tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23972435740903602872024-03-14T03:49:47.192+00:00The Biting WiresAnna's blogThe Biting Wireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04703443136242295700noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2397243574090360287.post-70096996017035866812012-08-22T13:39:00.000+01:002012-08-22T13:39:09.100+01:00The 2012 Gurob Harem Palace Project Conference<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h4>
The 2012 Gurob Harem Palace Project Conference, which was organised jointly with the <a href="http://sace.liv.ac.uk/ancientworlds/">University of Liverpool Ancient Worlds Summer School</a>, took place at the University of Liverpool on Sunday 29 July 2012. </h4>
<h4>
The programme was as follows:</h4>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://gurob.org.uk/images/Conf_2012/GHPP2012_Shaw.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="http://gurob.org.uk/images/Conf_2012/GHPP2012_Shaw.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<ol>
<li> The latest news from our 2012 fieldwork – Ian Shaw (University of Liverpool)</li>
<li>Recording the 2011-12 looting at Gurob – Anna Hodgkinson (University of Liverpool)</li>
<li>Gleanings from Gurob: Reinvestigation and Redisplay at the
Manchester Museum – Dr Campbell Price (Curator of Egypt & Sudan,
Manchester Museum)</li>
<li>Gurob’s trade with the Aegean – Dr Valentina Gasperini (University of Bologna)</li>
<li>Faience bowls and amulets at Gurob – Dr Tine Bagh (Curator, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen)</li>
<li>Culture of Beauty in an Egyptian Palace – Dr Ole Herslund (University of Copenhagen)</li>
<li>Queen Mary's Spoon? – Jan Picton and Ivor Pridden (University College London);</li>
<li>Objects in focus in the Garstang Museum – studying Gurob-related objects.</li>
</ol>
Please see the <a href="http://gurob.org.uk/Conf_rep_2012.php">GHPP website</a> for paper abstracts and <a href="http://www.egyptological.com/2012/08/overview-the-gurob-harem-palace-project-conference-10356">Egyptological.com</a> a detailed report by Andrea Byrnes.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://gurob.org.uk/images/Conf_2012/GHPP2012_Gasperini.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="http://gurob.org.uk/images/Conf_2012/GHPP2012_Gasperini.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
The Biting Wireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04703443136242295700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2397243574090360287.post-61566103655562104852012-03-15T09:17:00.006+00:002012-03-15T09:34:39.299+00:00Hannah's Egypt photos<a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7196/6980779755_04dc87dcba_z.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 545px; height: 363px;" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7196/6980779755_04dc87dcba_z.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">The Colossi of Memnon by Hannah Pethen</span></span></span><br /><br />My friend, fellow PhD student and team member at <a href="http://gurob.org.uk/">Gurob</a>, Hannah Pethen, has recently uploaded a vast amount of fantastic photos to <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hannahpethen/">her Flickr photo stream</a>.<br />These images depict many archaeological sites in Egypt, from Cairo to Assuan, most of which are published under a creative commons license. Thus they form a fantastic pictorial corpus for any Egyptologist.<br />In addition, Hannah has uploaded some great scenes of daily life and landscape in Egypt, which she captured during her travels. She has written an <a href="http://thewondersexpedition.com/TWE/2012/hpeth1/">article</a> about her travels in Egypt and her pictorial inspirations.<br /><br />Follow Hannah on <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/HannahPethen">Twitter</a> for photo-updates and and tweets on ancient Egypt!The Biting Wireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04703443136242295700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2397243574090360287.post-74831026843144835332012-01-24T13:20:00.003+00:002012-01-24T13:24:45.338+00:00Sponsor Anna - Running for Gurob Fieldwork<table><td><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-acxn3y2Gl0A/Tx6wjPQB1fI/AAAAAAAAB4g/VjgiK11DZms/s1600/AKH_Kiln.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 160px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-acxn3y2Gl0A/Tx6wjPQB1fI/AAAAAAAAB4g/VjgiK11DZms/s320/AKH_Kiln.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701188297733297650" /></a></td><td><p>On 12 February 2012 I will be running the <a href="http://www.maddog10k.co.uk/">Southport Maddog 10k</a> in order to raise funds for the 2012 Gurob Harem Palace project's fieldwork season. I would be extremely grateful for your <a href="http://gurob.org.uk/sponsor_anna.php">sponsorship</a>!</td></table>The Biting Wireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04703443136242295700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2397243574090360287.post-70849210296568931672011-12-02T19:15:00.004+00:002011-12-02T19:20:57.812+00:00Total Open Station (TOPS) 0.3 Released<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qrcnGj7WH9k/TtkkXfiA7II/AAAAAAAAB4E/RpjkmqFebw8/s1600/total-station-weblogo.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 243px; height: 48px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qrcnGj7WH9k/TtkkXfiA7II/AAAAAAAAB4E/RpjkmqFebw8/s320/total-station-weblogo.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5681612390924348546" background=white/></a><br /><p>A new edition of the open source software for the downloading and processing of archaeological survey data has been released today!<br />TOPS runs on any operating system, including mobile platforms like OpenMoko, and it is designed to support as many devices and formats as possible, all within the same program, opposed to having one program per device.</p><br /><p>TOPS can be downloaded from <a href= "http://tops.iosa.it/installing.html#installing">here</a>, documentation is also available. </p><br /><p>TOPS has been succesfully tested and used at <a href="http://gurob.org.uk"> Gurob</a>. The only drawback at the moment is the lack of support for line data, however, this feature is planned to be included in future! </p>The Biting Wireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04703443136242295700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2397243574090360287.post-88132434510289504192011-11-18T10:53:00.003+00:002011-11-18T11:00:00.568+00:00Gurob Harem Palace Project Conference - part 2<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ciLNKuw-tE0/TsY6MvSAthI/AAAAAAAAB3o/7KqdAdfYEt8/s1600/Logo.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 151px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ciLNKuw-tE0/TsY6MvSAthI/AAAAAAAAB3o/7KqdAdfYEt8/s320/Logo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5676288370871940626" border="0" /></a><br />The conference report, written by Birgit Schoer, is now online! Please have a look at the <a href="http://gurob.org.uk/Conf_rep_2011.php">Project website</a>!