Commerce and Economy in Ancient Egypt - conference publication

I have taken the details from my friend Marsia's blog. Marsia had also published a report on this conference, which took place in Budapest in September 2009.

My own paper on "High-status Industries in the Capital and Royal Cities of the New Kingdom" is contained within this publication, which you can order here.

Read Marsia's conference report here!

Sabine Hodgkinson

My mother, Sabine Hodgkinson, nee Goos, passed away on November 7th 2009 after long illness.


I will be running a Race for Life at Sefton Park, Liverpool on Sunday, July 18th 2010 in Mum's memory. I would be grateful for your donations.
Here is the link to my sponsoring page!






This is my mother's orbituary as it was read by my father and me during her memorial service:
Ich begrüße Euch heute hier um von einem ganz besonderen Menschen Abschied
zu nehmen. All die Taten, die meine Mutter in ihrem Leben vollbracht hat
gebührend aufzuzählen und zu preisen würde Tage oder gar Wochen dauern, ohne
ihr dabei gerecht zu werden. Deshalb versuche ich die wesentlichen Dinge in diese
kurze Ansprache zu fassen. Dies ist, so meine ich, auch im Sinne meiner Mutter, da
sie nie eine Freundin unnötig langer Reden war und ich glaube, dass das Bild des
Menschen für diejenigen, die sie kennen, auch ohne zu viele Worte vorhanden ist.

I would like to welcome you all here in order to say goodbye to a very special
person. To recount and justly honour everything Sabine did in her life would take
days – perhaps weeks – and even then it would not do her justice. For this reason I
will attempt in this short address to give an accunt of the the essential points. I think this is how Sabine would have liked it for she was never fond of unnecessarily long speeches, and I believe that we who know her have her image in our minds now
without the need of many words.


Sabine Goos wurde am 6. August 1957 in Hannover geboren und verbrachte ihre
Kindheit und Jugend mit ihrer Familie/ihren Eltern und ihrer Schwester in
verschiedenen Orten in Niedersachsen. 1976 machte Mama ihr Abitur und begann
dann ihr Studium in Kunst und Anglistik in Braunschweig. Im Rahmen dieses
Studiums verbrachte sie auch ein Jahr in Cornwall, wo sie sich endgültig in das
Land und die Sprache verliebte. 1980 heiratete sie Alan Hodgkinson, unseren Vater, und hat mit ihm zusammen Tom und mich bekommen und zweisprachig erzogen.

Sabine Goos was born on the 6th of August 1957 in Hannover and spent her
childhood and adolescence with her parents and sister in vearious places in Lower
Saxony. Sabine passed her Abitur (school leaving exam) in 1976 and then began a
course of studies in Art and English in Brunswick. It was during her college career
that she spent a year as an assistant teacher in Cornwall, where she fell completely
in love with both the country and the language. In 1980 she married me and we
produced Tom and Anna, whom we brought up bilingually.


Die englische Sprache war eine ihrer größten Leidenschaften. Mama unterrichtete
jahrelang an der Kreisvolkshochschule, und später auch am Ratsgymnasium, wo
sie vor allem Vorbereitungskurse für das Cambridge First Certificate gab und eine
hochgeschätzte Dozentin war. Abgesehen davon, dass sie Englisch unterrichtete,
ist auch der allergrößte Teil der vielen, vielen Bücher, die sie gelesen hat, in dieser Sprache und sie sah fast ausschließlich englisches Fernsehen.
Sie hat aber auch das Land und die Menschen dort über alles geliebt, und in jedem
Urlaub und jeder Reise hat es sie auf die Insel verschlagen wo sie am liebsten an
die Küste fuhr. Mama hat sich sogar Rosamunde Pilcher Filme angeschaut, nur um
die cornischen Landschaftsaufnahmen zu geniessen. Als ich dann nach England
zog, nutzte Mama gerne die Gelegenheit, mich häufiger dort zu besuchen.

