The journey of another block.  In layers five and six of the wall it is wet – very wet, from the ground water and the nearby lake. Franck carefully straps this block with his crew and then lifts it up on the winch. It moves across the bar of the winch and then is lowered to the cart. The cart is maneuvered to the mastaba – as near as we can arrange due to the fragility of this stone – and then it slides into position. Finally it stands, like a patient in the emergency room, awaiting its wrap of gauze and consolidants. Soon it will receive further treatment in due course.

Keli is still working on the statue’s back pillar inscription. She works with Betsy’s hand copy from last summer but has the greater challenge of determining the actual form of the signs, not simply what they are. From time to time Betsy comes over to consult, and slowly the product emerges.

Mme. Nakhla, our conservator from the Supreme Council of Antiquities, is really gifted. Doing pure mechanical cleaning she is removing dirt and accretions from the block surfaces, like the one you see here that was just lifted. Here you see her in action, and the beautiful painted surface that she reveals during her painstaking work. It looked very like the other block when just removed from the wall.

Here’s Norman after he arrives back at the site and looks around at the day’s work. He spends the day alone with the pottery, but his photos do not show any sense of loneliness – just focus.  

The no comment needed section. Thanks, Jay!