<br /><br /><br />I have furthermore uploaded some more photos from the event to a <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/104554296289864428490/GurobHaremPalaceProjectConference2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCJfV4Mb5md_NSQ#">Picasa album</a>! I hope you enjoy them!The Biting Wireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04703443136242295700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2397243574090360287.post-36187740715973938912011-11-06T12:50:00.004+00:002011-11-06T12:56:28.715+00:00Gurob Harem Palace Project Conference 2011<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PWLw3UMA4e4/TraD7NCuaFI/AAAAAAAABsM/EgYxCrPwpVA/s1600/Logo.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 151px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PWLw3UMA4e4/TraD7NCuaFI/AAAAAAAABsM/EgYxCrPwpVA/s320/Logo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5671865833856329810" border="0" /></a><br /><p class="s-description">A conference on our fieldwork at <a href="http://gurob.org.uk/">Gurob</a> was held November 4th and 5th at UCL, London to discuss recent fieldwork results of the Gurob Harem Palace Project and raise funds for future seasons. I have produced a short <a href="http://storify.com/Udjahorresnet1/gurob-harem-palace-project-conference-2011">Twitter summary</a> of the tweets produced mainly by Liz and myself using the #GHPP hashtag and a few RTs.</p><p class="s-description">I will soon upload some pictures to the website.<br /></p><p class="s-description">In the meantime, please consider becoming a <a href="http://gurob.org.uk/membership.php">friend of the Gurob Harem Palace Project</a> and sponsor great fieldwork!</p><p class="s-description"><br /></p>The Biting Wireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04703443136242295700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2397243574090360287.post-25133233593666204702011-05-06T10:40:00.003+01:002011-05-06T11:06:55.163+01:00The British Red Cross Japan Tsunami Appeal - how to fundraiseAs I already wrote in the previous post, I will be running the Liverpool Women's 10k THIS SUNDAY in order to raise funds for the British Red Cross Japan Tsunami Appeal.<br /><br />Using the Justgiving.com website for fundraising should have been a lot easier, but we came across some problems, which is why I thought I'd post the relevant info here:<br /><br />When setting up one's fundraising page on justgiving.com one can either select an event or a personal challenge, etc. - then you select your charity of choice. Now, it is NOT possible to directly select the British Red Cross Japan Tsunami Appeal. Instead, you should select the British Red Cross (without any further specifications) as your charity and then complete the steps to finish setting up your page.<br />Once this is done, you should email <span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">challenges@redcross.org.uk</span> with the address of your justgiving website and ask them to code the page up to that the funds go directly to the Japan Tsunami Appeal.<br />You can also contact your local <a href="http://www.redcross.org.uk/Where-we-work">British Red Cross office</a> and ask them to do the same. They will also be able to inform you about the logistics and requirements of any other fundraising activities you are planning in your area.<br /><br />One-of donations can be made directly to the <a href="http://www.redcross.org.uk/japantsunami/?approachcode=68816_googlePAD5JpTs&gclid=CM7k95WI06gCFQoa4QodFmr7gw">BRC Japan Tsunami Appeal</a>, however, this might not suit your fundraising needs if you are collecting money over a longer period of time and rely on people donating for a particular event.<br /><br />I would be extremely grateful for any donations made for Japan! The run on Sunday is not the only one I will be doing, I am intending to participate in the Liverpool Tunnel 10k (June 12th 2011) as well, and my page will remain open. Donations can be made <a href="http://www.justgiving.com/Anna-Hodgkinson0">here</a> - Thank you so much! :)The Biting Wireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04703443136242295700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2397243574090360287.post-47015381451432000872011-04-18T14:51:00.004+01:002011-04-18T14:56:20.373+01:00Running for Japan<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.justgiving.com/Utils/imaging.ashx?type=convert&imagetype=frpphoto&width=600&height=400&img=42011/bd840765-a326-47ec-a557-5bf78852722a.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 284px; height: 400px;" src="http://www.justgiving.com/Utils/imaging.ashx?type=convert&imagetype=frpphoto&width=600&height=400&img=42011/bd840765-a326-47ec-a557-5bf78852722a.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">On May 8th 2011 I will be running the Liverpool Women's 10k in order to raise money for the British Red Cross Japan Tsunami Appeal. </span> <p style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">This is a very important cause and I am hoping to raise as much as possible to help the people in Japan who have lost everything.</span></p> <p style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">I am part of a team of students at Liverpool University, working together for this cause.</span></p> <p style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Please give generously! I am very grateful for your donations!</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" href="http://www.justgiving.com/Anna-Hodgkinson0"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Link to my Justgiving.com page</span></a><br /></span></p>The Biting Wireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04703443136242295700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2397243574090360287.post-84697796714434474292011-03-15T18:43:00.001+00:002011-03-15T18:46:19.047+00:00Current Research in Egyptology 2009: Proceedings of the Tenth Annual Symposium published!<span class="small">The tenth annual Current Research in Egyptology conference was held at the University of Liverpool in January 2009 and welcomed Egyptology graduates from all over the world. (Oxbow Books 2011)<br /><br />The <a href="http://www.oxbowbooks.com/bookinfo.cfm/ID/88484//Location/Oxbow">proceedings</a> include my own article, </span><span style="font-style: italic;">Mass-Production in New Kingdom Egypt: The Industries of Amarna and Piramesse, </span>which discusses an aspect of my PhD research.The Biting Wireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04703443136242295700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2397243574090360287.post-75195025365651170072011-01-23T14:12:00.004+00:002011-01-23T16:19:15.359+00:00Guide: Helmert (two-point) transformation in Quantum GISI have written a quick guide on using the Helmert georeferencing method in Quantum GIS. The summary can be read below and you can download it from <a href="http://library.thehumanjourney.net/462/">here</a>.