Today was out first full day on site in a week! A few of us left early to dig in the cave trench (Much better than the Bottomless Pit of Despair!). The cave trench is interesting, but tricky as the cave itself has been in use by goatherds for centuries, covering up our relevant strata with goat dung, fires and meals. Consequently we found a lot of Minoan pottery and burnt dirt and sand as well as charcoal. The burnt dirt and sand combines with ash during downpours to make a horrible cement. The upside is that we could see a perfect outline of the goatherds' makeshift fire pit, even if we have to dig through it to find what we're looking for.
After siesta we returned to the field, this time going to the floating station. I have never actually been, so this was exciting for me to see how it worked. The station is a ways from town where a farmer was kind enough to let us tap his water lines for his olive trees. The station is a simple rig comprised of a 50 gal drum, two filters, a heavy-duty hose and spout.
The drum is filled, then the coarser filter placed on a tray near the top of it and filled with the strata dirt. We work the dirt with our hands, picking out anything we can see that's important right off. Eventually the fine dirt and clay sink to the bottom through the coarse filter and are washed away. The water pours out the spout at the top of the drum and through a fine filter that catches any light organic material. The coarse filter bag becomes the residue that I wrote about before, and finer bag the flot.
NOTE: The internet cafe I am using to update doesn't have a place to upload photos, so those will come as soon as I can either figure out another way, or when I get back State-side!
Monday, June 27, 2011
Plakias: 6/26
Today was a day off, so we all went to the market to pick up lunch foods and stopped by the local bakery for apple cake and sweet-cheese pies. The resident parrot was unhappy with the prevailing winds and refused to add his usually Greek squawking to our conversation.
Tonight, after an afternoon of laundry, organization and planning the days ahead, we went to the Kri-Kri -- a restaurant named after the possibly extinct native wild goat of Crete. The food was fabulous (we had to have an extra table for our food) and we were treated to traditional live Greek music!
Tonight, after an afternoon of laundry, organization and planning the days ahead, we went to the Kri-Kri -- a restaurant named after the possibly extinct native wild goat of Crete. The food was fabulous (we had to have an extra table for our food) and we were treated to traditional live Greek music!
Plakias: 6/25
I woke up bright and early today this morning and met our geologist -- Gilbert -- from Athens and Rebecca, a long time colleague of Dr. Strasser. We set out west of Plakias in search of raw materials that our prospective Mesolithic group could have used for their tools -- specifically chirt and flint.
They would probably not have ventured far from their homesite, unless on extensive hunting trips where minimal baggage would be imperative. This means that they would have chosen smaller materials that washed down from the mountains to the shore. Taking this into account we drove along the seaside from some time before stopping a small beach-side cafe. The shore was incredibly rocky, littered with smooth, round stones. It was among these that Gil and I found nodules of varying size of black chirt. It was beautifully smooth, but much of it had striations in it, so wasn't ideal for knapping.
We traced the potential path of the stones -- with the help of Gil's Sponge-Bob GPS -- to a wonderful outcropping of limestone. It was full of nodules of black chirt, from a cm in diameter to 20 cm. Most were perfectly round, others a strange series of spheres all joined together. Chirt forms like flint, with sediment filling in the spaces of a more porous rock. Chirt is found in limestone, flint in chalk.
This particular chirt site had once been a shallow cave that collapsed, evident by the strange formation of calcite crystals from broken stalactites. Gil then took us east of Plakias to see Preveli Gorge and look for hand-axes. We were not successful, but the view from the cliffs was phenomenal. The rough scrubby vegetation that covers all but the lowest valleys of the interior gave way to shear bare rock faces. The banks of the green river itself were covered with tall lush palms and tropical flowers.
They would probably not have ventured far from their homesite, unless on extensive hunting trips where minimal baggage would be imperative. This means that they would have chosen smaller materials that washed down from the mountains to the shore. Taking this into account we drove along the seaside from some time before stopping a small beach-side cafe. The shore was incredibly rocky, littered with smooth, round stones. It was among these that Gil and I found nodules of varying size of black chirt. It was beautifully smooth, but much of it had striations in it, so wasn't ideal for knapping.
