3rd
First visit to Daba
This morning we went to the SCA office and met the Director for Kafr esh-Sheikh, Dr Mohammed Abdel Rafaa, who made us very welcome and actually remembered us from when we were touring around tells in 1990 with Sabri Abdel Aziz! He assigned an Inspector to us, Madame Salwa Galal, and she came with us for a preliminary visit to the site. We set off on the 15 km drive to the site in lovely weather but it started to rain heavily just as we arrived so our first view of Daba was though a very wet windscreen!
Our virst view of the tell today!
Fortunately the rain soon stopped and we were met by the SCA site guard, and walked around part of the site, looking at the substantial mud-brick remains which seem not to have changed in the last 20 years. The surface of the site is covered with burned red brick- fragments and some intact structural remains - and there are also a few weathered red granite blocks visible.
Jeff contemplating a solid chunck of mud brickwork!
The site guard moving cut branches so I could photograph a granite block
On the drive back to Kafr esh-Sheikh, we were hit by the heaviest thunderstorm we’ve ever experienced, with lightening and large hailstones. For several minutes we couldn’t see anything in front of us – the rain was just too heavy for the windscreen wipers to cope – and all the traffic had to slow to a crawl. Fortunately it cleared up later and the weather has been mainly fine since - we hope will stay that way so we can start our survey tomorrow.
After an excellent late lunch/early dinner in a local cafe, we explored the area around our hotel and located some food shops and an internet office. We seem to be very well situated here as we’re on the right edge of the town for driving out to Daba each morning
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The fine mosque just along the road from our hotel
