Into the Trenches

So we've started digging in the trenches on Wednesday. My trench partner and I have dug in 3 different trenches. We were moved up the hill on the site and after a full day of digging, we came across some pink mortar and bricks which were identified by the professor and TAs as a floor. They had not hypothesized that the building extended in that direction, so it is a pretty cool find. I found a piece of impasto pottery in that same trench! Then on Thursday my group had "potshed" which means a day indoors (very nice break after one full day in the hot Italian sun, high of 30°C). We spent our time washing pottery sherds (with toothbrushes) and identifying their types and dates. We also organized all of the artifacts from all the previous years on the dig, I believe it goes all the way back to 1996. Then today we were back in the trenches, and again, my partner and I had a new trench. We were required to make a complete pass of the trench with a pix axe. It was so much fun, but a lot of work and now my hands have callouses! Today I found a piece of pottery with a flower decoration on it! It was pretty amazing to me. Yesterday another group actually found a pot that was almost complete! We are also finding many things like sherds of brick, pottery pieces, glass, marble, and bones. The work is tough, and involves pix axing, sorting through the spoil with a trowel and then carrying the spoil (left over dirt of no significance) up the hill and off the site. I did remember to put sunscreen, that is everywhere but my lower back (hadn't even occurred to me) and now I have a dark red (and painful) strip right across my lower back. Ouch! Yesterday also happened to be my day for kitchen duty. This meant that I had to get up at 6 am (before anyone else) and make breakfast for 27 people! (along with a partner). Then we also had to prepare "second breakfast" at 11:30 and take it up the hill to the work site. Then lunch, there was a bit of a fuss when everyone ate the food that was prepared for the vegetarians... we had to improvise after that. And then we had to monitor the dinner that a cook had made and clean all the dishes after each meal. My partner and I divided the labour and I got dishes duty, so I think that I washed somewhere around 120-130 dishes yesterday... by hand! And we were the fastest group so far for completing the chores, we finished about an hour and 15 minutes ahead of the others who had done kitchen duty before, we were very efficient! And that meant that we could have a bit of free time to head down to the one bar in Ossaia and get a gelato! (after all our hard work in the kitchen all day, we really needed it!) Today was a half-day in the trenches and then everyone headed down to Cortona for supper, a nice way to end the week! Tomorrow it looks like we'll all be heading to Florence for a bit of a break. And then there is a medival festival going on in Cortona, so we are planning to go to that on Sunday. Time is just flying by here. Oh yeah, this morning walking to site, as we were crossing the road I saw my first snake here in Ossaia... but it had been squashed by a car... but they live here, it's for sure now! eek! We've also seen things like a dead rat on the road and and lots and lots of lizards...little ones though. I would post pictures from the dig-site but we are not allowed to take pictures of an unpublished site. At the accomodations in Ossaia, being at such close quaters with people has really sped up the process of getting to know everyone. I am really enjoying my time here, even though it involves hard labour... perhaps I'll come back with a tan!