We traced the potential path of the stones -- with the help of Gil's Sponge-Bob GPS -- to a wonderful outcropping of limestone. It was full of nodules of black chirt, from a cm in diameter to 20 cm. Most were perfectly round, others a strange series of spheres all joined together. Chirt forms like flint, with sediment filling in the spaces of a more porous rock. Chirt is found in limestone, flint in chalk.
This particular chirt site had once been a shallow cave that collapsed, evident by the strange formation of calcite crystals from broken stalactites. Gil then took us east of Plakias to see Preveli Gorge and look for hand-axes. We were not successful, but the view from the cliffs was phenomenal. The rough scrubby vegetation that covers all but the lowest valleys of the interior gave way to shear bare rock faces. The banks of the green river itself were covered with tall lush palms and tropical flowers.
Plakias: 6/24
Today we sorted the residue and flot, searching for quartz, black and brown chirt and flint in the former, seeds, pottery and shells in the latter. We don't have a botanist at our disposal, so the flot is a tricky endeavour -- due to the wind we have found an extensive amount of modern organic matter that has been blown into our trenches, so addition work has to be done to separate modern vegetation from what was actually in the context of the strata.
Much of the residue is simply naturally broken rocks, but there are several promising pieces, mostly chips from the working of quartz to make small tools for butchering. Tomorrow and Sunday we have been given the days off, since no further work can be done on the site in such high winds. Most of the group is going with Dr. Strasser for a day trip to Preveli Gorge, where he found his original lower Palaeolithic handaxes.
I chose to go raw-materials hunting with our resident geologist. A bonus of the long drives and searching in the hot sun -- I get a free tour of the western inlands of Crete!
Much of the residue is simply naturally broken rocks, but there are several promising pieces, mostly chips from the working of quartz to make small tools for butchering. Tomorrow and Sunday we have been given the days off, since no further work can be done on the site in such high winds. Most of the group is going with Dr. Strasser for a day trip to Preveli Gorge, where he found his original lower Palaeolithic handaxes.
I chose to go raw-materials hunting with our resident geologist. A bonus of the long drives and searching in the hot sun -- I get a free tour of the western inlands of Crete!
Plakias: 6/23
Our second day we were blown off of the site -- the wind tore our two sun tents and the sive down. Instead we did some floating of samples from each strata in each trench. Floating separates the lighter things from the heavier, allowing organic matter to rise to the top and lithics to fall to the bottom. The results are two different bags -- the heavier "residue" and the lighter "flot."
The flot can contain any organic material such as bones, seeds, insect casings or charcoal to indicate what the inhabitants might have eaten and details about what their immediate environment might have been like. The residue contains the pottery and microliths that may have been chipped off in the making of tools or in later civilizations, bits of metal that can tell us more about their craftsmanship.
In the afternoon a few of us went out to the site, armed with a camera and a botanical guide to Crete. We took photos of every different plant and (attempted) to identify each. We also counted how many total plants were in a space the size of out site. There were many thistle-like plants with large purple, spiky flowers and a huge amount of wild onions and artichokes. Most of the plants on Crete estuvate -- like hibernating, but the dormant state occurs during the hotter, dry season of summer, rather than winter. This means the flora is relatively brown and dull currently, with the exception of beautiful bunches of purple thyme.
By learning more about the vegetation in the area we can determine what effect the flora may have had on the soil and consequently the artefacts. They can also help us learn what the layout of the site may have been. For an example, A lush plant that grows in damp soil can tell you that water in the area may have brought sediments to create fossils, or, conversely, micro-bacteria to decompose anything organic. A cluster of nitrogen-greedy plants in a site otherwise devoid of them may indicate a fire pit having been located there.
The flot can contain any organic material such as bones, seeds, insect casings or charcoal to indicate what the inhabitants might have eaten and details about what their immediate environment might have been like. The residue contains the pottery and microliths that may have been chipped off in the making of tools or in later civilizations, bits of metal that can tell us more about their craftsmanship.
In the afternoon a few of us went out to the site, armed with a camera and a botanical guide to Crete. We took photos of every different plant and (attempted) to identify each. We also counted how many total plants were in a space the size of out site. There were many thistle-like plants with large purple, spiky flowers and a huge amount of wild onions and artichokes. Most of the plants on Crete estuvate -- like hibernating, but the dormant state occurs during the hotter, dry season of summer, rather than winter. This means the flora is relatively brown and dull currently, with the exception of beautiful bunches of purple thyme.
