ahead.
4 hours into survey and we have hardly made a dent.
At all.
It was quite distressing.
You look to the horizon and all you see is thousands of flagged nails.
You look behind you and see that you have covered only afew meters.
Before today I have not felt despair like I did at 2pm this afternoon.

The horror. THE HORROR.

However our distress turned to joy as we discovered a perfect epipaleolithic arrowhead (see below)
It was amazingly well crafted and just all around quite delightful.
Enough to give one abit of a spring in their step as you look in horror at the pure amount of artifacts left to be shot in.

:3 so pwetty!

After lunch break it was back to the transect.

The nailing crew had laid out literally thousands of nails and me and Karl shared and OH FUCK moment when we realised we had 2 hours to close of field and we had an impossible number to shoot in.

Karl rose to the challenge, gazzeling around the field, running between artifacts to shoot them in within record time.

40 minutes after supposed close time and we are still going.

All of a sudden a wild no-battery sign appears.

Tears of horror.

Simon is staring at us and giving us the hurry up.
GLADOS does not want to play.
Shit.
Change battery.
SPRINT TO BACKSIGHT.

FIND A WILD HILL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DESERT.
TRIP OVER IT.
CRITICAL HIT.
KO.

Knee. Not. Good.

Simon still looks on.

Pull self off the ground.
Hop-limp-run back to the artifact area.
Shoot in the last of the artifacts.
Hop-limp-run back to the total station.
Pack down.

As we pack down 2 F16's fly over.
Not even concerned.
This is normal for egypt.
They make a second pass.
We pack down a little faster.
Quite alot faster.
GTFO out of there.

Now is probably a good time to note that the hillside we are working behind has two big gun emplacements and two mysteriously abrham tank shaped holes in the hillside for doing millitary manouvers.

Make haste shadowfax.
Make haste.

We soon finish up.

Only an hour late.
Goddam paleolithic people with their goddam artifacts in the goddam dessert.