Helwan and Coptic Cairo

Woke up this morning with an appetite, so I knew I had finally recovered from the Ick. Alhamdulillah.

Today the group headed to Helwan. It used to be a huge archaeological site, but it's slowly been eaten away by illegal housing. The Australians, after a huge fight with would-be illegal developers (as in, death has been threatened and an inspector had a gun drawn on him) have finally managed to secure a small area to excavate properly.

We got a very nice overview of the history of the site, then we got to look into the storehouse of the pottery and human remains they've found.

A little history: the site was excavated in the 40s, and over 9-10 years they found 10,000 tombs. Ten thousand. Tombs. That is A LOT of tombs. The Australians have been there for 13 years and have found around 150 tombs. Cuh-razy. So, when they were excavating in the 40s, they mostly focused on intact pottery, and just threw all the shards into pits called "spoil pits." The Australians have gone through these spoil pits to get the stuff that was left behind. Modern archaeologists shift everything, because even the tiniest bit of writing on a dusty shattered tiny bit of broken pot can change everything that we know. But in the 40s all they wanted was the big shiny stuff, so a lot got missed. Which is good for us. And the Australians.

So we got to play with a few of these things that the Australians found. Very cool. The objects we handled have been hand picked for a museum exhibit, so keep your eyes open. ;-)

After a nice tea with the Australians and a tour of the site, we headed to Coptic Cairo and the Coptic Museum. The museum was filled with very beautiful things, but mostly out of our areas of interest and expertise. Then we wandered through the streets of Coptic Cairo. The best part was the cemetery. Check Facebook for the pictures.

Beautiful mausoleums, but crumbling. It's not that they're old, just crumbling. The sandy streets are filled with garbage, dogs roaming or sleeping, cars parked. There was even one tomb that seems to have been recently robbed. The coffin was lying shattered in the street, the body gone. I have to say that shook me a little. But all in all it felt like an ancient site. I suppose you get into scientific mode and it's hard to break out of it. The coffin was simple, if you want to know. Wooden, but with very beautiful metal handles in the shape of a skull and cross bones. The body had been wrapped in blankets. I wish I knew what happened.

After a long time in the cemetery, we headed back to Zamalek and all ate at McDonald's. Then some of us went home, and the rest came to my balcony for tea and laughter. Quentin bought a drum somewhere along the way, and he played along with Kenny and learned a few new rhythms from the party boat. :-) Now we're watching tv and eating ice cream.

Tomorrow: back to work. DAIK.