By learning more about the vegetation in the area we can determine what effect the flora may have had on the soil and consequently the artefacts. They can also help us learn what the layout of the site may have been. For an example, A lush plant that grows in damp soil can tell you that water in the area may have brought sediments to create fossils, or, conversely, micro-bacteria to decompose anything organic. A cluster of nitrogen-greedy plants in a site otherwise devoid of them may indicate a fire pit having been located there.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Plakias: 6/22
My first morning on the dig started at 7 am. We stopped at a local bakery to grab breakfast and lunch before I got my first glimpse of the dig.
Dr. Strasser chose the site for a few very specific reasons: Access to fresh, perennial water (rare in Crete), south-facing shelter and Miocene soil. The site has all of those, and is easily accessible by road. Perched on the edge of the cliffs dropping a dozen or so meters into the Libyan sea, is a small cave. A moderate slope stretches from the cave in the upper cliffs to the lower ones, and it is on this slope that the site is located.
While nothing specific can be revealed until publication, the site is extremely exciting. We are looking for artefacts from a small settlement of hunter-gatherers. Due to the low pH of the soil, we will probably only find stone and pottery, as most organic matter like seeds, shells and bones will have decomposed quickly. This also proves to make carbon dating difficult, so instead a system known as Optical Stimulating Luminascence will be used. Utilizing the half-life of solar radiation instead of C-14, it will be used on strata that has not been exposed to sunlight since the time the artefacts were current. The cores will be kept from sunlight until they are tested.
The first artefact trenches have already been dug, and a grid of 1m squares divides the 25m square site. My role, as newest member, is to dig in what we all fondly refer to as the "Never Ending Pit of Despair." The Pit is the second test trench dug as is used for mapping the depths of the different strata -- soil layers. We have found all the ones we expected, and are now simply trying to get to bedrock as soon as possible.
The site isn't glorious -- a cleared hillside sandblasted by the wind -- but that isn't what matters, Dr. Strasser said. On the ride down he shrugged, "It's not an art walk. They're crappy stone tools, but it doesn't matter -- they're the right type."
Dr. Strasser chose the site for a few very specific reasons: Access to fresh, perennial water (rare in Crete), south-facing shelter and Miocene soil. The site has all of those, and is easily accessible by road. Perched on the edge of the cliffs dropping a dozen or so meters into the Libyan sea, is a small cave. A moderate slope stretches from the cave in the upper cliffs to the lower ones, and it is on this slope that the site is located.
While nothing specific can be revealed until publication, the site is extremely exciting. We are looking for artefacts from a small settlement of hunter-gatherers. Due to the low pH of the soil, we will probably only find stone and pottery, as most organic matter like seeds, shells and bones will have decomposed quickly. This also proves to make carbon dating difficult, so instead a system known as Optical Stimulating Luminascence will be used. Utilizing the half-life of solar radiation instead of C-14, it will be used on strata that has not been exposed to sunlight since the time the artefacts were current. The cores will be kept from sunlight until they are tested.
The first artefact trenches have already been dug, and a grid of 1m squares divides the 25m square site. My role, as newest member, is to dig in what we all fondly refer to as the "Never Ending Pit of Despair." The Pit is the second test trench dug as is used for mapping the depths of the different strata -- soil layers. We have found all the ones we expected, and are now simply trying to get to bedrock as soon as possible.
The site isn't glorious -- a cleared hillside sandblasted by the wind -- but that isn't what matters, Dr. Strasser said. On the ride down he shrugged, "It's not an art walk. They're crappy stone tools, but it doesn't matter -- they're the right type."
Plakias: 6/21
Our trip to Plakias began early, with a 1.5 hour bus ride across the northern coast of Crete. The landscape is like nothing I have ever seen, and is heartbreaking in its beauty. It is reminiscent of the mountains and southwest of the U.S. and Hawaii all at once.
