conglomerate post! (I always type up my blog/journal entries on the bus to and from work but I only get a chance (am not too lazy) to edit and post them every few days, so here's a bunch)
I thought Wednesday was going to be a terrible day, it was supposed to be the hottest day yet and I still had to work in the same SU as Tuesday. But because of the predicted heat we were scheduled a tour of the University of Rome's neighboring dig site in the afternoon, so we had a mid-morning break and a late lunch.
The day began similarly to yesterday's monotony with Sam and I trowelling in tandem finding nothing but confusing stratigraphy (apparently normal in Gabii) but partway through the morning Andrea suggested to Jamie that we switch to pick-axes and use them to shave off a few centimeters from the area which would be faster and less horrible. (thank you Andrea!!) Jamie was fine with the idea so I finally got to switch from my trowel (I have a blister from Tuesday). Sam and I finished our little part of the SU and then move to another part of it. as the day progressed other SUs were closed in the other parts of Area C and more students were moved to ours. There were 5 of us plus Andrea at the end of the day.
We managed to scrape back to a new level of the whole area where we found varied surfaces of different colors, textures and inclusions. and we made some progress on finding the limiting wall of the upper eastern side of the house. There is no actual wall but there is evidence of the fact that it existed - that being the fact that a red gravelly surface ends around where the wall would be expected to be ( in line with the wall foundations found in the southern end of the house). as well there are a lot of rocks not really in a shape suggesting a wall, but a large quantity of large rocks (maybe a wall collapse)
At 1pm we cleaned up and put everything away before our late lunch and got ready for our tour.
The building we went to see was ridiculously cool (for a classics major) but not published yet so I'm not supposed to talk about it, we weren't even allowed to take pictures of it (it will be in textbooks in the future for sure)
Thursday I was in finds for the second time in a week. I do enoy my days in finds washing pottery and learning about what is actually done with the pot sherds that we recover from the trenches but I am sad to miss what is going on in area C.
This time I washed a huge casetta filled with what Area B had found on wednesday. They've been finding a lot of material in a ditch filled with vessels, may of them were intact and lots tat were broken still preserve full profiles. (which is pretty much as good as an entire vessel in terms of typologies)
After finishing up the casetta after lunch, some people were given the job of labelling finds with catalogue numbers while Alison, Laura and I were shown how the girls who work in finds date the diferent SUs. The pottery and tiles in the casetta are sorted into types and then those groups are sorted into groups of handles, rims and walls for pottery and edge pieces and non edge pieces for tile. the quantity of each group is noted on a particular form which is given to each SU. The diagnostic pieces (handles and rims) of the pottery are kept separate and can be used for dating later. The known approximate date ranged for all the types of pottery found in an SU is noted along with the quantity of sherds found which helps narrow the date. Later, the better pieces, (full profiles, decorated pieces etc.) will be referenced against publications to narrow down the time range for the particular SU.
Since the last Harry Potter movie had come out the day before, a bunch of us decided we would go see it in one of the english theatres in town. We left the house after showers and supper to get tickets in advance. We had to gwt a tram then a bus (a really crowded long bus ride). The show was at 10:15 (we couldn't make the 7:15 in time) sp we got snacks and hung around waiting for the movie to start. The theatre was filled with american students (not surprising) and it had assigned seating when you bought your tickets (we had really good seats anyway) It was really surprising too that there were no previews or ads before the film started. it went from lights on blank screen to dark room and Dumbledore's tomb on screen immediately.
It was a really good movie and the whole audience reacted to everything that went on, cheering and clapping and laughing at all the appropriate moments. It was abnormal but Harry Potter fan appropriate. The only problem was that the movie ended at 1:30am so not only did we have to get a cab home but we also had 4 hours before we had to get up and go dig! no bueno but worth it for the fun evening.
So, on 4 hours of sleep I was back in Jamie's trench. I started the day with WIll definining yet another of area C's floor surfaces under Andrew's helpful supervision. The floor surface was different than the other that I had spent days on. The previous had been a 'floor perparation' with crushed tile and tufo used to prepare the ground to lay a floor on. Today's surface was compacted dirt with tufo inclusions and so probably a beaten earth floor.
It was actually a nice change from looking for a new layer since I actually knew what I was looking for and could feel the change with my trowel and follow it (most of the time). After Will and I finished finding the edges of the remaining floor and thereby closing the SU, Andrew set us to work hunting for walls.
There were some rocks adjacent to the floor we had been working on and Andrew believed they made up a wall. Jamie, unconvinced asked him to further define the rocks and look for more. A few hours' work revealed that it was indeed a wall (of course it was in area C) which had at least one cut stone entrance.
