Editor’s Note: “Letter from” is a monthly column written by a Mainer or person with ties to this state, who is living or traveling far from home. Thomas Kittredge was born in Bangor and raised in Brewer, and was a 1994 graduate of Brewer High School. He received a bachelor’s degree from Yale University in Near Eastern Languages and civilizations and archaeological studies. He is a third-year graduate student in the doctorate program in Egyptology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. During January, he was involved in the university’s expedition to Thebes (modern Luxor), helping to conduct excavations at the temple precinct of the goddess Mut.

LUXOR, Egypt – Our typical workday begins by waking up to the cacophony of voices that is the Muslim call to prayer. We set off for our site at 6:30 a.m., shortly after the sun has risen. Everything is bathed in a warm pink glow, but the air is still quite cold. We arrive shortly before 7, where the raiyiss (foreman) and the rest of our Egyptian workmen, who range in age from 16 to 60, are milling about, chatting and laughing. We say “sabah el-khir” (good morning) to the workmen, and ask “izzaik” (how are you?), to which they respond “kwayiss” (good).

As work begins, I head over to my area, a sandstone gateway erected by the New Kingdom pharaoh Thutmose III, a little to the west of the main temple. It is one of the earliest preserved parts of the precinct, and is very important for helping us to eventually reconstruct the original configuration of this temple complex. From my excavation area, the view is quite peaceful, dominated by the temple’s sacred lake, serene and bucolic.

We have a team of eight workmen: one qufti, who does the technical work and keeps the rest of the workmen in line; two fass men, who use hoelike tools to dig; and five muqtuf boys, who carry dirt from the excavation area to our dump. The older qufti and fass men wear the traditional galabiyas, long, dresslike garments, while the muqtuf boys dress more Western, in jeans and shirts.

Shortly after work starts, a man brings shai, or tea, to our work area. Shai is very sweet and very strong – one can see a half-inch layer of tea grains in the bottom of the glass – but I like it as much as the workmen do. Work continues until 9 a.m., when we take a half-hour break. I usually try to go sit in the shade of the temple pylon, since my work area provides none.

At 9:30 a.m., we resume work. All of the workmen are quite talkative, the muqtuf boys chatting with each other as they go back and forth from the excavation to the dump. Frequently they seem to forget that they are supposed to be working. This necessitates the qufti or myself to scream “Yella!” (Let’s go!) at the boys to get them moving. Unfortunately, this often results in no change in pace whatsoever. Sometimes the fass men will start to sing, in time with the rhythm of their work.

The call to prayer at around 12:15 p.m. is a pleasant sound; it means only 45 minutes of work remain. Not surprisingly, the workmen pick up their pace dramatically in the closing minutes of the workday.

We head back to the hotel for lunch. One can either eat at the hotel, which serves rather un-Egyptian fare, or head down the street and buy food from one of the countless hole-in-the-wall shops and food carts.

One popular Egyptian food is “koshary,” a mixture of pasta, lentils, rice, spicy tomato sauce and fried onions. This is much cheaper and quicker than eating at the hotel, but, as I can attest, one must exercise extreme caution when buying food from such places. Their standards of cleanliness are not the same as those in the United States.

From 2:30 to 4:45 p.m., we do pottery analysis, and then we are done for the day.

Around this time, one can go to the roof of our hotel to catch a view of an amazing sunset – the sun like a bright, pink fireball descending behind the rugged western cliffs, while the sounds of another call to prayer rise all around.

After dinner, we often make forays into the various bazaars throughout Luxor, where they hawk everything from Bedouin clothes to alabaster vases to spices. There are no fixed prices, and haggling is allowed, almost encouraged. Egyptians are excellent salesmen, and will say almost anything to get and hold your attention.

At around 10 p.m., it’s time to go to bed and have a peaceful sleep. At least until the next morning’s call to prayer wakes us for another day of work.

More information about this project can be found at www.jhu.edu/~neareast/egypttoday.html.