Finals are Hell

And its not even finals week. What the hell? Finals week starts next week, it hasn't even been dead day yet. You know, the day where I'm supposed to kill myself studying. And yet I have a final tomorrow. Okay, not a final, because finals are not allowed on the last day of classes according to university policy. So instead we're having an exam, not a final, notice the difference (the spelling). So if you call your final an exam and tell the class that you are not having a final (as in no test on the scheduled final day) you can totally get away with having finals on the last day of class like a jerk. Way to subvert the system.

This wouldn't be so terrible if I didn't have a 3000 work paper due the same day, or the 8 page paper due before that, or the other 3 finals that I have. I suppose I have a total case of senioritis, and still a year left to go. All I really want to do is  work on my own projects. The independent study for next year on the aryballos I have been complaining about is morphing into a monster that I have yet to tell my professor about. I'm not sure how I'm going to break it to her, or what that's going to mean...

In the mean time here's some pictures of stuff in the old world cabinet at the museum. Eventually I'm going to go through it to make sure we're not missing anything, but not right now. Currently a whole lot of other things need to be reorganized, or more correctly put in their proper places. That's going to take awhile, and with school going the way it has been it doesn't leave much time for volunteering, probably less next term. We'll see.

Archaeology in the Library

Yeah, I know this isn't one of the better Indiana Jones movies. In fact its probably ranked below Temple of Doom. But there are some great one liners, and in this scene has a very important one. A student is asking Doctor Jones about some reading to which he does give a better reference to the student and then declares, "If you want to be an archaeologist, you have to get out of the library!"

While that is true, a great deal of your time will also be spent in the library. You need to look up old excavation reports, look for similar pieces, and histories of the sites you are studying. If you're lucky you find more recent publications, mostly from the eighties some nineties, but these are rare. You'll find a whole lot from the fifties and sixties, and even forties and thirties. Not that these aren't helpful, and don't provide a wealth of information, but what you have to remember is that archaeology was very different back then. The sixties not so much, but if we look back to Doctor Jones here, he is a very different kind of archaeologist.

The term that would better suit Dr. Jones is antiquarian. Antiquarianism is a step above treasure hunting, but not by much. You won't see Indiana Jones with pot sherds. No, he's after the good stuff. Gold, precious stones, the ark of the covenant. In its very early years archaeology was the hobby for the bored and rich. If you had the money you would fund excavations and even go on them yourself. Lots of sites, artifacts, and tombs are named for their rich discoverers (the Elgin marbles, tomb of the baron, etc). As a result we have plenty of excavated sites, but little information on them as the only interest was in the 'treasures' they held. So when looking at these older publications you need to remember what kind of archaeology was being practiced. What were the excavators interested in, and what might they have ignored because of the time they were practicing in.

These old books can be helpful in understanding sites, but I can only imagine what else has been left out, determined to be unimportant back then. Things that are a mere side note, that we will never see again, and who knows what information it could have yielded if only it had been set aside for a time when we had the understanding and technology to look at it.

An Awful Lot of Trouble

So here is the aryballos I'm working with at the Arizona State Museum. It got fancy pictures taken.

My original thought is that it is a late Proto-Corinthian aryballos dated to about 650-630 BCE. Much like this late Proto-Corinthian aryballos.

Note the similar shape, and the scale pattern. Also if you were to turn it slightly, to see the handle, you would see vertical stripes on both.

But wait... What is this?

And this one?

Both of these also bear striking resemblances to my piece at the museum. The first is classified as Etrusco-Corinthian and the second as Italo-Corinthian. And what does this mean for my piece? Is is still Proto-Corinthian? What is Etrusco-Corinthian and Italo-Corinthian?

Etrusco-Corinthian pottery is pottery that resembles and was inspired by Corinthian pottery, but was made in Etruria, possibly by Etruscans.
This is the same for Italo-Corinthian, except its Italy, not just Etruria, which is a part of Italy (if you didn't know).

This means that I have no idea what to call my piece, other than an aryballos, because it is unmistakably that shape. I have a lot more work to do. Luckily I'll be doing an independent study on it, so I'll be getting some credit for it. I also have a meeting tomorrow with yet another archaeologist who specializes in Italy. So more news to follow. Until then, this little mystery is driving me crazy.

Aryballos Update

So this little thing is gonna help me get into grad school.
Why?
Because it is an unpublished and excellent example of Corinthian pottery.
The key word here is unpublished. As in no one has ever written about this particular piece. Mostly because its been languishing away in a store room of a museum that specializes in South Western artifacts. But nonetheless, that fact makes it interesting. Donated back in the 1900s, mislabeled because of where it came from, this piece has an interesting history. What is most interesting is that it is labeled as coming from Pompeii, which I suspect is why they decided it was Roman.
Even more interesting is that it really could have come from Pompeii, just not Roman Pompeii. Pompeii is not just a Roman city, it has a much longer history than that. Before the Romans the Etruscans decided it was also a great place to be. And very interesting about the Etruscans was that they really liked these little Corinthian aryballoi (plural for aryballos). Could this little piece have found its way through trade?
So back to how this is going to help me get into grad school.
Well, I'm not the only one who finds this piece interesting. Since I'm working on relabeling it, I've been consulting with my Greek archaeology professor. She thinks its a great project, and that it would make a great paper. In fact, she's wanting me to publish on it. And a publishing credit on a grad school application, makes me highly desirable. Because its rare. Its just not something that undergrads usually do, frankly we're too busy with regular school to work on side projects. Its possible that I can do an independent study, but I think by the time that rolls around I'll have done most of the work already. So there you go, volunteering can pay off.