<br />A big thanks to Conan Parsons (<a href="http://fr.thehumanjourney.net/">Oxford Archéologie Méditerranée</a>) who pointed this out to me! :)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">This quick guide is intended to guide the reader through the Helmert georeferencing<br />method, which is available in the plugin repository of open source desktop GIS package <a href="http://www.qgis.org/">Quantum GIS</a>.<br />The guide has been written mainly for an archaeological audience, as it is still common practice to offset plans of archaeological features using no more than two points, usually the section drawing points, which are surveyed.<br />The plans would then be scanned and referenced to the site data for digitisation using a two-point transformation in CAD software.<br />Until recently open source GIS packages, the use of which is becoming increasingly<br />popular within archaeology, have not been able to reference raster images using only two points, but required a minimum of three points for (usually polynomial) georeferencing.<br />This is undisputedly the most accurate method of georeferencing, however the offsetting and survey of additional points is time-consuming, which is not ideal on archaeological sites. Hence, proprietary CAD software still had to be regularly used for two-point transformations of archaeological site plans.<br />Now the excellent open source GIS package QGIS contains this tool within its georeferencing plugin and thus provides another reason not to use proprietary CAD software for archaeological spatial data.<br /></div>The Biting Wireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04703443136242295700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2397243574090360287.post-11922982305859057822011-01-23T13:59:00.004+00:002011-01-23T16:20:01.616+00:00gvSIG case studyA <a href="http://casestudies.gvsig.org/use-case/gvsig-archaeologists-open-source-gis-archaeological-data-processing-visualisation-and">case study</a>, demonstrating the successful use of open source desktop GIS software <a href="http://www.gvsig.org/web/">gvSIG</a> has recently been made available online on the gvSIG case studies website.<br /><br />This study discusses how the <a href="http://oadigital.net/software/gvsigoade">gvSIG OA Digital Edition</a> was used at Oxford Archaeology for the visualisation, maintenance and analysis of spatial (survey-) data, instead of the proprietary software normally used.<br />The methodology was documented and published online in the form of a downloadable <a href="http://library.thehumanjourney.net/367/">manual</a>.<br />Further research was undertaken into the production of high-quality maps from open source GIS, and a <a href="http://library.thehumanjourney.net/366/">second manual</a> was produced.The Biting Wireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04703443136242295700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2397243574090360287.post-13546575551162679582010-07-08T11:13:00.002+01:002010-07-08T11:19:40.947+01:00Commerce and Economy in Ancient Egypt - conference publicationI have taken the details from my friend <a href="http://archaeologyplanet.blogspot.com/2010/07/commerce-and-economy-in-ancient-egypt.html">Marsia's blog</a>. Marsia had also published a report on this conference, which took place in Budapest in September 2009.<br /><br />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 <a href="http://www.archaeopress.com/searchBar.asp?SeriesID=2&PublishedDateGT=26+Apr+2010">here</a>.<br /><br />Read Marsia's conference report <a href="http://www.rosetta.bham.ac.uk/issue7/report-egyptologists/">here</a>!The Biting Wireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04703443136242295700noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2397243574090360287.post-86974375680813541562010-06-06T20:01:00.000+01:002010-06-06T20:02:33.093+01:00Sabine Hodgkinson<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_UnjPck-paeQ/SwT8X-EtvKI/AAAAAAAAADc/UCUt6RC_Oqo/s1600/Mumturf3.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_UnjPck-paeQ/SwT8X-EtvKI/AAAAAAAAADc/UCUt6RC_Oqo/s320/Mumturf3.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405722941481401506" border="0" /></a><br />My mother, Sabine Hodgkinson, nee Goos, passed away on November 7th 2009 after long illness.<br /><br /><br />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.<br /><a href="http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/annahodgkinson">Here</a> is the link to my sponsoring page!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />This is my mother's orbituary as it was read by my father and me during her memorial service:<br />Ich begrüße Euch heute hier um von einem ganz besonderen Menschen Abschied<br />zu nehmen. All die Taten, die meine Mutter in ihrem Leben vollbracht hat<br />gebührend aufzuzählen und zu preisen würde Tage oder gar Wochen dauern, ohne<br />ihr dabei gerecht zu werden. Deshalb versuche ich die wesentlichen Dinge in diese<br />kurze Ansprache zu fassen. Dies ist, so meine ich, auch im Sinne meiner Mutter, da<br />sie nie eine Freundin unnötig langer Reden war und ich glaube, dass das Bild des<br />Menschen für diejenigen, die sie kennen, auch ohne zu viele Worte vorhanden ist.<br /><br />I would like to welcome you all here in order to say goodbye to a very special<br />person. To recount and justly honour everything Sabine did in her life would take<br />days – perhaps weeks – and even then it would not do her justice. For this reason I<br />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<br />without the need of many words.<br /><br /><br />Sabine Goos wurde am 6. August 1957 in Hannover geboren und verbrachte ihre<br />Kindheit und Jugend mit ihrer Familie/ihren Eltern und ihrer Schwester in<br />verschiedenen Orten in Niedersachsen. 1976 machte Mama ihr Abitur und begann<br />dann ihr Studium in Kunst und Anglistik in Braunschweig. Im Rahmen dieses<br />Studiums verbrachte sie auch ein Jahr in Cornwall, wo sie sich endgültig in das<br />Land und die Sprache verliebte. 1980 heiratete sie Alan Hodgkinson, unseren Vater, und hat mit ihm zusammen Tom und mich bekommen und zweisprachig erzogen.<br /><br />Sabine Goos was born on the 6th of August 1957 in Hannover and spent her<br />childhood and adolescence with her parents and sister in vearious places in Lower<br />Saxony. Sabine passed her Abitur (school leaving exam) in 1976 and then began a<br />course of studies in Art and English in Brunswick. It was during her college career<br />that she spent a year as an assistant teacher in Cornwall, where she fell completely<br />in love with both the country and the language. In 1980 she married me and we<br />produced Tom and Anna, whom we brought up bilingually.