Partway through our wall cleaning, Jamie called all of area C over to come look at the hearth feature he and Evan had been working on. On Tuesday when it had first been discovered (next to me while I was working in a barren area) it was just a burnt patch of red earth but in taking samples and cleaning it was discovered that underneath the red square of dirt broken pottery and tile had been laid out as a heating surface. Anna, the dig director came over to talk to us about it. She discussed how the pottery would make heat last longer in the area and how since there was no evidence of fire being lit in the area this would have been a place to pour coals which had already been made. The red dirt had had a piece of tile on it which could have been used as a cooking surface.
Since we excavate stratigraphically it was necessary to decide whether the hearth was later or earlier than the house. in order to do this we have to remove the floor of the 2nd century to see the layers which are in association with the hearth. If the hearth is later (unlikely) then this will be excavating unstratigraphically. But it is more likely that the hearth is earlier than the house in which case removing the floor to learn this will be in correct sequence of excavation anyway.
After lunch Will and I continued defining walls and cleaning since some time early next week there will be an aerial photograph taken of the site and all the walls need to be nicely visible.'
Friday evening was pretty low key, we went to a bar behind our apartment and had drinks with everyone. Then my roommates went for a walk along the Tiber and ended the night with Kebab. yum.
ok so that's caught up to Friday at least. I'm working on the weekend excitement blog now.
<3
Monday, July 18, 2011
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Beaches and boring trenches
On Sunday I made plans to go to the beach with Kathryn and Katie and I invited my roommate Catherine along. We all met at Pyramide which is where the train station is. There aresomething like 6 trains which all go to the same place - being the Ostia beaches. There was some confusion with the meeting up; one reasong being Kathryn and Katie don't have phones with them another being I mis-estimated the walking time for tem by about 20 minutes so I was waiting wondering if they had died in the street or something. when we all finally did meet up we got our train tickets and were on our way.
Despite there being 6 trains, they're all crowded as heck. always. Between the four of us we managed to snag 2 seats so if one of us got tired of standing (it's a 40 minute ride) we could switch off. The train ride was pretty uneventful, the usual awkward trying not to bang into your neighbor when the train stops and starts and avoiding staring at the couple making out next to you. (public displays of affection are the norm in Rome apparently, ew)
Ince we arrived at Cristopho Colombo, the last stop, we waited for the number 7mare bus (another lovely crowded form of public transportation. and headed for the same brach gate that we went to two weeks ago.
We rented beach umbrellas sold by some tanned muscular Italian men in speedos, the guy taking the money had a gucci fanny pack for it, so stereotypically italian metro. we sat near their stand - not a bad view although a little far from the water; which is made worse by the fact that to get to the water you have to brave the scalding hot sand. It's actually hilarious getting there for a swim you psych yourself up and sprint there (likely yelling ouch a lot) trying to walk in the shade of other peoples' umbrellas.
Despite the pain, the beach was amazing, we lay out a read and swam and chatted. Catherine and I were stupid and tried to even the tan on our legs and just ended up with pretty painful sunburns (go us).
We left the beach around 3 because Catherine and I had to go to Darius' house for a meeting/pizza. But I made plans with Kathryn and Katie for later in the week.
Monday I was assigned to the pottery lab which means that I spent the entire day with my hands in a bucket of water washing off the finds from the previous day. Everyone always complains about being in finds but I actually enjoy it like I enjoyed being in the mag last summer. I got a chance to see all the types of things that the site contains and we had a lecture on their identification which will be helpful in the field. Knowing what I'm looking for will definitely help me with the question "Pottery or Rock"
Really not much to report about the day in pottery we just spent 8 hours monotonously brushing sherds with nail brushes and tooth brushes, bones just get dry brushed.
After work I met up with Kathryn and Katie, I was an hour and a half late because of Roman public transportation. the route 3 was 20 minutes late and when it finally arrived it was actually too packed for anyone to fit on it, perople were crammed in so tightly that the doors had trouble closing. So a few minutes later another bus, route 75 came and the sign said it stopped at the Colosseo stop which is the colosseum metro station and conveniently close to the appartment that Catherine and Katie are staying in.
Once I arrived I assumed that I knew where I was going, it's only a couple minute walk but then I took a wrong turn (roman roads are weird) and realized I didn't have my map. 10 minutes later I finally found their front door. Since I had called them to tell them I'd be ages they'd already eaten but I had their yummy leftovers then Kathryn and I went for gelato and to pick up snacks before we all sat down to watch Eat, Pray, Love. A lovely relaxing night!