One of her greatest passions was the English language. For many years Sabine
taught English as a lecturer at the “Kreisvolkshochschule“. Later she was also
active at Ratsgymnasium, giving courses to prepare students for the Cambridge
First Certificate in English Examination and establishing herself as a highly
esteemed lecturer. In addition to teaching English, she loved reading it. The lion’s
share of the many books she read are in this language, and when she watched TV,
it was almost always a programme in English.
But above all she loved the country and its people. Every holiday she spent was on
the British Isles, if at all possible on the coast. Sabine even watched Rosamunde
Pilcher films, just in order to enjoy the views of the Cornish coast. And when Anna
moved to England, Sabine never missed an opportunity to visit her there.


Zu Hause hat Mama den gesamten Haushalt und Garten koordiniert und selber den
größten Teil geleistet. In jedem Raum ist sichtbar, dass Mama die Dekoration und
Einrichtung des Hauses im Griff hatte: Dies wird zum Beispiel jedem der das Haus
betritt durch die Präsenz ihrer Lieblingsfarbe, Blau in jedem Raum deutlich. Dies
betrifft im gleichen Maße auch den Garten, den sie liebevoll und mit viel Mühe
gestaltet und gepflegt hat. Außerdem hat sie sämtliche
organisatorischen/logistischen Angelegenheiten geregelt und sich jedes Jahr allein
mit der Steuererklärung geplagt.

At home Sabine had control over the complete housekeeping and garden, in both
of which she did the most work.. Each room in our house bears witness to Sabine’s
skill at decorating and furnishing. Anyone coming to our house at once notices her
mark – the predominance of her favourite colour, blue. The same applies to our
garden, which she looked after with so much love and care. On top of all that, she
took care of all the bureaucratic work – in particular that annual nightmare, the tax
return.


Als Mutter war sie nie ungerecht. Sie hat sich immer für uns eingesetzt und stand
immer hinter oder auch, wenn mal nötig, vor uns. In fast allen unseren Vorhaben
hat sie uns gefördert und unterstützt, und uns gleichzeitig zur Eigenständigkeit
erzogen.
Unseren Golden Retriever, Sandy, hat sie sehr geliebt und mit ihr viel Geduld
bewiesen, auch wenn Sandy manchmal im Unterholz verschwand und erst nach
stundenlangem Rufen wieder kam oder auch manchmal schon an der Haustür oder
am Auto wartete. Toms Heimtier-Zoo hat sie nicht nur toleriert, sondern eigentlich
auch gemocht.

As a mother, Sabine was always fair in her dealings. She always took the childrens'
part and stood behind them, or even, when necessary, in front of them. She
invariably gave encouragement and support. And she brought Anna and Tom up to
be independent in their thoughts and actions.
She really loved our golden retriever, Sandy, and was always patient with her even
when Sandy sometimes disappeared into the undergrowth and only came back
after hours of being called. She not only put up with Tom‘s domestic zoo, but also
derived some pleasure from it.


Als Daddy vor 10 Jahren krank wurde, war sie immer da und hat sich liebevoll um
alles gekümmert, von Pflege über Papierkram, Essen und Rehabilitation, und gab
dabei niemals die Hoffnung auf.
When I fell ill ten years ago, Sabine was constantly there for me with all her love,
whether it was a matter of caring for me, dealing with paper work, making sure I
was fed, or organising my rehabilitation treatment. She never gave up hope.
Vor ungefähr 15 Jahren hat sie durch ihre Freude an Textilarbeiten das
Kunsthandwerk des Patchwork für sich entdeckt. Sie war gleich sehr kreativ und
hat ihren eigenen Stil entwickelt. Aus dem Hobby wurde schnell mehr. Mama
begann auch selber Patchwork-Kurse anzubieten um die Freude mit anderen zu
teilen. Sie hat bei der Gründung der Patchwork-Gruppe Flickwerk Peine
mitgewirkt.
Sie hat sich auf nationaler und internationaler Ebene engagiert und wurde bald in
die Arbeit der Patchwork Gilde Deutschland involviert. Sie wurde in das Amt der
Internationalen Repräsentantin gewählt und vertrat die deutsche Gilde mehrmals
auf der Internationalen Messe „Festival of Quilts“ in Birmingham. Sie hat dadurch
im In- und Ausland, gerade in Großbritannien, sehr viele Kontakte geknüpft,
Freunde gewonnen und ist sehr bekannt und geschätzt.
Über die Jahre tauchten überall in unserem Haus immer mehr von ihren Werken
auf, die das Haus viel schöner und individueller verzierten als es eine Sammlung
an Gemälden je hätte tun können.