<br /><br /><br />Die englische Sprache war eine ihrer größten Leidenschaften. Mama unterrichtete<br />jahrelang an der Kreisvolkshochschule, und später auch am Ratsgymnasium, wo<br />sie vor allem Vorbereitungskurse für das Cambridge First Certificate gab und eine<br />hochgeschätzte Dozentin war. Abgesehen davon, dass sie Englisch unterrichtete,<br />ist auch der allergrößte Teil der vielen, vielen Bücher, die sie gelesen hat, in dieser Sprache und sie sah fast ausschließlich englisches Fernsehen.<br />Sie hat aber auch das Land und die Menschen dort über alles geliebt, und in jedem<br />Urlaub und jeder Reise hat es sie auf die Insel verschlagen wo sie am liebsten an<br />die Küste fuhr. Mama hat sich sogar Rosamunde Pilcher Filme angeschaut, nur um<br />die cornischen Landschaftsaufnahmen zu geniessen. Als ich dann nach England<br />zog, nutzte Mama gerne die Gelegenheit, mich häufiger dort zu besuchen.<br /><br />One of her greatest passions was the English language. For many years Sabine<br />taught English as a lecturer at the “Kreisvolkshochschule“. Later she was also<br />active at Ratsgymnasium, giving courses to prepare students for the Cambridge<br />First Certificate in English Examination and establishing herself as a highly<br />esteemed lecturer. In addition to teaching English, she loved reading it. The lion’s<br />share of the many books she read are in this language, and when she watched TV,<br />it was almost always a programme in English.<br />But above all she loved the country and its people. Every holiday she spent was on<br />the British Isles, if at all possible on the coast. Sabine even watched Rosamunde<br />Pilcher films, just in order to enjoy the views of the Cornish coast. And when Anna<br />moved to England, Sabine never missed an opportunity to visit her there.<br /><br /><br />Zu Hause hat Mama den gesamten Haushalt und Garten koordiniert und selber den<br />größten Teil geleistet. In jedem Raum ist sichtbar, dass Mama die Dekoration und<br />Einrichtung des Hauses im Griff hatte: Dies wird zum Beispiel jedem der das Haus<br />betritt durch die Präsenz ihrer Lieblingsfarbe, Blau in jedem Raum deutlich. Dies<br />betrifft im gleichen Maße auch den Garten, den sie liebevoll und mit viel Mühe<br />gestaltet und gepflegt hat. Außerdem hat sie sämtliche<br />organisatorischen/logistischen Angelegenheiten geregelt und sich jedes Jahr allein<br />mit der Steuererklärung geplagt.<br /><br />At home Sabine had control over the complete housekeeping and garden, in both<br />of which she did the most work.. Each room in our house bears witness to Sabine’s<br />skill at decorating and furnishing. Anyone coming to our house at once notices her<br />mark – the predominance of her favourite colour, blue. The same applies to our<br />garden, which she looked after with so much love and care. On top of all that, she<br />took care of all the bureaucratic work – in particular that annual nightmare, the tax<br />return.<br /><br /><br />Als Mutter war sie nie ungerecht. Sie hat sich immer für uns eingesetzt und stand<br />immer hinter oder auch, wenn mal nötig, vor uns. In fast allen unseren Vorhaben<br />hat sie uns gefördert und unterstützt, und uns gleichzeitig zur Eigenständigkeit<br />erzogen.<br />Unseren Golden Retriever, Sandy, hat sie sehr geliebt und mit ihr viel Geduld<br />bewiesen, auch wenn Sandy manchmal im Unterholz verschwand und erst nach<br />stundenlangem Rufen wieder kam oder auch manchmal schon an der Haustür oder<br />am Auto wartete. Toms Heimtier-Zoo hat sie nicht nur toleriert, sondern eigentlich<br />auch gemocht.<br /><br />As a mother, Sabine was always fair in her dealings. She always took the childrens'<br />part and stood behind them, or even, when necessary, in front of them. She<br />invariably gave encouragement and support. And she brought Anna and Tom up to<br />be independent in their thoughts and actions.<br />She really loved our golden retriever, Sandy, and was always patient with her even<br />when Sandy sometimes disappeared into the undergrowth and only came back<br />after hours of being called. She not only put up with Tom‘s domestic zoo, but also<br />derived some pleasure from it.<br /><br /><br />Als Daddy vor 10 Jahren krank wurde, war sie immer da und hat sich liebevoll um<br />alles gekümmert, von Pflege über Papierkram, Essen und Rehabilitation, und gab<br />dabei niemals die Hoffnung auf.<br />When I fell ill ten years ago, Sabine was constantly there for me with all her love,<br />whether it was a matter of caring for me, dealing with paper work, making sure I<br />was fed, or organising my rehabilitation treatment. She never gave up hope.<br />Vor ungefähr 15 Jahren hat sie durch ihre Freude an Textilarbeiten das<br />Kunsthandwerk des Patchwork für sich entdeckt. Sie war gleich sehr kreativ und<br />hat ihren eigenen Stil entwickelt. Aus dem Hobby wurde schnell mehr. Mama<br />begann auch selber Patchwork-Kurse anzubieten um die Freude mit anderen zu<br />teilen. Sie hat bei der Gründung der Patchwork-Gruppe Flickwerk Peine<br />mitgewirkt.<br />Sie hat sich auf nationaler und internationaler Ebene engagiert und wurde bald in<br />die Arbeit der Patchwork Gilde Deutschland involviert. Sie wurde in das Amt der<br />Internationalen Repräsentantin gewählt und vertrat die deutsche Gilde mehrmals<br />auf der Internationalen Messe „Festival of Quilts“ in Birmingham. Sie hat dadurch<br />im In- und Ausland, gerade in Großbritannien, sehr viele Kontakte geknüpft,<br />Freunde gewonnen und ist sehr bekannt und geschätzt.<br />Über die Jahre tauchten überall in unserem Haus immer mehr von ihren Werken<br />auf, die das Haus viel schöner und individueller verzierten als es eine Sammlung<br />an Gemälden je hätte tun können.<br /><br />About fifteen years ago Sabine discovered another love: patchwork: Her creativity<br />enabled her to develop her own, very personal quilting style. And soon this hobby<br />led to more activities. Sabine began to give courses in patchwork so that she could<br />share her joy at this activity with others. She helped to found the patchwork group<br />Flickwerk Peine.<br />She committed herself both nationally and internationally to patchwork was soon<br />involved in the work and activities of the German Patchwork Guild. Following her<br />election to the office of International Representative, she represented the German<br />Patchwork Guild several times at the international exhibition “Festival of Quilts“ in<br />Birmingham. Through this office she got to know many interesting people and<br />friends both here in Germany and abroad, particularly in Great Britain, as a result of<br />which she is a highly esteemed celebrity in the world of patchwork.<br />In the course of the years her quilting works found their place all over our house,<br />giving our home an individuality and beauty which no collection of paintings could<br />ever have done.<br /><br /><br />Als sie letztes Jahr diagnostiziert wurde hat sie die vielen Behandlungen und<br />Arztbesuche geduldig und sehr tapfer durchgestanden.