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.