Tuesday I was back in the trench again. I had the most boring and hot day yet. (this week is supposed to have record temperatures, no fun.) I was assigned to a large SU with Sam and Evan and since the stratigraphy is weird in that area we were just told to trowel down until we saw a change.
It was a pretty frustrating day because there were often changes but they never lasted in a layer, they just showed up and dissapeared, Evan, Sam and I just spent the day complaining about dirt colors. Evan and Sam actually did find some cool pieces of pottery and Evan's part of the SU had a hearth feature but mine was barren but for about 12 pot sherds. exciting.
At lunch we were supprised with ice cream which was delightful but the day was ruined by the fact that it had gone up about a million degrees after lunch. it was so hot that we could barely be productive, not that there was really any progress to make in my area. I've taken to calling it Dante's 9th circle.
My evening was pretty low key since the day was so exhausting. supper, facebook, blogging and bed at 10pm.
Despite there being 6 trains, they're all crowded as heck. always. Between the four of us we managed to snag 2 seats so if one of us got tired of standing (it's a 40 minute ride) we could switch off. The train ride was pretty uneventful, the usual awkward trying not to bang into your neighbor when the train stops and starts and avoiding staring at the couple making out next to you. (public displays of affection are the norm in Rome apparently, ew)
Ince we arrived at Cristopho Colombo, the last stop, we waited for the number 7mare bus (another lovely crowded form of public transportation. and headed for the same brach gate that we went to two weeks ago.
We rented beach umbrellas sold by some tanned muscular Italian men in speedos, the guy taking the money had a gucci fanny pack for it, so stereotypically italian metro. we sat near their stand - not a bad view although a little far from the water; which is made worse by the fact that to get to the water you have to brave the scalding hot sand. It's actually hilarious getting there for a swim you psych yourself up and sprint there (likely yelling ouch a lot) trying to walk in the shade of other peoples' umbrellas.
Despite the pain, the beach was amazing, we lay out a read and swam and chatted. Catherine and I were stupid and tried to even the tan on our legs and just ended up with pretty painful sunburns (go us).
We left the beach around 3 because Catherine and I had to go to Darius' house for a meeting/pizza. But I made plans with Kathryn and Katie for later in the week.
Monday I was assigned to the pottery lab which means that I spent the entire day with my hands in a bucket of water washing off the finds from the previous day. Everyone always complains about being in finds but I actually enjoy it like I enjoyed being in the mag last summer. I got a chance to see all the types of things that the site contains and we had a lecture on their identification which will be helpful in the field. Knowing what I'm looking for will definitely help me with the question "Pottery or Rock"
Really not much to report about the day in pottery we just spent 8 hours monotonously brushing sherds with nail brushes and tooth brushes, bones just get dry brushed.
After work I met up with Kathryn and Katie, I was an hour and a half late because of Roman public transportation. the route 3 was 20 minutes late and when it finally arrived it was actually too packed for anyone to fit on it, perople were crammed in so tightly that the doors had trouble closing. So a few minutes later another bus, route 75 came and the sign said it stopped at the Colosseo stop which is the colosseum metro station and conveniently close to the appartment that Catherine and Katie are staying in.
Once I arrived I assumed that I knew where I was going, it's only a couple minute walk but then I took a wrong turn (roman roads are weird) and realized I didn't have my map. 10 minutes later I finally found their front door. Since I had called them to tell them I'd be ages they'd already eaten but I had their yummy leftovers then Kathryn and I went for gelato and to pick up snacks before we all sat down to watch Eat, Pray, Love. A lovely relaxing night!
Tuesday I was back in the trench again. I had the most boring and hot day yet. (this week is supposed to have record temperatures, no fun.) I was assigned to a large SU with Sam and Evan and since the stratigraphy is weird in that area we were just told to trowel down until we saw a change.
It was a pretty frustrating day because there were often changes but they never lasted in a layer, they just showed up and dissapeared, Evan, Sam and I just spent the day complaining about dirt colors. Evan and Sam actually did find some cool pieces of pottery and Evan's part of the SU had a hearth feature but mine was barren but for about 12 pot sherds. exciting.
At lunch we were supprised with ice cream which was delightful but the day was ruined by the fact that it had gone up about a million degrees after lunch. it was so hot that we could barely be productive, not that there was really any progress to make in my area. I've taken to calling it Dante's 9th circle.
My evening was pretty low key since the day was so exhausting. supper, facebook, blogging and bed at 10pm.
Grayson and Jason
Saturday was a delightful day. Grayson and I met up at 11 to wander around Rome since Jason was with his family. We walked around trastevere for a bit then went into the historical center. After some trotting we stopped for lunch and ate way too much bread, caprese salad, gnocci and pasta. but it was deliciously worth it.