What I'm Doing Now... And How My Knowledge of Greek Pottery Came in Handy

So, I know its been awhile, but I'm very proud of myself today. Not that its been awhile since I've been proud of myself, but that I haven't been very good about posts.

Since school has started I've been spending my spare time (which isn't much) volunteering at the Arizona State Museum. I work in the archaeological collections department, mostly organizing as during the move between buildings quite a lot of things have gotten mixed up. Also what you actually see in the museum is not even half of what the museum actually has. Its been collecting things since the 20s, and when you have that much stuff things can go astray fairly easily, and those things are easily put off. So things are a confusing mess. To make it harder, in the early days they didn't always keep the best of records so sometimes things don't quite match up, as was the case today.

So this was pulled for a pottery class. The piece itself was labeled as coming from Pompeii, they called it a Roman vase, and dated it to 79 CE (That's just the date of the eruption at Pompeii). Now that you know that lets take a step back. So I was readying these pieces for pictures, a collection of Roman, Greek, and Etruscan pottery, and matching printed labels with the correct pieces. But when I came across the Roman vase label, I couldn't for the life of me find the corresponding pot. My boss came and helped, and found this, the numbers matched, but the first words out of my mouth were, "That's not Roman."

Luckily my boss is awesome. So I explained what I believed it to be, looked up some examples online, and contacted my Greek Archaeology Professor to get her opinion. And, YAY, turns out I was totally right! This is a big difference. It makes this little pot about 600 to 700 years older than originally thought. Its a late ProtoCorinthian Aryballos. I recognized it by the shape, which is the biggest clue. But also there is a scale pattern below the handle (sorry it's hard to see in the picture). So there you have it, I've now used my knowledge of Greek Pottery outside of the classroom.

Back!

Sorry for the long pause. Brandon and I were in Oregon at the Oregon Star Party volunteering with my lovely friends from the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. Also my transition back the U.S. was not so awesome. Turns out those antibiotics I took in Spain really did a number on my digestive system, and I've been sick after every time I've eaten since getting back. It took a while to figure out what was wrong, but now I'm on a diet of yogurt to fix it.

But oh the things I have to tell you.

So you all know the massive problems with the dig that I was on. It was pretty much all I could talk about. But what you didn't know was that my professor here was responsible for getting me on the dig. She knew that I was looking for something to do over the summer and her newest grad student was running a field school in Spain. Said grad student is from Spain, and is now in the phd program here. Turns out he's in one of my classes. Which of course is awesome. And by awesome I mean dear god someone shoot me. This is of course made better by the fact that she asked me how the dig went. I wasn't going to lie. I told the truth. I told her about features being rebuilt, about the lack of archaeological integrity and the sheer lack of ethics. And, of course, she was concerned (to say the least). The natural question from her was why didn't I go to 'said grad student'. I made up an excuse. But honestly what went on at that dig was wrong, pure and simple. There is no getting around this. Now my professor is his graduate adviser so I've no idea what will happen next. What I do hope is that this grad student will learn something. Because from what I saw, he didn't see anything wrong with what was going on.

Postcards

So I totally bought postcards, and had every intention of sending them. But I couldn't for the life of me find a post office in Spain, also do to the time of year (summer is one giant never ending holiday/party) I'm very certain it wouldn't have been open anyways. So I do apologize, but some of you will get postcards postmarked from the U.S. and some of you I'm just going to give them to you in person when I see you. So, again, sorry, but if you want to get anything done in Spain, don't go during the summer.

The Hole of Science... AKA Sanctuary

 

Welcome to the Hole of Science. It is our own small one by one meter square where we practice archaeology as a science. We had to fight to get it. But we got it, and now we fight over who gets to dig in it. 

 This is a clean and finished Hole of Science. Normally you would dig two sterle layers (two layers with no artifacts), and we did still find a single pot sherd in the last one we dug. But we don't have time to finish. So we note that we didn't reach the bottom, in case anyone is interested in digging further here, and packed up what we found. What the Spanish will do with our little square, I can't say.

 Here's my turn in the hole.

And look, we're learning.

Before and After

This is the hearth feature from zone two. It is just in the process of being excavated, its divided because half of what comes out of there goes to the Americans and the other half to the Spanish. Note where the rocks are, what size they are, and the overall look of this feature.

I know you've seen this one in a previous post, but here it is again. This is the large pit feature from zone two. Again note where the rocks are, and where they aren't, the size of the rocks, and the area immediately around it. 

