Decoding the land of pharaohs

He also hopes there will be more opportunities for him to contribute to transcribing wall inscriptions and interpreting the religious role Montu played in ancient Egypt, the evolution of his worship, and its relationship with kingship.

By the time he received a doctoral degree from the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes in Paris in 2022, Gao had been involved in the joint mission for six years, ever since early-stage preparations. He was particularly impressed by the Egyptian archaeologists' global horizon.

"Egypt has a mature system for managing and evaluating the work of foreign archaeological teams in their country," Gao says. "Moreover, cultural heritage authorities can talk fluently about even very small sites in English."

According to Gao, the team's work also includes translating terms into Chinese and trying to standardize them for archaeological reports in the future.

On the other hand, Chinese archaeologists also share their experience with their Egyptian counterparts. For example, Jia introduced a recording system summarized from his decadeslong practice in China, down to details like how to arrange and number excavation pits, document information and design charts.

In the eyes of archaeologists, pottery pieces have long been seen as a key indicator in studies of strata, which also inspired Egyptian counterparts. The Chinese team also brought 3D modeling facilities to Egypt. The technique has been widely used in archaeological research in large-scale capital city ruins in China.

"China's archaeology has created effective methods during its century-long history," Jia says. "Our concepts sometimes collided with those of our Egyptian counterparts, but we may also bring a new perspective."

"Now we have become like family," al-Saghir says. "The Chinese members have already started to adjust to Egyptian traditions, and vice versa, not only the food."

He and some colleagues have also taken up learning Chinese.

"Mutual influence between Egypt and China is not only words or symbolic. It's something you can really feel and see," he adds. "A very strong relationship has been built through the joint mission."