About fifteen years ago Sabine discovered another love: patchwork: Her creativity
enabled her to develop her own, very personal quilting style. And soon this hobby
led to more activities. Sabine began to give courses in patchwork so that she could
share her joy at this activity with others. She helped to found the patchwork group
Flickwerk Peine.
She committed herself both nationally and internationally to patchwork was soon
involved in the work and activities of the German Patchwork Guild. Following her
election to the office of International Representative, she represented the German
Patchwork Guild several times at the international exhibition “Festival of Quilts“ in
Birmingham. Through this office she got to know many interesting people and
friends both here in Germany and abroad, particularly in Great Britain, as a result of
which she is a highly esteemed celebrity in the world of patchwork.
In the course of the years her quilting works found their place all over our house,
giving our home an individuality and beauty which no collection of paintings could
ever have done.


Als sie letztes Jahr diagnostiziert wurde hat sie die vielen Behandlungen und
Arztbesuche geduldig und sehr tapfer durchgestanden.

When her illness was diagnosed last year, she bore the many medical
examinations and courses of treatment with oustanding courage.


Ich werde nun ein Gedicht vortragen, welches meine Mutter sehr berührte und sie
hier auch vorgelesen haben wollte:

I would now like to recite a poem which was very close to Sabine’s heart and which
she wished to have recited now:


Do not stand at my grave and weep –
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow –
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain –
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning‘s hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die.


Nun ist sie frei.
Sie wird uns allen sehr fehlen. Rest in peace.

Now she is at peace
We shall all miss her. Rest in peace.

Roadtrip! or Escaping Cairo...

Dan, my colleague from Gurob, and I, arrived back in Liverpool at 4am on Tuesday morning after leaving Cairo on Saturday. The extreme delay is due to the volcanic ashes spreading over Europe from Iceland, the fact that we made it back at all is due to extreme creativity...

Here is what happened:

1) Saturday, 10-10:30am Packing of luggage and survival of the journey to the ground floor of the Carlton Hotel - Cairo, 26th July Street, Downtown.

2) Journey by taxi to the airport - we refused to pay the demanded £E100 (payed £E80 in the end) and had to give the driver directions to Terminal 3 despite the fact that he must have been there several times before...

3) Flight to Istanbul with Turkish Airlines (Scarelines)...

4) Arrival at Transfer/Transit desk at Istanbul Airport. The flight to London Heathrow had already been cancelled, so Rome seemed a good option - we change our booking, receive a mis-printed boarding pass, but after a short struggle with tired staff were allowed to proceed to the gate...

5) Once there, Dan treated us to a Gloria Jean's Australian iced coffee - never tasted anything that good! :-) We also roamed the souvenir shops to find stacks of Turkish Delight tasters (for free) in bowls in the shelves. Dan ate so much he ended up on a sugar high!

6) Still over coffee, Dan calls Esme back in Liverpool who dedicated hours to researching options to get home for us that and the following night.
Esme books us onto a ferry from Le Havre to Portsmouth for Sunday night (when our hopes were still high) - this was soon scrapped.

7) We got the plane and fly to Rome!

8) We arrive in Rome and spent a long time waiting for our luggage at the conveyor belt - Gave up after a couple of hours and had to declare the luggage as lost! Hopes are still high to receive our luggage back soon, especially given that my little toy turtle is in my bag :-(

9) No trains, planes or automobiles from Rome! Everything's booked or taken or stopped running for the night! Thus we ended up sleeping rough at the airport that night. Didn't get more than an hour or two each as it was cold and noisy...

10) Sunday 6am: At the break of dawn we decide to take a train into Rome - once in town it took a while to find a cashpoint but in the end we managed to get to the main train station, Termini, in Rome and set up camp there. By that point neither of us had much battery power left in our mobile phones...