Okay, now what is this? Well its very round, and those rocks are very tightly packed. That seems odd, could they really sit buried like that for all that time, and nothing once came along and disturbed them?

Of course not. That's because even with excavation still going on at the site, this feature is being rebuilt. Not just rebuilt, but remade, better, rounder, more hearth-like.


And this too. Was it raining rocks? How odd that this looks absolutely nothing like what was uncovered. We don't even know what it is, besides a big, ancient, pit. But we'll make it better.

So what's going on here? Well the Spanish are rebuilding features for the museum. This in and of itself is not a problem. We have reconstructions, and restorations, and preservation that affect features and artifacts. Look at the Parthenon, it is being reconstructed. But when you look at it its easy for even someone who doesn't study Greek temples to pick out which pieces are original, and which are added. It is important when you restore and reconstruct that it is made blatantly, if it was a snake it would bite you, clear, which pieces are added. You can do this with paint, or material, but you do it. You do it, because you might be wrong.

According to the American instructors, they've never actually seen this on a site. Where features are being rebuilt around you as you excavate. And its not just that they are being rebuilt... The site has not yet been fully excavated, we're not done with it (well, we are now), so there's no way to get a good full picture now that these are not intact. We aren't totally sure that the hearth is a hearth, and there are only guesses to the big pit, one being as good as the next. And now they're gone.

The other issue is that there is no attempt being made at accuracy. These two real features have been changed into something else, and you would only know if you were really familiar with the archaeology of this area or had been there. So any average tourist visiting the museum, or out for a walk in the area will never know the difference...

Wired Again

So, due to lack of the interweb in Espana posts have been few and far between, even though lots has happened that I would love to tell you about.

But now that I have been rewired I will be updating and putting up all the posts I hand wrote (seriously) in the next few weeks.

If you have any questions, or anything you'd like to here more about let me know. Other wise back to whatever the hell I want.

Castles

When I was little I wanted to live in a castle. I wanted to be a princess, and be whisked away by prince charming. Blah, blah, blah...

Now that I'm older, if I had to live in the past, this would not be my chosen time period. People have a romantic ideal of the castles of the past, especially medieval ones, and they tend not to see past that. Not the incredible amount of filth that people lived in on a daily basis, the lack of indoor plumbing. Seriously, the Roman's had indoor plumbing, what happened?

Well the technology was lost with the fall of the Roman empire. And castles had, for lack of a better word, outhouses. Except that they could be inside (gross), but same idea, or a chamber pot (also gross). The middle ages were seriously dirty, leading to disease, the most notorious of which was the black plague. People dumped their chamber pots directly into the street. This lead to the practice of men walking on the left of women. It was polite for the man to take the hit and spare the woman.

Don't get me wrong, castles are amazing and fascinating structures. But they grew out of a time of great strife. Where huge divisions between rich and poor caused a need for protection against both you neighbors, and your own people. Nothing like Cinderella, or Sleeping Beauty, but places where Henry the 8th sentenced his wives to death.

I'll be visiting a castle to day, pictures to follow.
-Cheers

Cognative Archaeology

At 2am here in Spain the summer triangle is directly overhead. We spoke briefly about ancient people navigating by the stars, but this devolved into an argument about what ancient people actually knew.

This is always subjective, and I tend to err on the side of people are essentially the same regardless of the time period. What someone actually knows is entirely dependent on the person. So what then are you left with? Well, common sense helps. When we look at the stars we see almost the same thing they did. We want the same things too: food, shelter, to belong. Which is why the past speaks to us. If we didn't have things in common with these ancient people the past would not hold the fascination for us that it does. People have not changed, only the things that we surround ourselves with.

The Man Purse

Do you remember that Progressive commercial where the couple is shopping for auto insurance? And the progressive lady gives them quotes so they don't have to shop around? She says, "And you don't have to hold her purse anymore," to the husband.

His wife replies with, "It's a European shoulder bag." And the husband has that awkward look on his face that says, he's only wearing it because she bought if for him, and if he could he'd burn it.

Well, when I saw it I thought, yeah that's funny. And then I got to Europe and realized that its totally true. More men than not carry a European shoulder bag, or man purse, or murse for short (not to be confused with male nurse). This is also not to be confused with a tote bag, or messenger bag. No these are purses worn by men, and sold in the guys section separate from women's purses.

So guys, look out. Your souvenir present is a man purse... Sorry, European shoulder bag.

Another One Bites the Dust

As of yesterday four out of ten Americans from the dig have had to visit Spanish hospitals. At this point we're blaming it on both the living conditions and the food. Before I got here I was worried this would turn into a food blog, only speckled with archaeology. No such worries anymore. Not after having eaten some weird rice dish, covered in what resembled ketchup, with odd cocktail weenies. Or the copious amount of french fries (I swear I will never again eat french fries), and absolutely no vegetables in sight, its no wonder we're all ill. I'm gonna have to be a vegetarian for the next month just so I can recover, from the stuff the Campamento de Juvinal Espinera calls food.

