The initial tour that we were given of Antiochia ad Cragum on our first day was quite the introduction to archaeology. I was blown away by everything from the temple, to the collanaded street, to the mosaic at the bath house, and even to the trenches that looked completely empty to my untrained eye just because I knew even those are probably telling part of a story that I have yet to understand. And then we got up to the upper acropolis, where we will be working. I had a hard time believing that the pile of rubble, boulders, and violent thorns would ever look like the neat and orderly trenches that we had just seen down below. Three days later, we still haven’t quite started our trenches, but we’ve cleared away enough debris to have a relatively flat surface that we will begin excavating on Monday. With the guidance of Professor Howe and the TAs, and from the small discoveries that have been made even at this early stage (pottery, amphora toes, a loom weight, roof tiles, etc.), I am beginning to see how there truly is a remarkable story in what I initially saw to be just a few broken walls and a whole lot of dirt. It’s truly amazing to me to see how there is so much meaning in the small details that could so easily go unnoticed. For example, although this might be obvious to any archaeologist, It was very interesting to see how the different layers in the walls could help date the architecture. I soon found myself paying very close attention to each kind of rock I was throwing over the edge of the cliff, now identifying blue limestone from schist, and granite from mortor (hopefully). With a few minor finds already under our belts, I can’t wait to see what we will uncover once we dig deeper!