Next stop was the first gelato of the day (after walking off lunch for a bit).
After gelato we decided to sit for a bit and think of some goal for the day. Grayson said that the only really famous Romam attraction that he hadn't seen was the Spanish Steps. So it was decided - The only issue was that neither of us really knew where they were. So, out with the trusty map. It actually to me ten minutes of searching - apparently Spanish Steps is a colloquial term and not on the map as a monument. I decided that 'Piazza d'Espagna' was a likely location so we headed in that direction (or kind of in that direction. My map skills are slightly sub-par) Once we were headed in the correct direction we could see some stairs at the end of the street we were on (which was the super ritzy shopping street, window shopping was lovely)
At the end of the street we came upon a giant set of stairs, though still not entirely convinced they were the 'Spanish Steps'. We walked up them and nearly passed out from the effort in the 40 degree weather so we stopped in to the church at the top and sat down for a breather. The breather turned into a half hour just sitting enjoying the pretty church interior. On the trek down the stairs we decided that giant steps plus piazza d'espagna probably equals the
Spanish Steps even if the sign on the steps didn't say so, We checked it off the list of things to see. (I later checked and we were right, obviously)
After we had finished with the steps we decided it was time for gelato again. We had walked into a place which had candy in the window earlier in the day only to discover a gelataria which had 100 flavors. 100. seriously.
When we turned in the direction of Gelato (right by the Pantheon) we discovered that we had been in the far end of the piazza right next to the Spanish Steps several hours before without even realizing it ( we saw the column at the end and mentioned how you become so used to seeing awesome monuments in Rome you hardly even notice some of them.
So, 100 flavors of Gelato. First decision and easiest was what size to get. 4 euro cup, 4 flavors. delightful. Then deciding the flavors. Not so simple. After some browsing we decided that Grayson would get 4 chocolately flavors and I'd get 4 fruity ones and we would share. So we ended up with; pink grapefruit, lemon, raspbery, mandarin, black forest cake, kinder bueno, bounty bar, and something with a weird name but which looked yummo.
Sugar overload. but sweet sweet lord it was delicious.
After gelato we went back to my appartment to check emails and the like. Kathryn my friend from home and her friend Katie are in town for the week and I made plans to meet them and had to check faebook for their confirmation. Kathryn very nicely invited Grayson to come over too so we made the trek over to the colosseum for supper. We sat and ate delicious pasta and wine and chatted - it was so nice to be with newfoundlanders again, Grayson was baffled by our slang - even more hilarious thant the way we say 'bar' .
The night finished with Jason and Grayson at the bar "The Drunken Ship" which is basically a little piece of North America in Italy. it's always full of american tourists/students and it's pretty infamous but its reputation is orse than the place actually is. We had a few drinks and talked to random strangers (we found another student archaeologist girl!), pretty normal time.
Next stop was the first gelato of the day (after walking off lunch for a bit).
After gelato we decided to sit for a bit and think of some goal for the day. Grayson said that the only really famous Romam attraction that he hadn't seen was the Spanish Steps. So it was decided - The only issue was that neither of us really knew where they were. So, out with the trusty map. It actually to me ten minutes of searching - apparently Spanish Steps is a colloquial term and not on the map as a monument. I decided that 'Piazza d'Espagna' was a likely location so we headed in that direction (or kind of in that direction. My map skills are slightly sub-par) Once we were headed in the correct direction we could see some stairs at the end of the street we were on (which was the super ritzy shopping street, window shopping was lovely)
At the end of the street we came upon a giant set of stairs, though still not entirely convinced they were the 'Spanish Steps'. We walked up them and nearly passed out from the effort in the 40 degree weather so we stopped in to the church at the top and sat down for a breather. The breather turned into a half hour just sitting enjoying the pretty church interior. On the trek down the stairs we decided that giant steps plus piazza d'espagna probably equals the
Spanish Steps even if the sign on the steps didn't say so, We checked it off the list of things to see. (I later checked and we were right, obviously)
After we had finished with the steps we decided it was time for gelato again. We had walked into a place which had candy in the window earlier in the day only to discover a gelataria which had 100 flavors. 100. seriously.
When we turned in the direction of Gelato (right by the Pantheon) we discovered that we had been in the far end of the piazza right next to the Spanish Steps several hours before without even realizing it ( we saw the column at the end and mentioned how you become so used to seeing awesome monuments in Rome you hardly even notice some of them.
So, 100 flavors of Gelato. First decision and easiest was what size to get. 4 euro cup, 4 flavors. delightful. Then deciding the flavors. Not so simple. After some browsing we decided that Grayson would get 4 chocolately flavors and I'd get 4 fruity ones and we would share. So we ended up with; pink grapefruit, lemon, raspbery, mandarin, black forest cake, kinder bueno, bounty bar, and something with a weird name but which looked yummo.