Time Change

Still archaeology, but we've moved from late bronze age, early iron age to the Neolithic. I had the chance to do some geophysical surveying at another nearby site. A favor to another local archaeologist, and the chance to see something cool.

 

This is a Dolmon. It is a neolithic burial site. These large rocks would have been covered with a large mound of dirt. The inside appears to have been painted red and black, and the body would have been buried in a pit dug within. This is apparently the largest in Galacia. Almost all of them have been looted. During a rough economic time people thought the Moors buried their treasure here. Totally untrue, but the mere hint of treasure always leads to looting. The soil here is also really bad a preserving bodies. From what I understand this one has not been excavated, and there is the possibility of another, still buried one, nearby. So we've been called in to survey and see if we can find it.

The entrance. They believe that these stones go down much further.

 View of the inside.

And here we are doing our surveying with the gradiometer. You can read all about it here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geophysical_survey_%28archaeology%29
Thank you wikipedia, because I would not have been able to do it well. I've only had half a days worth of experience with the gradiometer.

And Now Some Actual Archaeology

About time, right?
Today was a very productive day for the Americans at zone 4. We've been working in our own little section, opposite of where the supposed "structure" and "post holes" are. Interestingly enough we're finding lots of things, so we don't have to make finds up *cough cough*. Though we all made some awesome finds, you rock in zone 4 guys, here are two of mine that I'm especially proud of.

 A pot sherd. Normally this wouldn't be any more spectacular than any other pot sherd, but if you look closely you'll see its decorated. This  has been rare on the sites, making this piece awesome, and our little section even more interesting.

 The same piece.

 Here is another one I found. Its not decorated, but what makes it cool is that if you look at the side view you see the top is wider. This is a lip sherd making up the top, or rim, of the pot.

Today was certainly a better day. We all made finds, and are practicing archaeology the way we want, as science. We're even sifting the dirt, thanks to Issac, who brought his own small sifter (because the Spanish apparently don't have any).

Digging in the Rain

If you couldn't tell by the title, its raining.

Now depending on the type of dig you are on will depend on whether or not you will be digging. If its CRM and you have a deadline, you can dig in all sorts of weather. If its academic, maybe not so much. Rain can hurt a dig. It makes it hard to see different strata levels. You don't notice the change in the soil (because its all mud). Basically its generally harder, and things are more easily lost when adding rain to the mix. This isn't always the case, of course, every dig is different, but its pretty normal.

Our dig is certainly, "special", with air quotes. We got there in the morning, it was raining, so we hung around base waiting to see if the rain let up. It didn't, and we returned to the camp for lunch. When we returned it wasn't quite raining, more of a light mist. Still, because it had been raining for most of the day, and everything was wet and muddy no one guessed we'd be sent out. Which, of course, tells you that we were.

Now for the Americans at zone 4, our instructor/head is Issac. He is a PHD candidate at ASU and his background is in geology, so he brings a lot of the science aspect of archaeology with him. Something the Spanish don't really seem to understand (they looked at us like we were crazy when using measuring tape and a level). Because of this Issac has been pretty frustrated from the get go. There is literally a clash going on here between archaeology practiced as a science, and archaeology practiced as history. So when it started raining again, and the Spanish told us to get down in the mud and clean the walls up (called cleaning the profile), Issac told us not to get wet and muddy, and gave us something else to do (no less helpful mind you, still something that needed to be done, but allowed us to be dry).

I would not call it a fight. I would call it a disagreement. We are living in tents, we hand wash our clothes, if we get wet and muddy we will not dry. And keep in mind that on the American side, most everyone is here for field school. They have paid for this, and we're supposed to be learning, not just labor. So Issac and the two Spanish heads talked for a long time while the rest of us put our heads down and dug (in silly yellow ponchos).

I feel bad, because the two American instructors were mislead. The Spanish seem to have little intention of this ever being a field school. Now I did not pay like the other students, I came because I needed more dig experience. We are certainly digging, but there is so much more that goes into a good excavation. But like Issac said, this may be a terrible excavation by science's standards (and she is such a harsh and demanding mistress), but this is a huge learning opportunity. We are all seeing first hand why the techniques we learn are so vital. We will never forget this dig.

I also want to say that Issac is one of the most awesome people I know. He stood up for us, and has has made sure that we are learning despite everything that has been going on.

Now for some some pictures of silly yellow ponchos.

Why Post Holes are a Dumb Part of the Archaeological Record

Okay, not really. Depending on where you are, it might be the majority of what you find. But they can be really hard to find, and if not done right, you can't really say definitively that something is a post hole. But we're all frustrated, so right now post holes are dumb.

Take a look at the pictures, read the captions and figure out what you're looking at. Because at zone 4 there are two competing ideas attempting to explain what is going on here, and they are drastically different. So decide what you see, and why you think that's what you see, and then I'll tell you what I see, and what the people of the other idea see.

 A portion of zone 4. The large tarp is covering the site of the previous excavation, from a few years ago.

