This week was a particularly dynamic one for the TA’s up on the acropolis. There are currently 6 trenches in operation on the acropolis, each with its own unique set of problems and state of excavation. My trench is one of the more “mature” trenches, meaning we have excavated through the majority of our fill layer with trowels (which, when we began was about 2 meters thick) and are now working to locate doors, articulate walls, as well as find a definitive floor surface. We have two well-preserved walls in the northern and southern sections of our trenches however, we have stumbled upon a unique wall on the western border of our trench. We have named it the “janky” wall as it begins completely normally with mortar and stacked stones but soon turns into a sloppy mess that curves up to 30cm westward. Originally we thought this might be due to wall-fall stone from the wall itself decomposing, but as of yesterday we determined that it is, in fact, just a wall that was poorly built and curves dramatically. Interestingly, this week we noticed that many of the other walls on-site are not perpendicularly constructed and are built at strange angles, although we have no idea why. These are some of the questions we are hoping to answer once excavation is complete!
Along with locating doors, floors, and walls comes an entirely new set of skills for the students, and new challenges for the TA’s. Our daily tasks have shifted from overseeing the removal half a meter of dirt a day with shovels and picks, to explaining the intricacies of how you know to move one stone and not another, or how you determine that one soil is slightly harder than another indicating a floor surface. The “problem” with archaeology is that much of the learning is done simply by doing. So, many times I hear myself say “Just try it and you’ll see what I mean, give it a few minutes and let me know what you feel in the soil.” While this makes me sound like I may have completely lost it, telling my students to “Feel the soil, become one with it!” I am entirely serious. One of the only ways to tell whether or not you have reached a floor surface is to “feel” the change in soil texture. While there is often a change in soil color which accompanies it, ensuring that you have completely uncovered the floor relies mainly on touch. On Friday we did in fact reach a floor surface, exactly where we anticipated it, and my students got to experience first-hand how to scrape an entire surface with a trowel and uncover a floor. The first few minutes were rough and nerve-wracking. I heard comments from “There are rocks and pebbles coming up, I’m going to ruin the floor!” to, “I can’t feel anything, is this floor?” But, after a few short minutes, they began to see and feel the changes in soil and I heard a rejoicing “I just found 20cm of floor, it looks so nice!” And I think that is one of the most enjoyable parts of being a TA – to watch your students go from enthusiastic observers to skilled archaeologists who can perform complex excavations, enjoy their work, and answer questions about what they are doing in an informed way. It has been such a rewarding two weeks and I cannot wait to see what the next two weeks will bring! Until next time!
Lizzy Bews
Teaching Assistant
St. Olaf Archaeological Field School 2014
Students learning about a new find at Antiochia ad Cragum
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