Yalla, yalla, yalla! Waaaay!
I was visiting the pyramids of Giza, Egypt, with Mark Lehner, a renowned Egyptologist, when a series of voices erupted and echoed throughout the site. A small group of people looked at the commotion and wondered if something was wrong.
We saw a group of men running barefoot through the sand, some of them with bags and equipment in their hands. Their faces were sweaty under the sun but their whoops gave the scene a sense of celebration.
Their entry coincides with our own arrival at the dig site where the A.E.R.A. are uncovering the Lost City of the Pyramids.
The leaders of the workers are respectfully referred to as their "rais," the Arabic word for "leader." Their excavation work is tiring and time consuming, but there is a subtler level to it.
Many of the men, most of whom are from Abusir, a small town near Saqqara, see themselves as part of an esteemed team that links them all the way back to the Egyptians who first built the pyramids.
It has long been thought that the workers who built the pyramids were not slaves. The work was done by paid workers who were housed nearby. According to papyri fragments discovered by Pierre Tallet, an Egyptologist and the co-author of the book, the work was considered a noble profession.
There was a similarity between the high spirits of today's workers and the old ones. The bonuses and celebration feasts that come with this job, as well as the important work of their predecessors, are what these men believed they were doing.
As part of a history-driven private tour of Giza's pyramids, I was in the presence of Dr. Lehner and his crew. For guests and patrons of his archaeological and research projects, Dr. Lehner partners with the group to lead historical journeys across Egypt on special occasions.
The last time I visited the pyramids was almost a decade ago. Over the last decade, Egypt has gone through a lot of changes, but the ancient wonders remain as majestic and amazing as they ever were. With his wide-ranging expertise, constant commentary and insider status (I lost track of the sheer number of government officials, other Egyptologists and guides who greeted him throughout the tour), my experience this time around was definitely richer.
It was a richer experience for me as a photographer when I saw the pyramids again. One unexpected wild card was the rain.
The area usually sees less than an inch of rain each year. Bad weather can allow for good photos. It's possible to see things in a different way when there are streaks of light. It can be helpful when trying to get a good picture of a location.
I thought it was a stroke of luck that Mother Nature gave us a dramatic backdrop as we neared the Bent Pyramid. The second pyramid built by the founding pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt is this one. The Great Pyramid of Giza was built by his successor. The building of a pyramidal tomb is a critical step in the process.
Mother Nature wasn't done with her show. The Step Pyramid of Djoser is located in the Saqqara necropolis, which is 19 miles south of Cairo. There were masks and scarves on as we arrived and some people hid from the sand.
The Arabic word for "50" refers to the season of sandstorms and the winds that cause them. Seeing Egypt's most famous ancient treasures under such drama-filled circumstances only made them even more strange.
I keep up with Dr. Lehner through regular dispatches that he sends out to his supporters. Heit el-Ghurab is a 4,500-year-old settlement that includes two different ancient towns and several identifiable main streets. His daily considerations include hypothesizing about the ability of cattle to fit through certain ancient openings, as well as the exact usage of an area of the settlement he has called the OK Corral. In this case, it's clever to stand for "Old Kingdom."
I look forward to his findings. I know that the workers excavating the sites next to him will be happy to find new information.
Tanveer Badal is based in Los Angeles. His work can be seen on the social media platform.
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