 Closer view of the previous excavation site. It was protected with the landscaping cloth before being re-buried.

One of the walls. Note the large stones and roots coming out of the ground and walls.

The notes from the previous excavation state that those holes you see are post holes, and that there was possibly the remnants of a structure found. From those notes the Spanish decided to expand upon the previous excavation site and the zone is much larger than what you see in the pictures. Now we know almost next to nothing about the previous excavation, and they are not playing nice, so we're not going to get their notes. The problem this leaves us with is that without proper documentation we've no idea if these holes in the ground are post holes, or just holes. There is a very specific way you excavate a post hole, and test for differences in the soil, and all this is documented because archaeology is a destructive process and once you excavate that hole its gone. So this leaves us with maybe they are real, maybe they aren't, we can't really know at this point.

So we are excavating the surrounding area, and have hit what appears to be a layer of rocks. On one side the rocks are quite large, and the rocks moving away from the large rocks get smaller. The Spanish believe that this is a structure, and while brushing down this area to get a better look, they see a slight indent in the ground. So they trowel it out a big, and suddenly its a post hole. We believe that we just watched them dig a hole there. We argue, no agreement is reached, and the post hole is forgotten in favor of uncovering the large rocks they believe to be part of a structure. This leads to yet another problem, because these large rocks look suspiciously like the exposed bedrock you can see on the nearby beach. The smaller rocks are made of the same material, and to us appear to be erosion from that bedrock.

So there we have it. One side believes that what we are finding is man made. The other side believes it is natural. The techniques being practiced by the Spanish here aren't helping either. Digging out a what you think is a post hole is one of the last steps you would do. Now, its not our site, so it doesn't really matter what we think, but we are finding suspiciously few artifacts on this side of the zone. The far side, however, is holding much better prospects.

Handwashing Your Laundry is Lame

You probably already knew this, or could have guessed. But I'm thoroughly convinced that even though I'm washing clothes regularly, none of them are actually getting clean. Maybe they are getting less dirty, but they are not clean. And the hand washing is wreaking havoc on my clothes. Anything that I want to bring back is no longer getting worn, so I don't have to wash it. And the things that are getting washed are getting destroyed, which just adds to the lameness, because they're still not clean.

This on top of the showers that give you 10 to 13 seconds of water with each button push, that may or may not have a tolerable water temperature, makes me feel about the same as my clothes. I'm just less dirty, but I never really feel clean. First thing when I get back to the states is a REAL shower!

Contentions on Site

We're halfway done with the dig now, with less than two weeks to go. Last week some of us spent time working on a hearth feature, we did an archaeological drawing, and excavated the inside. After which we were moved and now we're all back at zone 4, where we originally started the dig.

Now in zone 2 where the hearth is, the Spanish are busy rebuilding it. Now normally when you restore something you make it abundantly clear which pieces are not original. Such as a pot, you would use a different color of paint so that everyone could tell what was original and what was part of the restoration. It is important because we can never know for certain what something looked like, we make educated guesses, that are highly accurate, and preserve the integrity of the artifact or feature.

Sadly this is not the case with the hearth, it is being rebuilt with local stones, and does not at all resemble the state in which we found the hearth. Is is accurate? Doubtful. So why are they doing it? Well they hope that these sites will be part of a future museum, and it appears to us that their accuracy is not what's important. Having something to show the tourists seems to be what matters most. So the furious pace in which we've been digging, and the rebuilding of the hearth make total sense to use.

Our American head at zone 4 is slightly disappointed in this. He said, had he known some things about this dig before hand, they probably wouldn't have chosen to do the field school here. Still its not the worse field school ever, for the students who are here. There are far worse out there where the purpose is nothing but to get money and labor out of the students and there is no learning anywhere. At least here the American heads are trying their hardest to make sure we know the differences between the way we practice archaeology and the way the Spanish are practicing it here. There are many ways to dig, and different people approach it in different ways, and archaeology is practiced in different ways depending on the culture. But there are standards to be followed, especially when digging for science.

 This is one of the features in zone 2. Not the hearth, we're not sure what it is, and the ideas change daily. I do have no doubt it will suffer the same fate as zone 2, and it will be reconstructed to fit the popular idea. In other words, we may never know what it is.

 View from zone 2.

 More zone 2. The hearth is in the upper left, near the group of people. Notice that its fairly small (its not anymore).

Another view of the larger pit area.

How to tell if You're not the dig Favorite

So this is both a dig as well as a field school for ASU. I am in the position of being the only American who is neither an instructor or a student, as all the others are. I'm more like the Spanish who are digging with us, here for the experience, because I need more field work to put on my CV. What has been very interesting is to watch the dynamics that have been going on and developing as we work. Already there is a small group who has managed to wrangle the best site (zone 2). This means they have the least amount of manual labor, and they are actually finding things.

There are three sites here, and the majority of us are switched between them. There has already been some contention because those of us who started out at zone 4, spent quite a bit of time clearing the area before they decided to bring in a backhoe. Now, all of us are moving around except for the lucky few at zone 2, who get to stay where they are. A few of the instructors have been arguing back and forth about the fairness of this, and the larger issue of, are the field school students actually learning anything.