Sugar overload. but sweet sweet lord it was delicious.
After gelato we went back to my appartment to check emails and the like. Kathryn my friend from home and her friend Katie are in town for the week and I made plans to meet them and had to check faebook for their confirmation. Kathryn very nicely invited Grayson to come over too so we made the trek over to the colosseum for supper. We sat and ate delicious pasta and wine and chatted - it was so nice to be with newfoundlanders again, Grayson was baffled by our slang - even more hilarious thant the way we say 'bar' .
The night finished with Jason and Grayson at the bar "The Drunken Ship" which is basically a little piece of North America in Italy. it's always full of american tourists/students and it's pretty infamous but its reputation is orse than the place actually is. We had a few drinks and talked to random strangers (we found another student archaeologist girl!), pretty normal time.
Monday, July 11, 2011
walls and more walls
On friday the bus to take us to Gabii was 20 minutes late so we spent a nice morning standing in Piazza Ipolito Nievo waiting around. Once it finally did come and we made it to Gabii, Darius, Albert and Dr. Pollini were there to meet us and spend the day on the site with us. It was nice to see them because now that we're no digging on their site our group feels a little orphaned.
The AIRC videotapes a lot of the goings on with their programs (Albert is a videographer as well as an archaeologist and Darius is a celebrity archaeologist) so they spent the day on tours of the excavation areas doing interviews with the site directors, and trenchmasters. (as well as visiting us and seeing how we were doing)
As for the archaeological part of today, I spent the first part of the day defining the floor preparation which I had started on thursday. The area of floor was larger than expected and kept popping up in some places and disapearing in others. I was working with a partner to trowel the area and try and determine the edges of the remaining floor prep in order to know where it was safe to pick-axe ithout destroying any features,
The floor preparation is part of a larger Stratographic Unit (SU) which several people were working in. We were all working to rempve the same layer so as the day went on there was less room for us (you can't stand in an excavated area which you've already cleaned until it is documented or you'll make more work for yourself in having to brush down your footprints and any loose dirt youve kicked up. Once there were too many people working in a small space Jamie moved me to a new Stratographic Unit so nobody murdered anyone else with their pickaxe.
The Stratographic Unit I was reassigned to was the once which Sheira and I had cleaned after the rain a couple days ago. Andrea the trench assistant was given AJ and I to help her bring it down to the next level and see what was going on in the Area. We began pickaxeing and I revealed what is perhaps a floor - the dirt is very compact and clayey, almost rock like but it has mane made inclusions like tile and pottery. AJ's side of the SU popped out yet another wall - the SU is bounded by 2 walls, one robbing trench wall and contains the remains of 4 other walls most of wich are in contrasting orientations. weird.
I had a fun afternoon with Andrea and AJ, we had good chats and laughed a lot. Andrea coached AJ and I on a perfect shovel toss. I think I'm getit it down. The goal is to jerk the shovel in the right way so that the shovelfull of dirt keeps the contours of the shovel (you can see the indent of the handle in the dirt while it's in the air.) It's not only faster to shovel when you can toss the dirt into the wheelbarrow from a couple feet away without spilling, but then you also don't hit the person who is sifting the dirt in the wheelbarrow by trying to tip the shovelfull into the barrow.
The final part of the afternoon revealed the continuation of another wall we had seen part of previously. Andrea then asked us to scrape down and sweep up the SU so that she and Jamie could try and determine what the heck was going on with all the walls and flooring in the area. Perhaps Jamie's monday pep talk and area review will provide us with some iluminating theories or explanations.
After work on friday a bunch of people from the program decided to go out for drinks in the piazza which several of our appartments are near (the one where il Tulipo, Claudio's pizza place is) While getting ready to go out who do I get a call from but Grayson! He had driven into Rome with Jason (the Poggio Civitate dig assistant director) on a whim (decided 30 minutes before leaving) and wanted to see what I was up to. We made plans to meet up after he and Jason found a place to stay (good planning) and found some food.
The place our goup met for drinks is right next to il Tulipo. it's kind of an odd place - Beer Pong table outside, ladies night (2 for 1) every night from 8-12 and a very pregnant bartender (weird image) she is super sweet and makes good drinks though. We had a fun and tipsy night (some people more tipsy then others.... italian drinks are expensive and strong.)
