Amy, Emma, and Donna made it safely to Cairo and have been busy seeing all the sites. Out the door at 8AM on Saturday we set off to see the 111 pyramids in the area. I thought I took many photos but realized I took them with Amy's camera. I will add Mike and Amy's photo later for now here is the brief photo story.

This is the girls heading into a tomb, not quite fair that Emma can walk upright inside. The rest of us have a sore back.


Enough about Giza on to Saqqara. We picked up an archaeologist at the front gate who enticed us into visiting the New Saqqara tombs. They have just opened them as they have finished the "dig". He was very informative. We are getting a lesson on how to read the hieroglyphics. 1. You always read the vertical ones from top to bottom and last. 2. The horizontal ones you always start with the top line. and you can read left to right or right to left. It all depends on the direction of the animals/human. You read facing the animal so if the animal is facing the right you start reading left to right. These are Sunken-relief, otherwise known as intaglio or sometimes hollow-relief, is a method of sculpting which entails carving or etching an image into the surface of a flat piece of stone, metal, glass or wood. They used this style on the outside to protect the carving from the elements.


There are 10 things that define a tomb: burial spot (pyramid), 2 temples one on each side, a walkway (shown below-reconstructed), Bedouin's village, 2 walls, and 4 other things.

Amy in awe!
Dudes inside the tomb. These are men, how can you tell who they are? Well they are men because they are dark colored representing men working the fields, woman were depicted yellow because they stayed in doors. The reddish color is made from rust. There dress is an obvious way of telling too.

Man

Woman - you can tell because of the dress-long skirt. Other reasons too.
This was new for Mike and I to see. This is an unfinished tomb. They person who owned the burial chamber would commission the construction of the tomb. The artists would first plaster the surface. They then drew out the seen and colored it in. Next they carved the stone as a bas-relief which is a method which entails carving or etching away the surface of a flat piece of stone or metal creating a sculpture portrayed as a picture. The portrayed image is raised.

Emma getting ready to go into King Titi's tomb.

Saqqara is the home of the step pyramids. The first nobleman is buried in layer one. Years later they added another layer and built noble dude 2, and so on. There are 10km of tunnels under the pyramid.
Geologist Emma collects various stones and rocks.

Mike is forever waiting for the girls to catch up. He has been to the pyramids more times than I can count and always comes away with a new tidbit of information, story, or adventure.



We noticed a great deal of changes this time. The area was clean for starters. The trash was well contained and actually there were people picking up the scrapes that were blowing in the breeze.

The hawkers were also kept at bay and contained in a small area. The camel jockeys as well. No one harassing you to take a photo of their camel. It changed the feel of the place.

So here we have a policeman chasing away the hawkers. He is flapping his arms like a giant bird....he hopes that he does not actually have to move the great beast he rides.
Whew it worked he can take a nap again.
This is the condensed version.