Let me start off by saying the internet access has been the biggest challenge so far. It makes sleeping in the same room as 11 other women and sharing 3 showers among 20 women easy! It turns out that updating this blog everyday is going to be difficult because I can't always get access when I want it, but I'll do the best I can.
Yesterday was a quiet day. We finished scraping the dirt off the site so a photograph could be taken. Then we wrote our Strategraphic Context sheet, and then...it rained! So, plans changed. Instead of working outside, we went inside for lunch and then a lecture on GIS methods, followed by one on analyzing a human skeleton (for age, sex, stature, acenstry). The analysing human skeletons was basic, but I usually like that kind of stuff anyway. This time, I was so sleepy that I was dozing off in the lecture...in the front row! I finally realized that jet lag combined with only a few hours of interrupted sleep and then only 5 or 6 hours total had finally caught up with me. So I went to bed early, and actually slept through the bells until 5:00! Progress! Anyway, after the rain stopped, we went back outside and removed another layer.
Today the weather was better and we were able to work outside all day. Unfortunately, we had to scrape the site again because of the damage the rain caused. Then we had to measure, photograph, write-up, etc. That's a long process that usually results, it appears, in having people sit around while measurements are taken. We all participated, but still. Finally that was done and we started work again. The good news is that we found some bones! Not alot - a mastoid process, rib, cranial fragment, but it's something. These bones are disarticulated (randomly placed) but we're hoping that tomorrow we'll uncover some skeletons that we can actually analyze.
We've had some visitors, some people return day after day and have become regulars at the site. A professor from the University of Pisa came today and brought a write up that was in the Tusany newspaper. It was written in Italian, of course, so I couldn't read it. But we've heard that we've been written up in three other papers so far.
So - food. Dinner has been really good! We go to the same restaurant every night, and this place feeds 30+ people something different every night. Tonight's menu was salad, then two kinds of pasta, then rabbit (ick!) and pork scallopine and spinach, and finally dessert. Wine and water, both natural and frizzante, is served with every meal. The waitress and the person who runs the counter at the bar where we have breakfast every morning now know I like decaf coffee American-style (large). I'm a regular already!
Tonight, after work, we walked to downtown Altopascio, which is quite charming. Couldn't spend a lot of time there because we had to be back before dinner, but I did have time to carry on a conversation with the train-station attendant...in Italian!
That's all for tonight. I haven't been able to post pictures, but following is the link of the field school's blog. Pictures and more information about our progess are posted there, if you're interested. http://www.paleopatologia.it/Badiapozzeveri/BP11/giorno.php?recordID=1
More over the weekend,
MB
Thanks for the blog. Very interesting! I can't believe you're digging up bones. Where is my daughter and what have you done with her? Sounds like you're eating well. Did you get my email? It took a long time for it to go through. I sent it after your first blog. Bye for now. M
ReplyDeleteGlad you got some good sleep and are eating well. This is very interesting stuff so I hope you can get on line and share more soon. Thanks!!! Have fun and good luck!
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