A formal beginning.

Sunday morning was spent in a series of meetings with officials from the government agencies who host and support the Sebittu Project. First I met with Kaify Mustafa Ali, the Director General for Antiquities and Heritage for Iraqi Kurdistan (below) and his staff, and then with Nader Babakr, the Director of the Erbil Directorate for Antiquities and Heritage who is in charge of archaeological activity in the Erbil governate. Partly these meetings are formalities to request support and provide updates to the directors about our work, and partly they are social events to reunite with friends and colleagues. There were lots of details and logistics to discuss. Importantly, I learned that two of my team from last year -- Rafeeq Bradosti and Tara Othman -- will be joining me in the field this year both as government representatives, and to help with the field work.

Me and Kak Kaify catching up.

We completed the necessary paperwork that we will need tomorrow to inform local authorities of our presence and activities. The Kurdish security forces, Asayish, keep careful watch over the archaeological projects spread throughout Kurdistan and we will report to them tomorrow morning with the letters drafted today at the Directorate. We will also visit the local authorities in the Sebittu Project area, including the heads of villages (muhktar) near our sites. The rest of our early afternoon was taken up with lunch and a bit of shopping for supplies before heading back to the dig house to get ready for tomorrow. I thought a few street scenes from Erbil would give you a sense of what is going on in the big city.

Ready to help with heavy purchases in the market. We were only buying plastic bags... maybe next time.

Selling figs in the market.