The days counted down. A mix of emotion filled my soul every time I took an inhale of dirty, intoxicating Egyptian air. Anxious to find "civilization" again, but sad to leave a place dear to my heart with people I will never forget and look forward to meeting again.
Above and below are beautiful pieces drawn by one of the most talented artists I have yet to meet, Maria. I was privileged enough to watch her work and to photograph her final pieces of art. These are artifacts found during this field season.
The last week in Abydos, work was coming to an end and all excavations were stopped. It was a time for the excavators to finalize their work by mapping, cleaning and ending photography. In doing so I was able to capture what seems to be the perfect pictures of the season. Nobody was around and the desert was still. Picturesque....to say the least. This is what I bring home with me in my mind and in my heart.
These two photographs below are in our courtyard. The courtyard is showered in baskets containing artifacts and in this case mummified animal bits and bone. The second photo is a mummified dog head. Look closely and you can see the profile, nose and eyes. This represents Egypt all wrapped up together in several baskets...
Aren't they precious? These two adorable creatures are the offspring of a black, long haired kitty we have named "fluffy". Their father is "Obama", a promiscuous black and white short haired kitty who goes after anything and everything. He is a cutie though. "Fluffy" left our compound and moved into the Quftis house. The Quftis help to run and manage our archaeological work in Abydos. They live in a tiny home approximately 100 meters northeast of our compound. Here, "fluffy" and her kittens live with the several Quftis learning the ropes on keeping the mice, bugs and sometime horned-viper snakes out of the house.
The second to the last day we were in Abydos Magda and I took a short walk to the Quftis house to sit and visit with Quftis Ramadan and Ahmed (not pictured) and the Reiss Ibrahim (smoking the sheesha). It was a great visit including sheesha and tea. Thanks to Ahmed I was able to acquire these photos.....It was a sad goodbye.
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