Future participants should know that the work involved on site will often be grueling and harsh at the beginning, and it may seem like your state of being won’t ever acclimate to it. The first week may very well be some of the most demanding and exhausting work you’ve ever done. But soon enough, you get used to it, and it’s here that you can really start having fun with the trip. Not in the sense that you can now finally go to the beach or out to eat, but now you can put some of your energy into the analysis and discussions surrounding the site, enriching your mind and helping you get the most out of the expedition.
I’d enjoy participating in another excavation, perhaps in a slightly cooler climate. Weather aside, the process of clearing and cleaning out the site whilst cataloging our finds was everything I’d have hoped it to be, and I learned so many incredible things related to archaeology along the way. Take the unit I worked on for instance. Here, we have a decent theory about an earthquake disrupting the integrity of the site, and we also learned about how the people that previously lived here might have not even prepped for these events given how common they were, instead opting to just redecorate every now and then. It’s fascinating to watch it all come together as you’re working on it in the field. On an unrelated note, if you find a kiln, keep it to yourself.
Being a “first witness” to history was the very pitch that got me interested in this trip 3 years ago. Having done the work with my own hands and seen the results with my own eyes, it’s only helped in deepening my love for history. Maybe I won’t be an archaeologist per se, but this trip has only made my interest in the study grow more and more with each passing day and each new find. I’ll never forget the lovely group of people that worked with me the whole way. Without them, this trip simply wouldn’t be the same. I’m glad I got the opportunity to come here and I’ll heavily consider coming back to another dig.
Now if only we got a stipend…