11) We check out trains - nothing going north was available, at least not on the Rome - Milano route, so we thought about heading south where we expected planes, trains and automobiles!

12) At c.7:30, after a struggle with the Italian payphone system, we called Joseph, my boyfriend, in Oxford who managed to reserve us a hirecar from Europcars at Florence Airport. He managed to spell Dan's name "Bootright" instead of "Boatright" which caused some laughter...

13) We bought a train ticket to Florence / Firenze for c. an hour later, and therefore had a bit of time to stroll into Rome and see some archaeological wonders :-) also escaping the crowds that had by then amassed at Rome's Termini station – people queued up for several hours only to be told that they were stranded in Rome for several more days!

14) After purchasing crisps we got onto the train bound for Florence!

15) Once there we got onto the shuttle bus from the main station to the airport - Florence is very lovely! We then collected the hire car (and were told that we CANNOT take it over the border all the way to Le Havre (despite this being okay on the internet) but to take it to Nice and leave it there, without offerin to reserve us a (likely unavailable) car from Nice)! I also finally managed to post my - by that point - well-travelled postcards from Cairo...

16) Dan got behind the wheel and I behind the map - despite this arrangement Dan actively changed to course from Nice-bound to Le Havre (not paying attention to the car company's instructions) - this was the best decision ever!

17) At the first service station we purchased an in-car-travel-charger for our phones in order to re-mobilise all our problem-solvers in the UK!

18) We drove through a large portion of beautiful Tuscany and northern Italy - wonderful!

19) Swap drivers: I was given the privilege to drive our Fiat Punto through the Alpes and below Mont Blanc - what an experience! Such a shame it was dark, otherwise Dan's pictures would have come out better!

20) Once on the French side of things, Dan took over the wheel again and I finally was allowed to go delirious from my lack of sleep!

21) c.7:00am Monday morning, after Dan had driven through most of France, and c.100km south of Paris, I took over the wheel again. I managed to navigate through most of Paris ringroad's Monday morning mayhem whilst Dan spent some time unconscious, catching up on sleep. I do not like French traffic!

22) At c.10am we reached Le Havre without any sanity left but with a lot of rubbish from packets of crisps and pocket coffee sweets in the car! At least we were early!

23) We checked in to the Ferry nice and early to avoid the crowds there!

24) After getting slightly lost in Le Havre on a mission to refuel the car before return and another struggle through French traffic, we managed to find Europcar and returned the car. This went surprisingly well given that the booking we'd initially agreed upon said that, of course, we could return the car to Le Havre!

25) After this we returned to the ferry port's terminal building and sat and waited to be let onto the boat. We were allowed on board at c.5pm with a huge number of other people!

26) After a while relaxing and working at a table in the boat we bought the first proper meal in c.60 hours! Ship food can be extremely tasty!

27) We weren't able to leave the ferry until c.10:30 due to the large numbers of people at the port, but eventually were allowed onto British soils!

28) Joseph met us at Portsmouth and kindly drove us to Heathrow airport where Dan had parked his car.

29) Dan drove very well and fast and got us to Liverpool at c.3:50 on Tuesday morning!

A huge thanks goes to Esme for organising the ferry for us and constantly being there at the other end of the phone and to Joseph for booking the car and driving to Portsmouth, then to Heathrow and back to Oxford! Your help has been greatly appreciated!

Second Edition of Survey and GIS Manual available!

I have been working on an updated version of the Survey and GIS manual and am now pleased to announce that it's ready!

It can be downloaded here.

The same four versions exist as before, now using the gvSIG OA Digital 2010 Edition (based on gvSIG 1.9)!

Malqata Blog

This is the blog accompanying the current survey work at the New Kingdom Palace site of Malqata (Luxor, Westbank,reign of Amenhotep III) undertaken by the Michael C. Carlos Museum of Emory University and the Department of Egyptian Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art:

http://imalqata.wordpress.com/

GIS and Survey Manual on gvSIG website

The GIS and Survey manual has now also been made public on the gvSIG Community Contributions website! :-)