I have yet to figure out why the students at zone 2 haven't been moved around like the rest of us. We've all worked at every site by now. I'm also bored and haven't been finding anything so this has been the topic of conversation for the day. Things are tense on the dig to say the least. We're half way done right now, and everybody seems to be on edge.

So here's how to tell if your not a dig favorite:
1)You're dirtier than everyone else. Thus more manual labor, and less careful excavating which indicates the possibility of finding something.
2)You work very quickly, and they want you to work faster. There's probably nothing interesting in the area you're digging and they are unconcerned with you damaging anything.
3)You are moved when you find something.
4)You are moved to do more manual labor elsewhere.
5)Your site is not the one anyone cares to visit. Such as the newspaper, the news, interested tourists, the people running the dig, etc, etc.
And finally:
6)You're not learning anything, you're just digging.

Crazy American Girl Asks for Irish Car Bomb

Today was a relaxing day. We went to the beach and stopped by a nearby Irish pub with wifi. We were all craving wifi and a beer. So we settled in and it didn't take long for our waiter to realize that we were American. He speaks a good bit of English, and after we'd all ordered and gotten our drinks came back to talk to us. Through broken English told us that this "crazy American girl" had been here the other night asking for a strange drink concoction consisting of guinness and baileys and something else, but he didn't really understand what she wanted.

We immediately knew who he was talking about. Boiro is a small town, we are the only Americans here. There is also only one girl who is out every night, and was out last night. None other than our very own "dig princess" now named by the bar "crazy American girl". So we helped our new friend make an irish car bomb, and in true Spanish fashion he drank it, because the bartenders here are allowed to drink.

He found it awful, and we all shared a good laugh. He finished maybe half of it and said, "If I vomit I'll avenge you!" I think he meant he'll get revenge.

This is Home

Or tent city as we call it. Sometimes it has electricity, so everyone's gotten really good at charging things at random places. We're pretty much three to a tent, and this is a summer camp, so the background noise here is pretty much children screaming.

When a Rock isn't Just a Rock

Back in the moat, we've been having a lot of trouble with some big rocks. This is made worse by the fact that the Spanish archaeologists want us to work faster. Some background on this site, the American archaeologists are guests here, so we do things the way the Spanish want them done. Regardless of how we believe they should be done. For this site in particular they are hoping to incorporate it into a museum, not so much for research as for display to the public. So there is pressure to find things and get as much of the area excavated as possible. When moving fast, there will of course be sacrifices when it comes to context, and there is no better example for this than what happened in the moat on Friday.

We're working quickly at the moat to try and get deeper, they apparently have a goal in mind, and based on what they found in a nearby trench they are hoping to find a structure. So we are moving as fast as we can, layer by layer, going back and forth across the trench. It was odd that in one spot we were coming across some very large rocks. These were of course preventing us from going deeper, and as that was the goal, these rocks were removed. Now I don't want to give too much away, but we're in the Iron Age right now, and structures are made of rock. But we're also in the moat section of the dig, and the moat is just what you think it is, minus the crocodiles. So finding a structure here would be odd. So no one thinks anything of these rocks, and out they go (normally if the rocks are this big and in a particular place you would leave them and dig around them until you were positive they weren't part of anything).

As we go deeper though, you can see the pattern of the rocks along the sides of the trench and they begin to suggest a wall. The Spanish are thrilled and start focusing on the rocks. My teammate and I have a bad feeling. Because all of those rocks we removed from the bottom of the trench are right in line with these rocks. We point this out to the Spanish trench head, and it hits him too.

Archaeology by nature is destructive. In excavating a site you are destroying it. An example would be a hearth we are excavating in a nearby trench. There are rocks on the inside too, we draw them to remember that they are there, and then we remove them, so that part of the hearth is for lack of a better word destroyed so that we can find things underneath. Context is preserved by the archaeological drawing. We have to go deeper to find what's there and to get a better understanding.

Now these rocks in the moat might not be anything, but it looks like it might be something. The breakneck speed of which they are having us excavate at may have caused something important to be over looked and damaged. You can't put those rocks back, their context has been lost. There is nothing to be done but more forward and hope that it doesn't happen again.

Modern Trash, Ancient Treasure

I really wish I was able to keep up with this blog thing. It seemed like a really good idea at the time. But at least in this part of Spain wifi, or wee-fee as they call it, is fairly hard to come by, not impossible, like getting a cup of coffee to go (that doesn't exist here), but its a real challenge.

But at least for this post I've something more interesting to report than manual labor, pot sherds, and dig princess complaints. While working down in the moat, which is about seven feet deep now, I found the first piece of Roman glass.

If you look at the picture I look fairly unhappy about this. That's because I then proceeded to throw it away, thinking it to be nothing more than modern trash (we find broken wine bottles constantly). Luckily the trench head ran screaming after it, and it was recovered.