Located on the edge of the European tectonic plate, it sports soaring cliffs of limestone and massive jutting mountains. Free-ranging goats and wild deer navigate the blade-thin ridges that fall dozens of meters on either side. One turn, just before Plakias, the traffic slowed to 30 kmph and we turned on an abrupt switch back. The vast rolling hills and scrubby pink-flowered bushes gave way to a sudden, breathtaking gorge rising on either side with grey limestone cliff faces.
The wind in Plakias is astronomical, but wonderful. The age of the place is apparent in everything from the pre-historic-looking mountains to the rich red clay dust from the soil blown in from Egypt.
Located on the edge of the European tectonic plate, it sports soaring cliffs of limestone and massive jutting mountains. Free-ranging goats and wild deer navigate the blade-thin ridges that fall dozens of meters on either side. One turn, just before Plakias, the traffic slowed to 30 kmph and we turned on an abrupt switch back. The vast rolling hills and scrubby pink-flowered bushes gave way to a sudden, breathtaking gorge rising on either side with grey limestone cliff faces.
The wind in Plakias is astronomical, but wonderful. The age of the place is apparent in everything from the pre-historic-looking mountains to the rich red clay dust from the soil blown in from Egypt.
Traveling: 6/19 - 6/20
The ferry to Iraklion, Crete, left Piraes, the hot-headed port town of Athens, at 9:30 pm, allowing us time to explore. We visited the Piraes Archaeological Museum, home to the oldest bronze statues from the area, and had dinner port-side.
The ferries that make the 200 mile journey to Crete are almost the size of the massive cruise liners that dot the tropics. ours had four passenger levels, the first holding restaurants, an arcade, and shops. While they provided ample seating for those who had deck seats, and airliner-seats for business class, it was nearly impossible to get any rest. At 4:00 am I took a stroll around the open top deck and was treated to the moon shining down on the distant Crete through the remnants of a squall. The sunrise an hour later was stunning, arriving just as we entered Iraklion port, on the northwest of Crete
Iraklion, and Crete in general, are quite different from Athens, though how is hard to pinpoint. We took a room at the El Greco Hotel -- which was built for people far smaller than the 5'3" me. The upside, however, was the working A/C unit. though we had been up most the night on the ferry, sleep in the cool parts of the day is out of the question. Instead we journeyed across town to the ruins of Knossos -- the Minoan palace. The details of the palace that were preserved are beautiful, and the reconstructions of the art and architecture are remarkable.
After a siesta, we returned to the streets. We met a shopkeeper in her 80's who manned a place along the main pedestrian walk. She told us of her family-owned olive groves in Chania to the west, and explained how smaller olive make the best oil. She ran the shop for two of her sons, since her husband had died -- her eyes misted as she described the seven years she had been without him. Not knowing the words in English, she pointed to photographs of her 9 grandchildren and one great-grandchild and put her hand over her heart. No one needs words to understand the bittersweet pride of "Our legacy."
The ferries that make the 200 mile journey to Crete are almost the size of the massive cruise liners that dot the tropics. ours had four passenger levels, the first holding restaurants, an arcade, and shops. While they provided ample seating for those who had deck seats, and airliner-seats for business class, it was nearly impossible to get any rest. At 4:00 am I took a stroll around the open top deck and was treated to the moon shining down on the distant Crete through the remnants of a squall. The sunrise an hour later was stunning, arriving just as we entered Iraklion port, on the northwest of Crete
Iraklion, and Crete in general, are quite different from Athens, though how is hard to pinpoint. We took a room at the El Greco Hotel -- which was built for people far smaller than the 5'3" me. The upside, however, was the working A/C unit. though we had been up most the night on the ferry, sleep in the cool parts of the day is out of the question. Instead we journeyed across town to the ruins of Knossos -- the Minoan palace. The details of the palace that were preserved are beautiful, and the reconstructions of the art and architecture are remarkable.
After a siesta, we returned to the streets. We met a shopkeeper in her 80's who manned a place along the main pedestrian walk. She told us of her family-owned olive groves in Chania to the west, and explained how smaller olive make the best oil. She ran the shop for two of her sons, since her husband had died -- her eyes misted as she described the seven years she had been without him. Not knowing the words in English, she pointed to photographs of her 9 grandchildren and one great-grandchild and put her hand over her heart. No one needs words to understand the bittersweet pride of "Our legacy."
