Elaine’s work crew spends the day bringing the newly opened unit down to the level of the mud brick walls next door. It takes almost until the whistle blows at 1pm, but they finally spot the walls.

The crew moves a LOT of dirt today, but they did a fast and careful job.

Who said you’d never use math once you finished school? Elaine takes the levels she shoots after each layer has been removed, and calculates these against a fixed point in the temple. One benefit of this system is that the thickness of each individual layer removed is recorded.

Reis Shergawy and Ahmed Muhammed are both great workers. Elaine is lucky enough to have them back again this year.

Bone from each level is bagged and labeled separately. Elaine hopes to use the types of animal bone found in and around the buildings to understand the activities taking place there. Larger bones like cattle, goat or dog are easily visible and collected by the workmen while they excavate, but smaller bones like those of fish or birds often are only found when using the sieve.

Nine o’clock breakfast break means that ta’amiyya sandwiches (Egypt’s name for Felafel) appear mysteriously and are dispatched with quickly.

No archaeology tool kit is complete without a mummy pencil box.