So there you go. First major find of the dig is by me, and at the same time almost wasn't because of me. I chalk it up to too much Spanish cough syrup. That stuff makes your head floatey.

Context

What I mean when I say context is this:

   * The location of an artifact or feature in relationship to other artifacts and features.

Or

   * How the position of stuff relates to the position of other stuff within the site.

So I found this pot next to this hearth, and this hearth is next to a stone table, and that says something about that pot. So that pot would mean something different if I found it in a grave, or in a storage area. A good example is the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon. On the Parthenon they have an entirely different meaning than they do sitting in an exhibit hall in the British Museum. In the British Museum they could be any Greek statue from the Classical era, but at the Parthenon their context becomes clear. But we know these artifacts contexts. There are hundreds more artifacts that show up at museums and no one knows where they came from, or they don't say. These artifacts essentially have no history, we can never know what they mean because we do not know where they were found or what they were found with. These things are essential to understanding an artifact. Was it found in a temple? Religious artifact. Was it found in a home? Domestic use. If its from a grave, its a grave good, an offering for the dead. Where an object is found is just as important as what it is, in fact knowing that can help you determine what that artifact might be. If this pot was found in a rock quarry clearly its not fine china. Context, context, context.

I Have a Thermometer in my Armpit

I'd love to tell you that I'm doing something interesting and archaeology related. But after spending my entire three day weekend sick, I'm doing neither. As of today, Tuesday, for those of you in different time zones, I've been sick for ten days. So this entire day was spent to see the doctor. Which was way harder that it should have been.
The first hospital we went to should have been fine, but I didn't have my insurance info on me (they never sent me any). So we went back to the museum on the dig site to use the internet. Turns out I bought something like insurance, but not enough like it that I'm covered here in Spain. I'm not sure what I actually bought. So I decided to pay anyways, because I feel like hell, and back to the doctor we go. Well the staff at the museum recommends a different clinic to me, so we go there. After wandering the streets we get some directions but that clinic doesn't open till four, and its twoish now. So back to the other hospital. But the other hospital tells us that the clinic would be a much cheaper option, and while they can certainly see me its going to be much more expensive.
So back to camp we go, just in time for the coffee after lunch (there's coffee after every meal here). Then back to the dig, and back to the clinic, now open. Turns out the older gentleman we asked directions from is also the xray tech. So having already talked with us, I'm immediately ushered in for an xray. I even get to keep it. At this point, I went to Spain, and got an xray.
It would have been far worse if not for one of the instructors being from this region of Spain. When I was alone conversation deteriorated into simple gestures, and then they just did things for me if it was simple enough. Which is how I ended up with a thermometer in my armpit. I can't remember ever having my temperature taken this way, and its been a long time since I've seen a mercury thermometer.
The good news is I have a severe cold, possibly bronchitis because of the cough and am taking antibiotics, some hard core cough medicine, and something else that I mix into water that tastes like rotten salt. All in all the doctor visit, the xray, and all the meds cost me 63.00 euros. I was expecting worse.
Hope to update you all soon on something more interesting than my illness. And remember email is the best way to get a hold of me, but I might not answer for a day or two.
-Cheers

What Not to do in a Foreign Country

Don't get sick.

It's really bad.

Especially when in a foreign country, and on an archaeological dig.


I thought it was just a cold, but after five days it still hasn't gone away, and if I'm not better by Tuesday I have to go to the hospital. The crew has placed their bets on bronchitis, I'm still hoping for just a cold and that it will go away. Either way, my body can't seem to tolerate the Spanish cold medicine. It makes you both high and sicker at the same time. What I wouldn't give for some dayquil right now.


Back to archaeology though, today I found a mass of pot sherds stuck in the remnants of an old wall. They really weren't anything special, but they are the first thing I've found. Keep in mind everyone that pottery is the most prolific artifact found on a dig. Its like the tupperware of yesterday, you used it to store absolutely everything. Its easily replaceable if broken, and everyone from the very poor to the very rich used it. Thus its absolutely everywhere. Today we'd call it littering.


Heading into the weekend now. Its a huge festival in the city of Santiago de Compastella right now and most of the dig crew are going. I'm gonna bow out of this one in the hopes of getting better. Pictures to come, I'll be a bit better, and cleared headed once I'm not ill. But right now my head's a little foggy.


Cheers!

First Post From the Dig Site

Since I last left you, I've headed away from Santiago de Compestela to the coast and the small town of Boiro (boy-row). The crew is staying at a summer camp about a 15 min bus ride from the site, which is made all the more awkward by the fact that the kids for the summer camp are here too. We're not allowed to interact with them, so shower schedules are strict and if you don't make it you don't shower. This leaves little time in an all ready highly regimented schedule. We're up at 8am, and breakfast is at 9 (its not really breakfast just some coffee and bread). On the bus by 9:45 we arrive on site by 10am. The site is a small museum and large park where guest can walk, or drive the paths and see some of the on going archaeological projects.

