Posted by Mary Anne Murray

Well, that was a long and interesting Giza Lab season!  The Giza Field Lab was open from January 8th and closed its doors on May 31st.  There were scheduled to be 36 specialists working in the Lab on the material culture and environmental evidence excavated from our sites in 2011, however due to recent events in Egypt only 24 specialists participated this time around.   The main objective of the 2011 season overall was to have each team member finish the analysis of their class of material culture from Area AA at Heit el-Ghurab (HeG) for publication,  including ceramics, all manner of artifacts, clay sealings, human bone, animal bone, plants, lithics, and pigments.   We… READ MORE »

Posted by Steve LaPidus

I have spent the last six weeks as a volunteer on the AERA Giza Plateau Project with some of the most interesting and knowledgeable people I have ever met. I went on a site tour set up for the team early on in the schedule. We had a chance to walk through the sites, to listen to presentations and to ask questions on the project’s operations. It was easy to understand why there was a requirement by the Egyptian Government and AERA to submit your security paperwork six months in advance. It is obvious how much thought goes into the selection of the team members because there are multiple openings on the project and for each… READ MORE »

Despite his heavy responsibilities as Director of AERA, Mark Lehner is at heart a field archaeologist. One foggy morning at Giza recently, I found him alone, mapping features in the area between the Menkaure Valley Temple and Khentkawes Town. 

Mark and his good friend, Zahi Hawass, have an ongoing joke about which one of them first started wearing their signature hats in the field. It’s a question happily without resolution, as they both wear it well. But it’s only one of many hats that Mark wears.

Mark leads a very large, international, multidisciplinary team during long field seasons. He has to spend the rest of the year raising the funds that support the excavations, the field school, and the… READ MORE »

“I feel like new born,” said field school graduate ‎Amr Zakaria Mohammed when asked how he felt at the end of the AERA/ARCE Giza Field School. Graduation day was the culmination of eight weeks of very, very long days and hard work.

The graduates, all Egyptian antiquities inspectors, have been out in the cold and heat of Giza, on their hands and knees in the dirt, patiently scraping, drawing, surveying, and recording. They’ve spent afternoons and evenings six days a week in lectures, late-night study, and taking exams.

Sunday they head back to work all across Egypt. Thursday, the SCA and Dr. Zahi Hawass sent them home with congratulations and encouragement for the future.

Mark Lehner began the ceremonies with… READ MORE »

A small group of us had dinner with Mark Lehner last night and I caught up with him at the dig site this morning. One of the fascinating stories he told today was about the apparent pattern of occupation, abandonment, and then reoccupation of the Menkaure valley temple (MVT) and perhaps the Khentkawes town (KKT) as well.

AERA is re-excavating areas that Reisner and Hassan both recorded. In general, those researchers, however, did not do an in depth study of the phasing of the two sites, which was not common in their era (although Reisner did two phases in MVT). Phasing refers to an examination of the relationships between stratigraphy or layers of archaeology to determine when structures were built… READ MORE »

Dr. Zahi Hawass gave warm mid-day remarks about the AERA/ARCE Field School to an already packed auditorium at the Supreme Council of Antiquities on Sunday, 15 March. Dr. Hawass’ statement introduced the second half of the fascinating lectures by AERA team leaders and Mark Lehner.  

Dr. Hawass said that his friendship with Mark “…is one of the most important relationships showing how an Egyptian and foreigner who are highly motivated and educated can work together for good. Mark does this for us.”

He’s very proud of the Egyptian graduates of the school.

Accent on the international

Typically, with AERA’s international composition, the talks were given in a variety of accented English by participants from nine different nationalities, including… READ MORE »

Mark Lehner and AERA team leaders gave donors, friends, and colleagues tours of the Giza dig site on Saturday, 14 March. 

This is a treat for non-specialists, as it the dig site is closed to the public and requires security clearance to access (thanks to Dr. Zahi Hawass). The guests were shown the Late Period burials, the Western Compound, the double-walled structure called the Chute, and the excavations at Khentkawes Town.

Joining Mark were Ann Lurie, a longtime and generous supporter, Bruce Ludwig, supporter and AERA board member, AERA co-founder, Matthew McCauley and his partner Jane Rusconi, and Suzanne, Nelson, and Nelson Del Rio Jr. Mohsen Kamel and Ana Tavares gave tours to colleagues.

READ MORE »

Driving back to the hotel from the main dig site today, I was reminded of two features of the daily commute during my month digging with the AERA team in 2004: driving through the crowded suburb of Nazlet es Saman past the Sphinx and hearing three or four languages spoken at once in the microbus. French, Polish, Swedish, English, and Arabic were the interwoven music of drive time.

Today I heard almost exclusively Arabic because I was on the bus with Egyptian field school students.

All of these students work for Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities as inspectors. Most of the 1,500 or so inspectors in Egypt are trained in Egyptology, the study of the language and culture of ancient… READ MORE »

As long as I’ve worked with Mark Lehner’s team (5 years), AERA has been looking for a permanent home near the field work at the Giza Pyramids. We’re thrilled to announce that it now has one, paid for by private donations.

There has never been a time when your support of AERA’s operations will yield more for each dollar you give than now. Why?

The Field School

For the field school to be a lasting entity for the future, it must have a permanent headquarters. The idea that the field school will someday exist as an Egyptian operation has always been Mark Lehner’s goal. The new home is a huge step in securing that future.

Lower operating costs

The new… READ MORE »

Archaeology always presents fun puzzles to be resolved. Mike House recently found a puzzling structure while excavating a road or ramp within the Khentkawes complex.

The structure consists of a possible square mud brick plinth or platform (1.90m x 1.70m) with an additional mud brick extension to the east. The platform and extension were plastered, and only the lowest courses survive. Selim Hassan recorded it in the 1930s as a Wabet (w’bt) tent, although its function is unclear.

Its position in the road may suggest a different use; it may represent an administrative platform with steps leading up to it inside of a building.… READ MORE »