Day of Archaeology

Today is the international Day of Archaeology (if you search twitter #dayofarch and the official webpage you will lots of postings). And it’s when some of us try to tell the world what we really do – using just one day as a snapshot.

Well my day started slowly. Heavy rain outside. Not a great day to be in the field. I felt sorry for people trying to excavate in the heavy rain – but I had a day of data analysis planned. The best news was to get an e-mail saying that my computer had a new motherboard and so was now working again. That meant that I could really get down to doing some cranial analysis – no excuses now!

Time to stay the crania from Amarna in Egypt. This is work that I am doing with my wonderful colleagues Prof Jerry Rose (UArkansas) and Dr Gretchen Dabbs (SIU). Amarna is the name given to the archaeological site comprising the capital city (Akhetaten) founded by the Pharaoh Akhenaten of the late 18th Dynasty. the site is amazing as it was a pristine new city when founded – and it was only occupied for about 30 years. We have a series of questions that we are trying to answer, such from where do the Amarna people derive? Do they come from everywhere around Egypt – or do they mostly come from some specific areas? Were there any foreigners or immigrants in this population? So my day has been sitting with my computer doing a whole load of statistical analyses. No final results yet – but hopefully soon!