<br /><br />When her illness was diagnosed last year, she bore the many medical<br />examinations and courses of treatment with oustanding courage.<br /><br /><br />Ich werde nun ein Gedicht vortragen, welches meine Mutter sehr berührte und sie<br />hier auch vorgelesen haben wollte:<br /><br />I would now like to recite a poem which was very close to Sabine’s heart and which<br />she wished to have recited now:<br /><br /><br />Do not stand at my grave and weep –<br />I am not there. I do not sleep.<br />I am a thousand winds that blow –<br />I am the diamond glints on snow.<br />I am the sunlight on ripened grain –<br />I am the gentle autumn rain.<br />When you awaken in the morning‘s hush,<br />I am the swift uplifting rush<br />Of quiet birds in circled flight.<br />I am the soft stars that shine at night.<br />Do not stand at my grave and cry,<br />I am not there; I did not die.<br /><br /><br />Nun ist sie frei.<br />Sie wird uns allen sehr fehlen. Rest in peace.<br /><br />Now she is at peace<br />We shall all miss her. Rest in peace.The Biting Wireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04703443136242295700noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2397243574090360287.post-31815846780711433282010-04-20T18:12:00.004+01:002010-04-20T19:22:22.748+01:00Roadtrip! 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...<br /><br />Here is what happened:<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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...<br /><br />3) Flight to Istanbul with Turkish Airlines (Scarelines)...<br /><br />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...<br /><br />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!<br /><br />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.<br />Esme books us onto a ferry from Le Havre to Portsmouth for Sunday night (when our hopes were still high) - this was soon scrapped.<br /><br />7) We got the plane and fly to Rome!<br /><br />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 :-(<br /><br />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...<br /><br />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...<br /><br />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!<br /><br />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...<br /><br />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!<br /><br />14) After purchasing crisps we got onto the train bound for Florence!<br /><br />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...<br /><br />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!<br /><br />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!<br /><br />18) We drove through a large portion of beautiful Tuscany and northern Italy - wonderful!<br /><br />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!<br /><br />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!<br /><br />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!<br /><br />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!<br /><br />23) We checked in to the Ferry nice and early to avoid the crowds there!<br /><br />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!<br /><br />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!<br /><br />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!<br /><br />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!<br /><br />28) Joseph met us at Portsmouth and kindly drove us to Heathrow airport where Dan had parked his car.<br /><br />29) Dan drove very well and fast and got us to Liverpool at c.3:50 on Tuesday morning!<br /><br />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!The Biting Wireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04703443136242295700noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2397243574090360287.post-69734913826811988522010-03-15T17:53:00.003+00:002010-03-15T17:59:38.432+00:00Second 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!<br /><br />It can be downloaded <a href="http://openarchaeology.net/project/survey-and-gis-manual">here</a>.<br /><br />The same four versions exist as before, now using the <a href="http://oadigital.net/software/gvsigoade/gvsigoade2010beta">gvSIG OA Digital 2010 Edition</a> (based on <a href="http://www.gvsig.gva.es/eng/gvsig-desktop/all-versions/download/gvsig-19/downloading-the-program/">gvSIG 1.9</a>)!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.openarchaeology.net/sites/default/files/1.jpeg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 215px; height: 304px;" src="http://www.openarchaeology.net/sites/default/files/1.jpeg" alt="" border="0" /></a>The Biting Wireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04703443136242295700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2397243574090360287.post-42921137796959350622010-02-20T12:52:00.003+00:002010-02-20T12:56:27.905+00:00Malqata Blog<a href="http://imalqata.wordpress.com/">This is the blog</a> accompanying the current survey work at the New Kingdom Palace site of Malqata (Luxor, Westbank,reign of Amenhotep III) undertaken by the <a href="http://www.carlos.emory.edu/">Michael C. Carlos Museum</a> of <a href="http://www.emory.edu/home/index.html">Emory University</a> and the Department of Egyptian Art at <a href="http://www.metmuseum.org/">The Metropolitan Museum of Art</a>:<br /><br />http://imalqata.wordpress.com/The Biting Wireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04703443136242295700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2397243574090360287.post-31991478545935267652010-01-29T14:38:00.002+00:002010-01-29T14:39:41.822+00:00GIS and Survey Manual on gvSIG websiteThe GIS and Survey manual has now also been made public on the <a href=" http://www.gvsig.org/web/docusr/learning/colaboraciones/ce_0912_01/">gvSIG Community Contributions website</a>! :-)The Biting Wireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04703443136242295700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2397243574090360287.post-71585007320034212102009-12-03T09:13:00.004+00:002009-12-03T09:28:59.537+00:00Survey and GIS ManualI announce the release of the <a href="http://www.openarchaeology.net/project/survey-and-gis-manual">Survey and GIS manual</a> produced at Oxford Archaeology North during the last few months after development of new on-site survey and GIS methodologies applicable to any archaeological project.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_UnjPck-paeQ/SxeDI5dq3fI/AAAAAAAAADk/e5DRCD1C-IE/s1600-h/1.jpeg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 226px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_UnjPck-paeQ/SxeDI5dq3fI/AAAAAAAAADk/e5DRCD1C-IE/s320/1.jpeg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5410937666196397554" /></a><br />This document is intended to supply an easy-to-understand but comprehensive guide to survey and open source GIS, from setting up survey equipment to downloading and processing survey data. The manual is intended for speeding-up, or annihilating the training procedure and providing a guide to survey to field staff in case no professional surveyor is on site. An inexperienced member of field staff should, by following this manual step-by-step, be able to set up a Total Station, conduct survey and download and process the survey data, given a certain amount of time.