Thames Valley Ancient Egypt Society

IT was all beer and… On Saturday, February 20 Dr Debbie Vischak, from Princeton University in New York, gave a virtual Zoom tour for members of the Thames Valley Ancient Egypt Society of part of the ancient religious site of Abydos.

The immense brewery installation discovered by her North Abydos Mission has been recently reported on in the press and she showed us detailed images of the find, with rows of vats and ancient beer residues — all overlaid by later cemeteries as the need for such large production ended.

Mounds of discarded beer jar pots were found near the early dynastic large royal ritual enclosures nearby, suggesting a link between the two.

Her tour included the active conservation of the last remaining enclosure and the excavation of the later nearby ancient town and temple site and the various period burials also discovered.

The next lecture will be tomorrow (Saturday, March 6) on the site of “Tattooing in ancient Egypt”.

Non-members can register for any of the forthcoming Zoom events via the website www.tvaes.org.uk a few days before the event, if places are available.

Francesca Jones