Traveling: 6/18
We took the metro to Monastiraki Square where we found the ruins of Hadrian's Library and the ancient Agora -- market -- of Athens. The Agora was overlooked by the large Temple of Hephastos. We kept to the north of the Acropolis and moved through the market on our way to find Savvas, a place that specialized in gyros and souvlaki. Watching them being cooked was almost as good as eating them.
The National Gardens were our next stop. The traffic sounds faded as we stepped under the cover of trees and plants imported by the king from around the world. The heat of the city was forgotten, replaced by the sound of streams and birds. The surrounding neighbourhoods -- the parliament building and president's house -- were rich and bustling with protestors camped before the parliament in rows of tents. Their signs, in every language i could recognize, begged for peace as busloads of policmen descended on the scene.
The National Gardens were our next stop. The traffic sounds faded as we stepped under the cover of trees and plants imported by the king from around the world. The heat of the city was forgotten, replaced by the sound of streams and birds. The surrounding neighbourhoods -- the parliament building and president's house -- were rich and bustling with protestors camped before the parliament in rows of tents. Their signs, in every language i could recognize, begged for peace as busloads of policmen descended on the scene.
Traveling: 6/17
Three stops away on the red line is the Acropolis and its extensive museum along with the roman market. Nothing can describe the Acropolis, other than poetry. while it was crowded with tourists, everyone was respectful in the face of such beauty. The museum is worth a day in itself, having been built over an archaeological dig. great swath of the first floor are made of glass so you can walk above the dig and see the progress.
On the recommendation of our new friend Tinos in our hotel's lobby, we braved the non-tourist districts of Athens visited Keramikos District, a hopping and hip walk of bars and cafes, as well as Mamacas, a fantastic restaurant, where we ate. On the return trip -- now familar -- we emerged from the metro to find literally thousands of bicyclists had taken the main street Konstantinos by storm. The passed loudly for over five minutes, shepherded by excited bikers with whistles and kazoos and other unfamiliar noisemakers. When we asked Tinos what the ruckus was about he shrugged. "We're Greek. Demonstration, strikes, just for fun -- whatever we want to do, we do it."
On the recommendation of our new friend Tinos in our hotel's lobby, we braved the non-tourist districts of Athens visited Keramikos District, a hopping and hip walk of bars and cafes, as well as Mamacas, a fantastic restaurant, where we ate. On the return trip -- now familar -- we emerged from the metro to find literally thousands of bicyclists had taken the main street Konstantinos by storm. The passed loudly for over five minutes, shepherded by excited bikers with whistles and kazoos and other unfamiliar noisemakers. When we asked Tinos what the ruckus was about he shrugged. "We're Greek. Demonstration, strikes, just for fun -- whatever we want to do, we do it."
Traveling: 6/15
We left in the evening on a double-decker jet -- It was an amazing experience, as the attendants were all bilingual and extraordinarily friendly. Hailing from the U.S. was an oddity. The journey through Paris' airport was an odyssey in its own right -- trying to find our gate, navigate customs and security all within a half hour was nerve racking, even without the 2 km trek across the airport. The different faces and languages were a pleasant change, however, and we made our gate just in time to board. The take off provided a distant view of the Eiffel tower from the east, and tracing the sinuous sage ribbon of the Seine we were able to find Notre Dame.
Our arrival in Athens came with all the chaos of finding ones way without speaking the language. Through 17 metro stops on two different lines and a sudden downpour, we found the simple and charming hotel just off of Omonia Square (Future reference -- not the place to be, though our hotel was nice). Our windows looked out on a courtyard shared with a tall narrow apartment building and a flock of spotted pigeons.
The city is hot and beautiful and intense, the pride of its people shining through whatever hardships they face, whether national or personal.
Our arrival in Athens came with all the chaos of finding ones way without speaking the language. Through 17 metro stops on two different lines and a sudden downpour, we found the simple and charming hotel just off of Omonia Square (Future reference -- not the place to be, though our hotel was nice). Our windows looked out on a courtyard shared with a tall narrow apartment building and a flock of spotted pigeons.
The city is hot and beautiful and intense, the pride of its people shining through whatever hardships they face, whether national or personal.
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