<br /><br /><br /><br />Procedures are explained in great detail with screenshots and photographs where appropriate and guides to troubleshooting and examples for data maintenance are provided. The manual is written in such manner that it can easily be adjusted for individual sites' survey requirements. Chapters can be extracted easily and supplied individually.<br /><br />Versions exist for use on site with a robotic Leica TCR1205 Total Station together with a remote control unit as well as without remote control.<br /><br />The downloading software used in this manual is Leice GeoOffice (can be replaced by whatever software comes with the Total Station used) and GIS software is the <a href="http://oadigital.net/software/gvsigoade">gvSIG OA Digital Edition</a>. I furthermore recommend <a href="http://www.inkscape.org/">Inkscape</a> as a vector editing software for touching up maps produced by gvSIG.<br /><br />This document is available for download as PDF on http://www.openarchaeology.net/ or through the link above. <br /><br />I would be extremely grateful for feedback!The Biting Wireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04703443136242295700noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2397243574090360287.post-84177066167636614462009-10-31T15:40:00.003+00:002009-10-31T15:50:23.676+00:00Problems with Ubuntu 9.10 on my Advent NetbookI upgraded my Advent 4211c (or MSI wind u100) netbook from 8.10 to 9.04 last night which seemed to have worked fine. Then I decided to upgrade it to 9.10 and now several features have stopped working:<br /></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">- The touchpad no longer works (rather important for a netbook)<br />- There is no sound and no option to turn it on<br />- The screen sometimes goes black without warning. This has only<br />occurred twice so far.<br /><br />Some errors were reported at the end of the installation, but I took no note of them (realise now I should have done). The messages said something along the lines of "some errors were encountered, installation not done properly". Then it asked whether I wanted to report some errors and when I clicked "yes" it told me that I had no "genuine(?)" copy of Ubuntu.</p> <p></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Anyone got any ideas? I would be grateful for help!!! :-(<br /></p><br />I have posted the same on the Ubuntu forums: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1307922The Biting Wireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04703443136242295700noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2397243574090360287.post-78888987830329141062009-08-21T10:18:00.003+01:002009-08-21T10:23:35.020+01:00Gurob Harem Palace Project WebsiteAs previously mentioned, I spent most of April 2009 working at Gurob in the Fayum. The project now has a <a href="http://www.gurob.org.uk/">website</a> which is coming along nicely. Read about past and present work and take a look at the gallery (in production). We are holding a small fundraising conference in London on 11th September where some presentations on the site and its archaeology will be held! Please come along and join the Friends of the Petrie Museum (Gurob)!The Biting Wireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04703443136242295700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2397243574090360287.post-40901674992264355802009-07-06T14:13:00.002+01:002009-07-06T14:17:47.879+01:00Website of the week!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_UnjPck-paeQ/SlH5aUKJduI/AAAAAAAAADU/inufvEm90Eg/s1600-h/Screenshot.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 179px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_UnjPck-paeQ/SlH5aUKJduI/AAAAAAAAADU/inufvEm90Eg/s320/Screenshot.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355335662403417826" border="0" /></a><br />Explore the Uluburun Shipwreck - this <a href="http://sara.theellisschool.org/%7Eshipwreck/ulusplash.html"> website</a> has an interactive plan of the wreck with links to object photos - great fun!<img src="file:///home/anna/Desktop/Screenshot.png" alt="" />The Biting Wireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04703443136242295700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2397243574090360287.post-47281947493606102582009-06-27T19:37:00.002+01:002009-06-27T19:41:06.661+01:00The MothA few shots (with my mobile phone camera) of a giant moth I came across recently. I was rather surprised to see a moth of that size and appearance in the North of England...<br />If anybody has an idea what kind of moth this one might be, please let me know...! <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_UnjPck-paeQ/SkZnlJP9xLI/AAAAAAAAADM/pstzVQrkw1s/s1600-h/DSC05646.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_UnjPck-paeQ/SkZnlJP9xLI/AAAAAAAAADM/pstzVQrkw1s/s320/DSC05646.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352079095012115634" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_UnjPck-paeQ/SkZnk720xBI/AAAAAAAAADE/bZryJ_1y1AI/s1600-h/DSC05645.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_UnjPck-paeQ/SkZnk720xBI/AAAAAAAAADE/bZryJ_1y1AI/s320/DSC05645.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352079091417007122" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_UnjPck-paeQ/SkZnkgXMKZI/AAAAAAAAAC8/2TwZvfZX6Zg/s1600-h/DSC05644.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_UnjPck-paeQ/SkZnkgXMKZI/AAAAAAAAAC8/2TwZvfZX6Zg/s320/DSC05644.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352079084036565394" border="0" /></a>The Biting Wireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04703443136242295700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2397243574090360287.post-28458627183700653622009-03-28T19:49:00.002+00:002009-03-28T21:30:26.604+00:00Amarna, Elephantine and LuxorI am writing from Luxor this time where I intend to stay until the day after tomorrow, before I go back to Cairo. Will probably take the day-train, just to see some more of the country and to make sure I can actually get some sleep during the night...<br /><br />I travelled from Cairo to Mallawi by bus which took 5 hours but was a smooth ride and the desert road provided some beautiful scenery. At Mallawi I was collected by the project's house caretaker and its driver who took me to Amarna via the car ferry.