Grayson called me as we were finishing up ladies night and I met him and Jason at a bar called Freni et Frizioni for Mojitos and new scavi gossip. It made me really miss last year's group and kind of wish that I had decided to be staff at Scavi this year. I actually might use a couple days I scheduled at the end of my euro trip to go visit Vescovado since they finish digging after my program is already over. According to Grayson the Albergo di Murlo is poppin' this year because Gianluca has taken it over from Sinora. Grappa shots for everyone!
The AIRC videotapes a lot of the goings on with their programs (Albert is a videographer as well as an archaeologist and Darius is a celebrity archaeologist) so they spent the day on tours of the excavation areas doing interviews with the site directors, and trenchmasters. (as well as visiting us and seeing how we were doing)
As for the archaeological part of today, I spent the first part of the day defining the floor preparation which I had started on thursday. The area of floor was larger than expected and kept popping up in some places and disapearing in others. I was working with a partner to trowel the area and try and determine the edges of the remaining floor prep in order to know where it was safe to pick-axe ithout destroying any features,
The floor preparation is part of a larger Stratographic Unit (SU) which several people were working in. We were all working to rempve the same layer so as the day went on there was less room for us (you can't stand in an excavated area which you've already cleaned until it is documented or you'll make more work for yourself in having to brush down your footprints and any loose dirt youve kicked up. Once there were too many people working in a small space Jamie moved me to a new Stratographic Unit so nobody murdered anyone else with their pickaxe.
The Stratographic Unit I was reassigned to was the once which Sheira and I had cleaned after the rain a couple days ago. Andrea the trench assistant was given AJ and I to help her bring it down to the next level and see what was going on in the Area. We began pickaxeing and I revealed what is perhaps a floor - the dirt is very compact and clayey, almost rock like but it has mane made inclusions like tile and pottery. AJ's side of the SU popped out yet another wall - the SU is bounded by 2 walls, one robbing trench wall and contains the remains of 4 other walls most of wich are in contrasting orientations. weird.
I had a fun afternoon with Andrea and AJ, we had good chats and laughed a lot. Andrea coached AJ and I on a perfect shovel toss. I think I'm getit it down. The goal is to jerk the shovel in the right way so that the shovelfull of dirt keeps the contours of the shovel (you can see the indent of the handle in the dirt while it's in the air.) It's not only faster to shovel when you can toss the dirt into the wheelbarrow from a couple feet away without spilling, but then you also don't hit the person who is sifting the dirt in the wheelbarrow by trying to tip the shovelfull into the barrow.
The final part of the afternoon revealed the continuation of another wall we had seen part of previously. Andrea then asked us to scrape down and sweep up the SU so that she and Jamie could try and determine what the heck was going on with all the walls and flooring in the area. Perhaps Jamie's monday pep talk and area review will provide us with some iluminating theories or explanations.
After work on friday a bunch of people from the program decided to go out for drinks in the piazza which several of our appartments are near (the one where il Tulipo, Claudio's pizza place is) While getting ready to go out who do I get a call from but Grayson! He had driven into Rome with Jason (the Poggio Civitate dig assistant director) on a whim (decided 30 minutes before leaving) and wanted to see what I was up to. We made plans to meet up after he and Jason found a place to stay (good planning) and found some food.
The place our goup met for drinks is right next to il Tulipo. it's kind of an odd place - Beer Pong table outside, ladies night (2 for 1) every night from 8-12 and a very pregnant bartender (weird image) she is super sweet and makes good drinks though. We had a fun and tipsy night (some people more tipsy then others.... italian drinks are expensive and strong.)
Grayson called me as we were finishing up ladies night and I met him and Jason at a bar called Freni et Frizioni for Mojitos and new scavi gossip. It made me really miss last year's group and kind of wish that I had decided to be staff at Scavi this year. I actually might use a couple days I scheduled at the end of my euro trip to go visit Vescovado since they finish digging after my program is already over. According to Grayson the Albergo di Murlo is poppin' this year because Gianluca has taken it over from Sinora. Grappa shots for everyone!
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Thursday began with our usual pep talk and assignments from Jamie. I am really grateful that Jamie, Andrew and Andrea are really good teachers. They're patient and good, good at motivating us and always giving us encouragements as well as commendations on good work. It really makes the experience of paying to do manual labor in 40 degree weather rewarding. (I kn ow that other students from our group aren't having a good experience and I know that some of that hinges on their trench supervisors so I'm happy to really like mine
First I was assigned to pick-axe an area of the trench where it looked like a wall was supposed to be in the trench extension. (area C has many walls, most of which are confusion inducing, from various periods and with various orientations) after the first pick pass I found nothing but the second one revealed a tufo block at which point I started trowelling. some hours of scraping and stabbing later I had a nice little defined wall segment which disappeared into the baulk wall.
