Today was my last day on site -- I leave for Iraklion in the morning for a ferry to Athens. from there I will head north to Litochoro, a town at the foot of Mt. Olympus. I plan to summit the home of the gods in two days, with a overnight at one of the refuges!
The people I have met on this adventure and the experiences I have had are amazing and complicated and beautiful. I am so incredibly grateful to Dr. Strasser for having me and to the other archaeologists and specialists I have worked with for their insight into life and the future as well as the past.
To all of you whom I've gotten to know, locals, fellow students and directors -- γειά σας
Friday, July 15, 2011
Plakias 7/13
The wind returned this week, but as it's our last full week of digging we must learn to deal with it. It's worse than before, as is unpredictable in direction, timing and force. What we think is happening is a temperature difference between the water and the land. The air mass moves inland at a high altitude, then, hitting the mountains, it cools and sweeps back down slope and out to sea.
Of course this is complicated, since we have so many caverns and outcroppings where we work, there is really to telling where it will go. The only warning we have is a terrible moaning in the hills, then a shriek as the air hits the crags turning and sweeping salt spray and dirt across the site. The best we can really do is face away, close our eyes, duck over anything important and cover our ears. The soil is extremely fine, more like powder, and is like the fine sand that buries cities in desert sandstorms.
It frequently knocks even the stoutest digger off their feet and has tossed zambili, records and my hat over the cliffs, the last never to be recovered. At night it wakes us with almost-human screams, rattling doors and causing the water in our toilet bowls to slosh.
Working in the wind makes us all hungry, so last night the other students and I ate at a fish taverna on the beach called The Muses. We hadn't been before, and their menu was the length of a small novel. However we sussed out what we wanted and ended up splitting 8 large dishes 5 ways. On Thursday we'll bring the whole crew there again!
Of course this is complicated, since we have so many caverns and outcroppings where we work, there is really to telling where it will go. The only warning we have is a terrible moaning in the hills, then a shriek as the air hits the crags turning and sweeping salt spray and dirt across the site. The best we can really do is face away, close our eyes, duck over anything important and cover our ears. The soil is extremely fine, more like powder, and is like the fine sand that buries cities in desert sandstorms.
It frequently knocks even the stoutest digger off their feet and has tossed zambili, records and my hat over the cliffs, the last never to be recovered. At night it wakes us with almost-human screams, rattling doors and causing the water in our toilet bowls to slosh.
Working in the wind makes us all hungry, so last night the other students and I ate at a fish taverna on the beach called The Muses. We hadn't been before, and their menu was the length of a small novel. However we sussed out what we wanted and ended up splitting 8 large dishes 5 ways. On Thursday we'll bring the whole crew there again!
Plakias 7/10
An archaeologist named Graham came to the site Monday to help with the profile drawings. He's a great character and always has a story, each one more interesting than the last. As the trenches are in a checker board pattern each has four profiles, north, south, east, and west. However to get a good idea of the stratigraphy, we're connecting all the trenches in the "C" column running north-south and those in the 05 row running east-west. Graham is working to draw all the profiles that will disappear when the trenches are connected.
First he sets a datum line at a certain elevation -- say 22.5 m -- then draws the strata and any inclusions (rocks or coral jutting from the side) by measuring their distance above or below the datum line. These drawings are different than photos since they are subjective and may show things that are not as apparent in the photographs. This helps us determine any patterns in the stratigraphy. If, for example, stratum 3 is rockier (if that's possible) in the southern region or thicker in the western, we can infer how plant roots may have moved the rocks, and therefore artefacts. The profile drawings can also indicate any minute geologic history, such as rock falls, of the area pre- and post-occupation.
First he sets a datum line at a certain elevation -- say 22.5 m -- then draws the strata and any inclusions (rocks or coral jutting from the side) by measuring their distance above or below the datum line. These drawings are different than photos since they are subjective and may show things that are not as apparent in the photographs. This helps us determine any patterns in the stratigraphy. If, for example, stratum 3 is rockier (if that's possible) in the southern region or thicker in the western, we can infer how plant roots may have moved the rocks, and therefore artefacts. The profile drawings can also indicate any minute geologic history, such as rock falls, of the area pre- and post-occupation.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Plakias 7/8
We have over 20 trenches dug, 5 of which are open at any given time. We try to dig one a day each, but the rocky, clay-filled lower strata make the going tough. The floatation hose broke the other day, so for two hours I sat and held it in place to get some work done -- no trip to the beach that day! Our new trenches are producing a ton of soil samples -- we have had to do 9 a day and are still a bit behind.
Among our new trenches is a new cave trench! The soil there is vastly different due to erosion of the rocks above, sediment and calcite dripping from rain water and the number of uses it has served for goatherds. We have four grids now -- A, B, C and T, the cave grid. We're hitting a lot of coral and bed rocks, but now the name of the game is to move as much dirt as possible and find where the trenches are sterile, to determine the size and shape of the living area.
