It’s hard to believe that I’m halfway through this internship. The days are long, and the weeks are short. My perspective has changed a lot since the first day on site. When I began working, much of our work focused on the top layers, and I spent most of my time hacking at roots and rocks and the like. Being able to look at contextual layers is much more interesting, because it allows me to speculate on what may have happened in this particular living space. Excavating these more intact layers has shifted my mentality from just looking for artifacts to understanding the stories they tell through their context. An object’s location is just as important as the artifact itself. Rather than seeing archaeology as solely excavating objects, I understand it as a careful process of reconstructing the past through evidence and context.
As we have moved into deeper, more contextual layers, my group has also started forming theories about the area we are excavating. Changes in the soil composition give clues about chemistry, since objects and other sources of information change composition and color. For example, my group found ash in the northwest section of the site, which allows us to infer that there has been a burn in the area. Bright orange soil implies that there was a kiln, or (the more probable option), a dump site. The amount of bones and pottery also hint that the area was a dump site, walled in by the central wall feature.
Looking ahead to next week, I find myself a little sad about leaving my area. I am really curious about how the site turns out, and if any of our theories are supported. I know that I’ll be able to hear about any progress made from the group who takes over, but I’ll miss my schist. I look forward to my next assignment, and I believe that having a “fresh mind” combined with the previous group’s thoughts will be helpful for figuring out what that area was like thousands of years ago. The questions I will be raising are “Who?” “What?” “When?” “Where?” “Why?” and “How?” Who lived here? What did they do? When did they do it? Where is my trowel? How do I take every bit of information and data and use it to answer these questions?
If I were to focus on one specific aspect of archaeology, I would choose soil. At first glance, dirt looks brown and boring. It kind of is, but it is actually different shades of brown, and it can feel and smell different. I’ve dealt with dirt from a biological/ecological/organic standpoint (I’m familiar with the texture pyramid), but I’m interested in the Munsell charts and color variations. I’m actually pretty pumped about finding ash, because it has such a unique smell and feel. A slightly less relevant archaeological aspect would be bugs. Bug remains are very very fragile and will not preserve well. But bugs are usually important ecosystem indicators and can tell you a lot about many different aspects of an area. I may be grasping at straws to talk about entomology, but I digress.
Overall, this internship has already transformed the way I think about archaeology. Every layer excavated presents new challenges and opportunities to learn, and every discovery raises new questions about the people who once occupied the site. As I continue through the second half of the internship, I look forward to seeing how my theories about what happened come to fruition.
Now, I have some thoughts about what ACTUALLY happened at my site. See, there is a curved rock feature that juts through the area. It looks strikingly similar to a Hibachi counter. Interestingly enough, as stated before, there is evidence of burning on one side. Hmm. Just like the burning effect that is created from the fantastic fireplay of a Hibachi chef. That would also explain the surplus of bones (some of which are burned) found in the area. Of course, the citizens of Antiochia must have loved the Hibachi grill given the amount of animal bones. The small coin we found could have been a tip for the chef after he did that one trick with the egg. But all good things must come to an end, and the joint went under bad management. The manager came in one day and found that the employees were fooling around, and broke all the pottery in a fit of rage. This explains all of the pottery sherds. This theory has some plot holes, and I would hope that those who are taking over continue asking questions.