<br /><br />My visit to Amarna was superb - I was welcomed by some very friendly people working on the project. Barry kemp had kindly arranged for me to stay in the excavation house and share meals with the team. There were not many people working at Amarna at the time, and the three days and four nights I spent were the more enjoyable due to a very pleasant atmosphere. <br />The first morning I left the house which is located in the South Suburb and walked from there all the way to the Main City, accompanied by a policeman who was very kind and jolly and tried to communicate despite my lack of Arabis communication skills. the houses, some of which have walls preserved to shoulderheight, were great to look at and to go inside and I was able to take a large amount of good pictures. The layout of the city as a whole became a great deal clearer, as did the sheer scale of the place and the climatic conditions people would have dealt with on a daily basis. It was also good to observe what obstacles the survey of the site had to overcome, as some of the structures are only visible as very shallow mounds. I ended the walk just by the Small Aten Temple and the King's House, having incorporated the Great Palace and getting more and more to terms with the scale and layout of Amarna.<br />After a lift back to the house on a donkey cart, I left the house with the photographer, Gwil, and we were driven to the plain to the South of the <a href="http://www.amarnaproject.com/pages/recent_projects/excavation/stone_village/index.shtml"> Stone Village </a>. We had to climb up the Gebel to reach the site, where we then met Anna and Wendy who were surveying some stone features, the function of which has not yet been determined. Gwil and I walked further to the Workmen's Village and walked around this before returning to the house. <br />In the afternoon I was given the opportunity to look at some of the cylindrical vessels connected to the glass workshop published by Paul Nicholson in 2007, most of which were surface finds from the vicinity of the Great Palace.<br /><br />The following day I went to the Stone Village with Wendy and Anna and was assigned a feature to plan, so I actually did some work at Amarna :-) Spent some hours doing this, planning most stones and the cut at 1:25 and then left them and walked over to the South Tombs. I was able to see four toms: those of Eje/Ay (No. 25), Any (No. 23), Ramose (No. 11) and Maha (No. 9). <br /><br />My last full day was spent driving around the site with a car Barry Kemp had hired for me to take me to the Northern part of Amarna. I first visited the North Palace and then the Northern City with the impressive Great Gateway. <br />After that I was able to see some tombs in the North Cemetary: Ahmose (No. 3), Merire (No. 4), Pentu (No. 5), Panehsy (No. 6) and Huia (No.1 ), and the Boundary Stela U before ending the tour at the Royal Tomb and returning back to the House. I mapped a large portion of the drive with the OpenMoko and shall display the results as soon as I have downloaded them.<br /><br />I left at 8:30 the following morning, having to catch a train from Minya station at 10:40 to get to Aswan. I am extremely grateful to all the staff at Amarna for enabling me to visit and experience this site! <br /><br />The train journey took longer than expected and I did not get into Aswan until 9pm... I cannot recomment the hotel (Nubian Oasis Hotel) I stayed in, despite the low prices the level of cleanliness is not satisfactory and the staff not very friendly and too pushy. I was not feeling too well, having been hit by the curse of the Pharaohs (it had to happen at some point) and maybe my temper was a little short for that reason. I managed to wake up at a reasonable hour and took the ferry to Elephantine Island where I met up with Cornelius von Pilgrim of the Swiss Institute who works with the German team on the New Kingdom settlement levels on <a href="http://www.dainst.org/index_56_en.html"> Elephantine </a>. he showed me around the site and pointed out the New Kingdom remains - these were not so obvious and rather badly preserved, partly due to the fact that in most cases the New Kingdom levels had been quarried out by later phases of occupation before these were established. Most of the recently uncovered NK remains were in fact, residential in nature. <br /><br />I left for Luxor by train the same afternoon and fortunately this journey only took 3 hours and I got to my <a href="http://www.luxor-westbank.com/marsam_e_az.htm"> hotel </a>on the west bank at c. 7pm. This morning I left for <a href="http://www.arce.org/expeditions/currentexpeditions/allexpeditions/u80"> Malkata </a>, the palace and temple city of Amenhotep III on the west bank. I met Ginger, a PhD student at Chicago, and she walked me over the site. As she is working on the current project she knows the site to a great detail and was able to explain the archaeology to me extremely well. I am very grateful to her for her time and help!<br /><br />Tomorrow I intent to visit the mortuary temple of Seti I at Qurna amongst other (but not too many) things. Good night!The Biting Wireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04703443136242295700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2397243574090360287.post-84549225374421134102009-03-22T06:06:00.004+00:002009-03-27T19:53:12.079+00:00Egypt!!!I flew to Cairo from London Heathrow on Sunday, March 15, in fact exactly one week ago. Arriving rather late in the afternoon, there was not much time left to do lots, so I went to my <a href="http://www.pensionroma.com.eg/english/pensionroma.htm"> Pension </a>, relaxed, got something to eat and had an early night. That was necessary, as the following morning I had to be at the Austrian Archaeological Institute at 6:30 for a trip to Tell el-Dab'a. The objective of the current (and some previous) season is the <a href="http://www.auaris.at/html/areal_f2.html"> 15th dynasty palace </a>. I gained some insight in the archaeological conditions and the complex as a whole, was able to talk to Manfred Bietak and take a thorough look around the excavation house.<br /><br />The first thing I did the following morning (17 March) was to pack my stuff together and move it to the Austrian Archaeological Institute on Zamalek where I was kindly permitted to stay for a couple of nights. The rest of that day I spent walking round Cairo, getting organised, getting lost - the usual sort of thing. <br /><br />After a good night's sleep I left early and took a succession of several vehicles to reach the city of Tanis, near San el-Hagar in the Eastern Delta. I had to leave from Cairo's Aboud Station (for buses), take a Peugeot Taxi to Faqus, a microbus to Huseynia and then another bus to San el-Hagar...at which point I was so confused that I asked for help, as I was not sure how to reach the site itself. Thus I ended up following a friendly local who had been on the same bus to his workplace – a school, where I sat in the headmaster's office for about an hour, talking and drinking coffee. Talking mostly in English, mind you, as my Arabic is unfortunately still rather abysmal.