Among our new trenches is a new cave trench! The soil there is vastly different due to erosion of the rocks above, sediment and calcite dripping from rain water and the number of uses it has served for goatherds. We have four grids now -- A, B, C and T, the cave grid. We're hitting a lot of coral and bed rocks, but now the name of the game is to move as much dirt as possible and find where the trenches are sterile, to determine the size and shape of the living area.
Plakias 7/6/11
The days have fallen into a routine -- we get up at 7:00 and head out to the site, working until our 15 minute tea-break at 11, and then again until 1:00. We take siesta until 4:00 and then work from then until 6:00 either floating, sorting or washing finds.
Today the Director of the American School in Athens stopped by to inspect our work, so we had to make sure the site was tidy -- or as tidy as a dig can be and still look like digging is actually happening. The director was an interesting and kind man, and was very enthusiastic about our work. We took him to dinner at a small taverna way up in the hills at Selia, a village just inland of Plakias.
We were able to try out traditional dishes such as snails, friend cheese, sausage, and orange-chicken. Needless to say it was amazing, and the food is certainly one of the first things I will miss back home!
Today the Director of the American School in Athens stopped by to inspect our work, so we had to make sure the site was tidy -- or as tidy as a dig can be and still look like digging is actually happening. The director was an interesting and kind man, and was very enthusiastic about our work. We took him to dinner at a small taverna way up in the hills at Selia, a village just inland of Plakias.
We were able to try out traditional dishes such as snails, friend cheese, sausage, and orange-chicken. Needless to say it was amazing, and the food is certainly one of the first things I will miss back home!
Plakias 7/2 - 7/3
This weekend we drove up to Plakiamos for two talks at the INSTAP center on two sites. The talks were quite interesting and seeing the beautiful pottery and gravesites they were finding in their Minoan and Mycenae sites made our humble work look a bit drab in comparison. There were many other workers and students visiting with their respective Field Directors so it was fun to get to talk with people our age with the same interests.
We spent the night in a tiny coastal village called Mohlos (Mok-los). There is a small site on an island just out of the harbor of Mohlos, and on Saturday we all swam the 200m distance to hike around it. With us were two grad students who had worked on the site in previous summers, so we got a great tour. We took a break at the very northern peak of the island, where the land falls away to the open ocean. There lies a ruin of a Hellenistic guard tower, and looking out over the deep blue of the water, it is easy to imagine ancient ships like Odysseus' and Achilles' approaching over the waves of the Aegean.
We spent the night in a tiny coastal village called Mohlos (Mok-los). There is a small site on an island just out of the harbor of Mohlos, and on Saturday we all swam the 200m distance to hike around it. With us were two grad students who had worked on the site in previous summers, so we got a great tour. We took a break at the very northern peak of the island, where the land falls away to the open ocean. There lies a ruin of a Hellenistic guard tower, and looking out over the deep blue of the water, it is easy to imagine ancient ships like Odysseus' and Achilles' approaching over the waves of the Aegean.
Plakias 6/29
Today we opened 3 new trenches, and strung up outlines for several more! Our progress has really picked up since we fell into a good pattern. The coral reef still emerges, but with all the new trenches, once we get below the stratum of interest we can move on to a new one. We're breaking ground in a checkerboard pattern, and will fill in the gaps in our last week of digging.
The order of the day begins with cleaning any debris off your surface that might have blown in during the nigh. Then, if you didn't the afternoon before, take the elevations for your spit. Miriam works our total station, which gives you coordinates and elevations to the millimeter. Each time you hit a new stratum or spit, she takes the new elevations in each corner and the center of the trench.
Once the elevations are done, a photograph is taken of the trench with a chalkboard label and scales to show the size. A 25% soil sample is taken from the SW corner (unless there are two many rocks) to be taken to the floatation. As soon as that corner is dug down to the next spit we bring the rest of the trench down to that level, putting the soil in our rubber zambilia to sieve through. At the sieve we can find any small artefacts we might have missed while digging. Once the spit is done we sweep off any loose dirt for our new pictures and elevations.
It's simple enough, but the lower strata are very compacted and full of clay, so with the dense digging and working around rocks and coral it's a long process. On average we each get through 2 spits a day, three if we're lucky.
The order of the day begins with cleaning any debris off your surface that might have blown in during the nigh. Then, if you didn't the afternoon before, take the elevations for your spit. Miriam works our total station, which gives you coordinates and elevations to the millimeter. Each time you hit a new stratum or spit, she takes the new elevations in each corner and the center of the trench.
Once the elevations are done, a photograph is taken of the trench with a chalkboard label and scales to show the size. A 25% soil sample is taken from the SW corner (unless there are two many rocks) to be taken to the floatation. As soon as that corner is dug down to the next spit we bring the rest of the trench down to that level, putting the soil in our rubber zambilia to sieve through. At the sieve we can find any small artefacts we might have missed while digging. Once the spit is done we sweep off any loose dirt for our new pictures and elevations.
It's simple enough, but the lower strata are very compacted and full of clay, so with the dense digging and working around rocks and coral it's a long process. On average we each get through 2 spits a day, three if we're lucky.
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