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4 Dynasty from Giza, in which Anna makes use of the immense corpus of pottery from the Lost City site. Anna received her PhD on the basis of this dissertation at the University of Warsaw. Next in line for Giza Studies: my own PhD dissertation, Archaeology of an Image: The Great Sphinx of Giza, which I submitted to Yale University 20 years ago. • Season Reports Up to Date: Giza Occasional Papers Working through part of the prior fiscal year and into the first half of this year, Wilma Wetterstrom and Ali Witsell produced two volumes, numbers 3 and 4 of our Giza Occasional Papers (GOP) reporting on our seasons 2006– 2007 and 2008. The draft of GOP5 covering our ambitious season 2009 is now complete. This publication will bring AERA up to date on excavation season reports. • Pottery Manual, Volumes 3 and 4: AERA Field School Manuals Wilma and Ali also produced the final two volumes, 3 and 4, of Anna Wodzińska’s A Manual of Egyptian Pottery, the first of AERA’s Field School Manual series. We already see high demand for AERA’s Pottery Manual, which will serve as the basic field reference for ceramics for many years in the future. • NOVA Film on the Sphinx On January 19, 2010, the PBS NOVA science series aired the documentary, “Riddles of the Sphinx,” in which I appeared with my old friend, Dr. Zahi Hawass. Produced by Gary Glassman of Providence Pictures, the film tied for the highest NOVA audience of the season, and established a link to AERA’s website on the PBS website. • DVD on AERA’s Mission AERA was happy to complete a DVD synopsis of our work produced by Mark Muheim of Muheim Motion Pictures, and filmed by Mark and Wayne Ewing, during March of AERA’s busy 2009 field season. I worked with Mark on the editing and story line during the late summer and fall of 2009. We now have a compelling video that introduces viewers to the reasons for and range of our research shot on location during one of our most ambitious field seasons. Ancient Egypt Research Associates 2009–2010 Annual Report
E arly January 2010 found an AERA team in Luxor within a stone’s throw from the Nile River, atop a long mound nearly as high as a two-story building, a chunk of old Luxor that contained 2,000 years of stratified buildings and living floors. The team—instructors and students of the second AERA-ARCE Salvage Archaeology Field School (SAFS-2)—had a mandate: take the mound down to ground level in seven weeks, excavating stratigraphically; that is, record and excavate each single deposit separately. Rising Again to a Call from Luxor Last year when we laid plans for our 2010 field season, we did not envision a Luxor mission. But in October, Mansour Boraik, General Director of Luxor for the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), put out a call for help. The last remnant of the old Luxor town mound within the Luxor Temple archaeological preserve was coming down as part of the redevelopment of the site for tourism. Mansour asked the AERA team and the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE) for help in removing what was left of the mound behind two early 20th century aD palaces. Fifty years earlier, sweeping excavations removed old Luxor for a stretch of 350 meters (1,148 feet), and a thickness of 7 to 15 meters (23 to 49 feet), from the front of Luxor Temple. Over this stretch, in the four years from 1958 to 1962, the authorities took down the last 2,000 years’ worth of houses and settlement layers. Mansour saw an opportunity to salvage Luxor Temple Rising to the Call: Salvage Archaeology Field School-2 Luxor Town Mound Avenue of the Sphinxes the information remaining in this final remnant of old Luxor, and to continue the training of SCA inspectors that AERA began through the first Salvage Archaeology Field School (SAFS-1) in 2008 (AERAGRAM 9/1), which took place farther north along the Avenue of the Sphinxes. With the approval of Dr. Zahi Hawass, Vice Minister of Culture and SCA Chairman, Mansour proposed we launch a second salvage field school excavation for SCA inspectors. The AERA Field School—up to 50 teachers, supervisors, and students, and as many workers—is a formidable archaeological force. As with SAFS-1 in 2008, our task was to save the information from archaeological deposits slated for complete removal. In less than three months, Co-Field School Directors Mohsen Kamel and Ana Tavares pulled together the SAFS-2 proposal, budget, staff, crew, and arrangements in Luxor. They could not have done this without the help of Dr. Gerry Scott, Director of ARCE, who provided emergency funding; John Shearman, ARCE Associate Director in Luxor, who provided trucks, transportation, tents, and team lunches; Michael Jones, Egyptian Antiquities Project Director; and Janie Abd El-Aziz, Grants Administrator, who provided financial advice and reviewed the budget. The Avenue of the Sphinxes leads to the Luxor Temple. Between 1958 and 1962 authorities cleared the last 2,000 years’ accumulation of occupation in front of the temple in order to reconstruct the Avenue of the Sphinxes. The Luxor Town Mound, adjacent to a 20th century “palace,” is the last remnant of that occupation. View to the southwest. 5
Page 1 and 2: Empowering the Present, Saving the
Page 3 and 4: A AERA 2009-2010 A Message from Mar
Page 5: were able to complete a structure o
Page 9 and 10: Above: Illustration students learn
Page 11 and 12: from the huge stone temple for hund
Page 13 and 14: Facing page: The APFS archaeologist
Page 15 and 16: Archaeozoology students Emily Kaspa
Page 17 and 18: Prying into Ancient Lives: A New Ki
Page 19 and 20: Above: Geologist Dr. Philip LaPorta
Page 21 and 22: Facing page: The AERA team assemble
Page 23 and 24: Faces from the AERA Egypt Center Su
Page 25 and 26: January 2008. The rising water tabl
Page 27 and 28: second day, when we visited Abusir,
Page 29 and 30: John: We registered 1,199 sealings
Page 31 and 32: these stratified societies. In the
Page 33 and 34: PRDP 1995, a collaboration of Zahi
Page 35 and 36: t OxCal calibration program with Ba
Page 37 and 38: WORK Right: AERA in Japan. Yukinori
Page 39 and 40: PRESIDENT Dr. Mark Lehner BoaRD MEM

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