My second task for the day was working on defining the edges of the floor preparation which we had revealed yesterday when cleaning the surface of the trench extension.
before I had a chance to do anything it was time for site tours which were done on Thursday instead of Friday this week because Area B was finding cool things and they were ready to take them up.
So back to my floor defining; at first I didn't quite know what I was looking for as I was given a sort of vague description of "when you start hitting the red" which is sort of worrisome because I don't want to screw something up and dig through the layer I'm looking for. After some questioning and helpful hints from Andrew (like trowel from known to unknown by following the contours of the surface you're trying to define with the flat edge of your trowel) and some deonstrations from Jamie I managed to make a large part of the floor visible by the end of the afternoon.
After work we met Parin at the tram stop and made plans to have dinner with a big group. We went to a nice little place in Trastevere by one of the girls' apartment and ordered a ridiculous amount of food, salads, calamari, pizza, pasta, delicious!
after supper we went for drinks at a bar across the street. the drinks were cheap (by Rome standards) but they also tasted horrible. The Margaritas we had tasted like tequila and salt water or as Shannon described it - "the Mediterranean ocean in a glass"
drinks and supper over, it was midnight and we had to wake up in 6 hours so it was a 2 block walk home and to bed with us.
First I was assigned to pick-axe an area of the trench where it looked like a wall was supposed to be in the trench extension. (area C has many walls, most of which are confusion inducing, from various periods and with various orientations) after the first pick pass I found nothing but the second one revealed a tufo block at which point I started trowelling. some hours of scraping and stabbing later I had a nice little defined wall segment which disappeared into the baulk wall.
My second task for the day was working on defining the edges of the floor preparation which we had revealed yesterday when cleaning the surface of the trench extension.
before I had a chance to do anything it was time for site tours which were done on Thursday instead of Friday this week because Area B was finding cool things and they were ready to take them up.
So back to my floor defining; at first I didn't quite know what I was looking for as I was given a sort of vague description of "when you start hitting the red" which is sort of worrisome because I don't want to screw something up and dig through the layer I'm looking for. After some questioning and helpful hints from Andrew (like trowel from known to unknown by following the contours of the surface you're trying to define with the flat edge of your trowel) and some deonstrations from Jamie I managed to make a large part of the floor visible by the end of the afternoon.
After work we met Parin at the tram stop and made plans to have dinner with a big group. We went to a nice little place in Trastevere by one of the girls' apartment and ordered a ridiculous amount of food, salads, calamari, pizza, pasta, delicious!
after supper we went for drinks at a bar across the street. the drinks were cheap (by Rome standards) but they also tasted horrible. The Margaritas we had tasted like tequila and salt water or as Shannon described it - "the Mediterranean ocean in a glass"
drinks and supper over, it was midnight and we had to wake up in 6 hours so it was a 2 block walk home and to bed with us.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
clean dirt and early nights
Today I was glad to be back in the trench.
Jamie started the day by explaining the work assignments like he usually does, but today was a little different because of yesterday's rain. We worked in the area of the trench which had been excavated by the mechanical digger it was all muddy and messy because of the rain which cause us to have to alter excavation techniques.
Because we not only were working in a newly opened area of the trench bu the entire area was covered in sedimentary deposits that the runnels of water left behind yesterday (Gabii is on a slope), we had to clean the entire surface of the excavation area to define our first Stratagraphic Unit.
we focused first on taking off a few centimetres of dirt with pick-axes and trowels (it was so messy and squishy) we also had to re-define features which had been previously "clean" and now were covered in mud.
The team was divided into three groups all working towards each other (towards the center) in separate parts of the extended trench area. the soil was really muddy which was good for determining stratigraphy from the color but it also made for muddy work.
Jamie explained to us how he worked with the mechanical digger to excavate he extension. like any excavation they removed small layers with the machine and the archaeologists stood in the trench with shovels and trowels to see if any features became visible. First walls showed up so the digger continued on that level to expose others, in places where nothing was revealed, the digger went deeper so we were left with an uneven surface with some features exposed.
So today we worked from the exposed walls to the area where the "atrium" is supposed to be. we are exposing walls which seem to be anomalous, but may belong to different phases of the structure we are excavating.
we managed to meet our lunch time goal (working from 8-12:30) of meeting in the center of the atrium. So after lunch we began to even out the trench to define our SU. I was working with Andrea, one of the trench assistants and another student Sheira. We were working towards a level of reddish dirt which was exposed in one corner of the trench that had been excavated lower then the rest by the mechanical digger. We used trowels and had picks until we began to see a change between the darker earth and the red color. By this time the wet mud had been dried out by the sun so not only was it harder to distinguish the color but it was also more difficult to trowel because it had been baked hard. By the time it was 3 and time to leave, we had mostly finished defining our part of the trench.
