We started the day with a lecture on archaeological stratigraphy. After that, we finished cleaning the top soil off of our site so that a picture could be taken of the surface layer. By the time that was finished, it was lunch time, followed by a lecture on osteology. It's a good thing we had that break, because our next activity was to begin removing the surface layer. We picked and shoveled, and shoveled and picked until every muscle in our bodies ached! Besides all that picking' and grinnin' (a reference that goes back to HeeHaw - that's really dating me!), I walked to the site, to the school and back at lunch, back to the school, then to the grocery store and back. And boy are my dogs tired! Anyway...in this surface layer, we found nails, plastic, pottery, tiles, metal, bricks, and some other things that lead us to believe that the layer was deposited as a result of construction work that was occurring nearby. We also found a human tooth - specifically an upper left molar.
I'm sitting here at midnight typing up this blog, when all of a sudden a loud banging noise starts. When you combine that with the church bell, it's quite a midnight cacophony. When we couldn't stand it any longer, we investigated. As it turns out, Altopascio was celebrating the birth(?) of the patron of Altopascio, Jacob somebody (sorry, the person that was telling us this story spoke very broken English) and so they were celebrating with fireworks...big fireworks. So there we stood, in our pajamas, on a street corner of Altopascio, watching fireworks. Only in Italy!
Italian phrase of the day: Ho grattato la superfiscie oggi. (I scraped the surface today).
By the way, Allen, one of the Italian archaeologists from Pisa has promised that if I help him with his English, he'll help me with my Italian. Italian group, watch out!
More tomorrow, at which point I hope I can tell you that we found some human remains!
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Monday, July 25, 2011
DAY 1 - JULY 25, 2011
After more trouble than a person likes to have when trying to navigate airline check in and security, I finally boarded the plane and began to fly the friendly skies. As it turns out I was lucky, because I had a bulkhead, aisle seat, with no one sitting next to me. So, lots of room and no crying babies made it an almost perfect flight. Even the people from the field school that were supposed to pick me up at the airport in Florence were there waiting - it was a near perfect, but long, trip!
The question that was foremost on the minds of many people who were trying to understand why I would spend my time in Italy digging in the dirt was where would I be sleeping/ This mystery has been solved. There are 20 female students and three male, plus a staff of about 7 or so people. The gym is divided into two parts, with 5 girls sleeping in the smaller part and about 7 of us (note I said "us") sleeping in the larger part. The rest of the women are sleeping in a separate room. So, I'm not on the floor, but I am in a gym with many others, on a cot, with the school's steeple bell chiming every hour on the hour, the light in the hallway shining in my eyes (I'm right inside the door), and one of the men snoring so loudly that we can hear him all the way from upstairs! Needless to say, none of us got much sleep. Tonight we're so tired that I don't think anything can keep us awake!
Today was our first day on the site. The church is a beautiful medieval cathedral that is no longer in use except for special occasions. There was once a working cemetery around the cathedral, but in the 1800s a new cemetery was established in a lot next to the cathedral, and the old cathedral cemetery stopped being used. It's this old cemetery that is being excavated. Besides excavating these gravesites, it is believed that the front of the cathedral had extended past where it does today, so we're looking for evidence of that as well as for a medieval wall that might be evidence of another room attached to the cathedral at one time.
This morning was spent in orientation duties, followed by a sack lunch eaten under the tree. The weather was good today, not the brutal heat they had two weeks ago, thank goodness. After lunch we had a quiz on bones (thanks for your training Dr. B!) and then we began excavation. We've been divided into 4 groups. The group I'm working with began excavating a new site with potential graves. We spent the afternoon removing top soil and scraping the site. Tomorrow morning they'll take pictures (we'll have to rescrape the site first) and then we'll start the actual excavation.
Italian phrase of the day - Svuoto la carriola (I empty the wheelbarrow). Silvia will be proud!
'Til tomorrow,
Mary Beth
P.S. Please excuse any typos. I'm typing this in the dark on a keyboard on my lap while sitting on the front step of the school. This is definitely a different life style!
The question that was foremost on the minds of many people who were trying to understand why I would spend my time in Italy digging in the dirt was where would I be sleeping/ This mystery has been solved. There are 20 female students and three male, plus a staff of about 7 or so people. The gym is divided into two parts, with 5 girls sleeping in the smaller part and about 7 of us (note I said "us") sleeping in the larger part. The rest of the women are sleeping in a separate room. So, I'm not on the floor, but I am in a gym with many others, on a cot, with the school's steeple bell chiming every hour on the hour, the light in the hallway shining in my eyes (I'm right inside the door), and one of the men snoring so loudly that we can hear him all the way from upstairs! Needless to say, none of us got much sleep. Tonight we're so tired that I don't think anything can keep us awake!
Today was our first day on the site. The church is a beautiful medieval cathedral that is no longer in use except for special occasions. There was once a working cemetery around the cathedral, but in the 1800s a new cemetery was established in a lot next to the cathedral, and the old cathedral cemetery stopped being used. It's this old cemetery that is being excavated. Besides excavating these gravesites, it is believed that the front of the cathedral had extended past where it does today, so we're looking for evidence of that as well as for a medieval wall that might be evidence of another room attached to the cathedral at one time.
This morning was spent in orientation duties, followed by a sack lunch eaten under the tree. The weather was good today, not the brutal heat they had two weeks ago, thank goodness. After lunch we had a quiz on bones (thanks for your training Dr. B!) and then we began excavation. We've been divided into 4 groups. The group I'm working with began excavating a new site with potential graves. We spent the afternoon removing top soil and scraping the site. Tomorrow morning they'll take pictures (we'll have to rescrape the site first) and then we'll start the actual excavation.
Italian phrase of the day - Svuoto la carriola (I empty the wheelbarrow). Silvia will be proud!
'Til tomorrow,
Mary Beth
P.S. Please excuse any typos. I'm typing this in the dark on a keyboard on my lap while sitting on the front step of the school. This is definitely a different life style!
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