It’s the end of our second week of work in Turkey. The most noticeable difference I have found in my abilities is my stamina. Before our first day of work, some of the field students and I hiked this small mountain to get a view of the sunset from these cliff-side ruins. The majority of the path up was laid with steps, not especially steep ones, even still my heart was beating out of my chest. I fell behind the faster, fitter students, and I wasn’t sure I would make it up the entire trail without suffering some cardiac event.
It was a similar story on site. I struggled with keeping my heart rate down as we completed our tasks. I was physically and mentally exhausted. I thought it unlikely that I could continue with the work at several points. My body was so out of sorts that for two or three days I was unable to eat any food.
But the next week things were extraordinarily better. I never once thought of my heart as we continued the same work with the same intensity. Instead, I looked forward to the visual progress we are making in our unit. I am not used to the tangible results of my efforts I get from taking earth out of the hillside.
I’ve begun to enjoy the physical nature of the work. I appreciate that lifting boulders has gotten easier for me, not because I have gotten any stronger, but only because I have gotten better at applying my strength. I like feeling taxed, dirty, spent in a way that I haven’t enjoyed before.
I think I’ve adapted some and will continue to do so. I have been able to eat a lot more this week and I don’t doubt that this has contributed to my renewed sense of strength. I also think that mentally I have begun to overcome the grueling nature of the work.
In the future, I hope that my relation to the work can inherit a little more meaning. Right now, all that I enjoy is the labor and the progress. I still struggle to conceptualize any historical happenings in the area. It still feels like set-dressing a little bit. I am still not sure that I understand what archeology is, or yet what its merits are. This is what I would like to discover for myself.