We're divided up between three sites. An old neighbor hood looking area, a moat, and an area where a small test dig revealed post holes. I'm stationed at the site with the post holes. Its mostly manual labor right now as we work to clear our large section and get down to the more interesting layers. We remove soil, rocks and roots from 10am until 1:30 am when we take the bus back to camp for lunch. By 3:15 we are back on the bus and back on site by 3:30. We continue to dig until 6:30 to barely make it back by the 7pm shower time at camp. Most of the crew is in bed between 12 and 1am. This is pretty standard for Spain and you can even see young children out at what we would consider way past their bedtime. With this schedule it makes it hard to get to the store if you need anything. Or to find some internet, let alone the time to use it. I'll post as often as I can, and try for more pictures too.

It's all terribly exciting stuff, regimented schedule, manual labor, etc, etc, etc.

Sadly I'm not getting as much Spanish food as I would like. The camp food at its best is sufficient, and a few times has been down right inedible. And certainly not what you would call Spanish. I've also been sick since Sunday, Spanish cold medicine is not fun. The various kinds I have tried have just made things worse, or at the very least made me very ineffective until they wore off. Like, this wall is very interesting, kind of ineffective.

This is the update. Its chilly and mostly rainy. Pictures to come, and remember the internet is few and far between. I've managed to snag on to some mysterious signal here at the camp, but there is not telling how long that will last. We've yet to find an internet cafe here, and I don't have much time to do that should I wish too. But I'm checking my email, and I receive it more often than I'm able to send. So I'm getting your messages, and I'm sorry if I've been unable to get back to you yet.

Day Two... Much Better

So I set out this morning determined to have a better day. I woke up, got ready, and set out for a walk around town. I had two goals, finding food, and doing some sight seeing. I only accomplished one of these. But I had a good reason for not finding food on my first outing.


I got lost. By the time I was found my feet hurt so I'm back at the hostel right now changing shoes, and charging my electronics. Around 4ish I'll meet up with others who are also here early and hopefully we'll get food together as well as visit the famous cathedral. Which I did manage to find after being lost, and that's how I managed to find my way back to my hostel.

So I set out this morning in search of the Cathedral, of which I have a great view of from my window. You wouldn't think it would be hard to find given that its the largest and most recognizable building in town, but once you get down in the old cobble stone streets things get a bit tricky. I aimed for the dome with the cross on top, not realizing that a lot of the big buildings here have domes and crosses. And that's how I ended up at this first picture. I am somewhere near the Museum of the People of Galacia. I'd wandered into this park with a big impressive entrance thinking that it looked promising. There was no one around but me, making me slightly worried that I shouldn't be there. But this building was cool, and I was lost so I wandered through. This is some sort of religious structure (almost everything old here is) but its either not in use, or simple not open. I only saw one open window that looked like someone might live there. There are a lot of nuns and priests around so my other guess is that this might be housing for them.

 This is from that same place. The gardens were lovely filled with old stone structures and bright flowers. Galacia is very green, warm during the day, and chilly at night. The garden was criss-crossed with stone walls and a few stone ruins.

 Finally! Here is the cathedral, its absolutely huge, but I won't bore you with too much description. Just pick up any old travel book, or read anything on Santiago de Compestela and this is the first thing mentioned. There were pilgrims every where in the square, and bagpipe music filled the air from someone playing in a tunnel near by.

 Is there someone dead in there? I certainly hope so. There is also a coffin in the basement, and they say is holds the bones of Saint James. Whether or not their James', I don't know.

Santiago has street pipers. I saw two in my walk this morning. Yeah, you wish you were somewhere that had street pipers. According to the guy who runs the dig (who is also from here), bagpipes are the instrument of Galacia. Don't ask anyone to flamenco dance, they don't do that here. Nor do they bull fight. Galacia is a very un-Spanish part of Spain. They apparently have more in common with Ireland and Scotland, than the rest of Spain, and everyone in Santiago is proud of it.

Over all I find my morning trek fruitful, still need to go find some food. But doctoring up my poor feet was more important. I love my chacos, but they do not love me. More to come while I'm in Santiago, but keep in mind I've no idea the state of the internet when I'm on the dig. Cheers!

I Guess You Could Call it an Adventure...

So everything started out pretty rocky. Not only did I have to be at the Tucson airport at 5am, but my sleeping accommodations fell through when I hit Madrid. This wouldn't be so bad was this not a huge festival weekend and this wasn't a tourist town to begin with already. But it is and as such every place I called was booked. I sent emails, Brandon helped from the states, but I had to catch my next flight to Santiago de Compestela. I figured there would be internet there, even if it was expensive.

There wasn't. I forget what a luxury it is in the states to have wifi pretty much everywhere, and usually for free or the price of a cup of coffee.

Luckily a few people from the dig were also in town and I had one phone number for them. So though I couldn't get their emails, one of the people heading up the American side of the dig was able to meet me at a square in town and help me to a local hostel that still had some room. It took all day, so sadly I didn't see much to be able to report to you. But I do have all day today, and hopefully this second day will be better than the first.