It was another early night for me, I worked on planning the last two weeks of my european adventure and promptly fell asleep at 9pm.
Jamie started the day by explaining the work assignments like he usually does, but today was a little different because of yesterday's rain. We worked in the area of the trench which had been excavated by the mechanical digger it was all muddy and messy because of the rain which cause us to have to alter excavation techniques.
Because we not only were working in a newly opened area of the trench bu the entire area was covered in sedimentary deposits that the runnels of water left behind yesterday (Gabii is on a slope), we had to clean the entire surface of the excavation area to define our first Stratagraphic Unit.
we focused first on taking off a few centimetres of dirt with pick-axes and trowels (it was so messy and squishy) we also had to re-define features which had been previously "clean" and now were covered in mud.
The team was divided into three groups all working towards each other (towards the center) in separate parts of the extended trench area. the soil was really muddy which was good for determining stratigraphy from the color but it also made for muddy work.
Jamie explained to us how he worked with the mechanical digger to excavate he extension. like any excavation they removed small layers with the machine and the archaeologists stood in the trench with shovels and trowels to see if any features became visible. First walls showed up so the digger continued on that level to expose others, in places where nothing was revealed, the digger went deeper so we were left with an uneven surface with some features exposed.
So today we worked from the exposed walls to the area where the "atrium" is supposed to be. we are exposing walls which seem to be anomalous, but may belong to different phases of the structure we are excavating.
we managed to meet our lunch time goal (working from 8-12:30) of meeting in the center of the atrium. So after lunch we began to even out the trench to define our SU. I was working with Andrea, one of the trench assistants and another student Sheira. We were working towards a level of reddish dirt which was exposed in one corner of the trench that had been excavated lower then the rest by the mechanical digger. We used trowels and had picks until we began to see a change between the darker earth and the red color. By this time the wet mud had been dried out by the sun so not only was it harder to distinguish the color but it was also more difficult to trowel because it had been baked hard. By the time it was 3 and time to leave, we had mostly finished defining our part of the trench.
It was another early night for me, I worked on planning the last two weeks of my european adventure and promptly fell asleep at 9pm.
tweezers and torrential rain
I was assigned to the environmental lab today. Usually this involves sifting and floating soil samples but today it wasn't sunny and rain was threatening. This means that I was relegated to sifting through plates full of dirt with a pair of tweezers to look for bone, charcoal, pottery, seeds, glass etc.
This is what we found:
And that is basically what I did all day. There was a thunderstorm for much of the morning but since we moved the lab inside we continued working while the students who were excavating today just sat around.
This is how Catherine felt about it:
I actually kind of enjoy lab work because that is what real archaeology is. Digging up things is all fine and good, but without analysis there there isn't a lot of concrete information about the past people learned. or at least the lab work illuminates much more detail about what is being excavated.
the things that we pulled out of the dirt samples today will be analyzed to determine ancient environments, diets and the like.
Because the rain turned the trenches into swimming pools and and pushed a lot of dirt on top of the areas that we worked in yesterday the context of the top layers is ruined. parts of the team went back this afternoon to bail out the cuts which had filled with water. Because not excavation could be done in wet soil, the majority of students were given jobs cleaning pottery for the afternoon.
Monotony continued until 3:30 at which point we were allowed to go to our air-conditioned bus for the 40 minute nap/ride home.
Catherine and I spent the evening at Parin, Julian and Sam's again, they made delicious soup for everyone and we spend several hours sharing riddles. wholesome.
This is what we found:
And that is basically what I did all day. There was a thunderstorm for much of the morning but since we moved the lab inside we continued working while the students who were excavating today just sat around.
This is how Catherine felt about it:
I actually kind of enjoy lab work because that is what real archaeology is. Digging up things is all fine and good, but without analysis there there isn't a lot of concrete information about the past people learned. or at least the lab work illuminates much more detail about what is being excavated.
the things that we pulled out of the dirt samples today will be analyzed to determine ancient environments, diets and the like.
Because the rain turned the trenches into swimming pools and and pushed a lot of dirt on top of the areas that we worked in yesterday the context of the top layers is ruined. parts of the team went back this afternoon to bail out the cuts which had filled with water. Because not excavation could be done in wet soil, the majority of students were given jobs cleaning pottery for the afternoon.
Monotony continued until 3:30 at which point we were allowed to go to our air-conditioned bus for the 40 minute nap/ride home.
Catherine and I spent the evening at Parin, Julian and Sam's again, they made delicious soup for everyone and we spend several hours sharing riddles. wholesome.
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