<br />At Tanis, which I reached after being driven there by a member of staff at the aforementioned school, I took about 400 photographs with the lovely <a href="http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond60/"> new camera </a> I bought a short while ago. I managed to get a good feeling for the site, which I had entirely to myself, wandered far and got a decent overview over the amount of material from Piramesse-Qantir which had been brought there after the Piramesse was abandoned after the 20th dynasty. <br /><br />The trip back to Cairo took a very long time - I managed to board the wrong Peugeot taxi at Faqus which had a bus station well outside Cairo as its final destination... I met a helpful guy there who travelled into Cairo with me, but managed somehow to lead me through some rather dark suburban streets. I was happy to finally take a taxi which took me to the closest Metro station from which I reached Zamalek and then the Austrian Institute rather late that evening. <br /><br />The next day I went to Bubastis, a site which is on the outskirts of the city of Zagazig in the south-eastern Delta. The journey was unproblematic – a Peugeout from Aboud took me straight to Zagazig from where a cheap (£E 2) taxi took me to the site. Some friends from university in Berlin work there, now for the University of Postdam, and it was good to see them again. Apart from the temple and I was able to see the New Kingdom necropolis and Middle Kingdom palace with a policeman, and also the current excavations. <br /><br />I was very lucky on the 20th – my plan had been to visit Memphis that day, as one of the key-sites for my PhD this site had some priority, but I was also aware that this trip was rather expensive. An American tourist who had been waiting for a taxi at my hotel and was only in Cairo for the day had already booked a car for the day and he kindly let me come along. He wanted to see more than just Memphis, so we first went to the Citadel in Islamic Cairo which was very enjoyable. We then went to Giza, where he even paid for a horse and carriage ride round the plateau, before we moved on to Saqqara, stopped briefly at Abusir and then went to Memphis. He gained some egyptological insight from me whilst all I had to pay for were my entrance fees. In Memphis, we visited the museum, but I was rather disappointed, as the site of Kom Rabi'a was closed to the public. Even begging did not work and I was only able to take some pictures through the fence. Finally I managed to find a way into a different part of the site and take some pictures of some mudbrick and limestone structures.<br /><br />The following day I needed some rest and spent the day in the hotel, working on my GIS project, georeferencing the maps from Amarna which I had recently scanned. I was halfway successful but shall continue working on this.<br /><br />Today, I am leaving Cairo and will take a bus to Mellawi in Middle Egypt, from where I will take a car to the site of <a href="http://www.amarnaproject.com/"> Amarna </a>. Barry Kemp kindly agreed for me to arrive a day earlier than intended and I am looking forward to getting there very much! <br />Photos to follow - the internet connection is not fast enough at the moment.The Biting Wireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04703443136242295700noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2397243574090360287.post-42147194505782349462009-01-29T19:01:00.011+00:002009-02-01T13:19:04.338+00:00My Advent 4211C - a brief reviewI bought this netbook in November 2008 and I must say that I am very impressed with it! In fact, I am writing this little text on it right now. <br /><br />The specifications are as follows: <br />- Intel Atom processor N270 (energy efficient)<br /> (1.6GHz, 533MHz FSB, 512MB cache)<br />- 1024MB DDR2 RAM<br />- 120GB Hard drive<br />- 10" Widescreen Display<br />- Wireless enabled<br />- Bluetooth<br />- Built-in Webcam, microphone and speakers<br /><br />With a weight of only 1.12KG the computer is very light and handy. But instead of being flimsy, it has a good feel to it - just like a small laptop. My back was aching quite a bit from carrying around my Dell Inspiron 1300. The Advent 4211c fits into its little padded pouch, which takes up the space and weight of a medium-size book in my rucksack.<br /><br />The screen is large enough and comfortable to work with. Admittedly it is smaller than most laptops', but not as tiny as those found on common netbooks and does not make my eyes hurt at all. I prefer larger screens and often work on my old laptop at home, but that is often a simple case of convenience, as the Dell is usually plugged in and ready to go.<br /><br />The keyboard is just slightly smaller than full-size and takes a bit of getting used to. I have small hands, so I can almost say I prefer this size to the usual. There is a Windows-key though...Who still needs a Windows-key these days??? The annoying thing is that this pointless key is sitting right next to the Ctrl key and thus gets in the way all the time... <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_UnjPck-paeQ/SYWgiYF7ftI/AAAAAAAAACk/v3fB4Pd5K2U/s1600-h/DSC05225.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_UnjPck-paeQ/SYWgiYF7ftI/AAAAAAAAACk/v3fB4Pd5K2U/s320/DSC05225.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5297817049114574546" /></a><br /><br />The operating system it comes with is Windows XP Home, but I installed Ubuntu 8.10 on my Netbook a week after purchase. Due to the fact that it lacks a DVD drive I had to create a bootable usb-stick first. I created a dual-boot due to the fact that I was not sure at first about how well Ubuntu would run on the computer, as it might require a special version. In addition I sometimes use a couple of open source GIS applications only available for Windows. Therefore I keep all my files on the Windows partition and access them from Ubuntu (Windows cannot read the Linux file structure whilst it works the other way round).<br />Fazit: Ubuntu 8.10, the full version, not the mobile one, works perfectly fine on this computer. The only flaws I have come across so far are <br />a) the lack of a driver for the microphone - I cannot use the softphone on Ubuntu and have to switch to Windows to use it. If anyone has managed to get the microphone working, please let me know.<br />b) the low screen resolution does not allow Google Earth to display properly. I use other GIS applications, such as gvSIG and QGIS all the time and do not encounter any difficulties. <br />c) I have not worked out how to use the webcam, but this might not be a problem - merely the fact that I have not tried...<br /><br />I have furthermore installed PostgreSQL on my Netbook for learning, and PhD purposes and have not encountered any issues. <br /><br />Apart from the missing DVD drive, this little Netbook has entirely replaced my old laptop. I will take this netbook to Egypt in March and my back will be most grateful :-)The Biting Wireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04703443136242295700noreply@blogger.com3