{"id":3859,"date":"2026-07-26T08:36:50","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T13:36:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/?p=3859"},"modified":"2026-07-26T08:36:50","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T13:36:50","slug":"i-went-to-the-unit-ans8-rock-party-and-all-i-got-was-a-pile-of-schist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/2026\/07\/26\/i-went-to-the-unit-ans8-rock-party-and-all-i-got-was-a-pile-of-schist\/","title":{"rendered":"I Went to the Unit ANS8 Rock Party and All I Got Was a Pile of Schist"},"content":{"rendered":"

As much as I\u2019ve enjoyed ripping rocks out of the ground with a pickaxe like a dirt-covered version of the Grim Reaper, it\u2019s been exciting to finally begin finding substantial clues as to what this complex might have been. Two rock parties in and we\u2019ve hit soil change! The landscaping parts of the excavation honestly weren\u2019t as draining as I was worried they would be, as I still felt pretty accomplished at the end of the day seeing the before and after photos of our unit. The biggest shift I have noticed in the way I\u2019ve been going about our sweeps of the unit is how paranoid I am about accidentally destroying something significant! Hacking away at roots is one thing, but being unsure about what could be lying in situ under the surface requires a bit more of a gentle hand. I\u2019m probably suffering from an over-abundance of caution, and am hoping to balance that with efficiency as I move forward.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The first new development we hit in our excavation was what appears to be a potentially apsidal wall that connects with other units around it. This changes the original spatial dynamics that I had in mind when thinking about how it might have been constructed, and honestly I\u2019m quite confused (and curious!) as to what\u2019s going on with this floor plan. It sections off a strange piece of the overall structure and I\u2019m interested to hear what the next team coming into the unit discovers. Along that wall in the northwest area of our unit, the first phases of our excavation turned up several shards of glass and chunks of slag that raised questions of their origin point. As we continued our passes over the whole unit, we noticed that there was a stark contrast in soil between the north and south sides of the center feature. We eventually came down on what we thought might be a burn layer as there was a substantial amount of ash mixed in with the soil alongside burnt clay. For a moment we were wondering if we had found a kiln, but our working theory now is that it was likely an ash deposit from a kiln used to level the floor. The readings from the past week, specifically the ones about Late Roman houses, have me thinking a lot about how this place might have originally looked. Maybe it was once a large townhouse that was repurposed into apartments? The dead ends and narrow hallways combined with different periods of construction could suggest something along those lines. I\u2019m hoping to bring some of my theoretical wonderings and takeaways from the readings to my next unit assignment!<\/span><\/p>\n

So far, I\u2019ve been particularly fascinated by both the glass shards and coins we have found so far. The glass pieces can be both practical and decorative, as we\u2019ve found several shards from drinking vessels that have small detailing and various colors. Those really have me thinking about daily life in Antiochia and how many shared meals or parties these vessels might have seen. Both of the coins that we\u2019ve found have given us a better idea of the timeline of the complex and I\u2019m really impressed by how much they were both cleaned up! It\u2019s also super cool to see the art on the coins of Justinian and Constantine, especially given our insightful observation that the latter bears a striking resemblance to American rapper\/singer\/songwriter Pitbull. Beyond those two specialties, I am super interested in the work that the bioarchaeologists are conducting in the Necropolis. If I was better at STEM classes, I would love to look more into that field. I think that the duty of care that comes with bioarchaeology is incredibly important and it would mean a lot to be able to contribute to telling these people\u2019s stories.<\/span><\/p>\n

While I have working theories on what our unit may have been, the most compelling evidence points towards the hypothesis that my group has cooked up. While Big Archaeology may want us to think that the ash deposit we found was used as leveling for a floor, our team believes that this is the remains of Antiochia ad Cragum\u2019s hottest hibachi restaurant. The central rock feature provides a perfect bar area with the ash contained in the grill, and the southern half leaves plenty of room for seating and a lovely dining view of the Great Bath area. This one specific section aside, however, the overall complex would appear to be some sort of bizarre, messed-up labyrinth of hallways and dead ends. Maybe the architects had a few too many rounds of Efes at the hibachi grill while making their floorplans? Either way, I trust the next group coming into our unit to carry on the good work done here.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As much as I\u2019ve enjoyed ripping rocks out of the ground with a pickaxe like a dirt-covered version of the Grim Reaper, it\u2019s been exciting to finally begin finding substantial clues as to what this complex might have been. Two rock parties in and we\u2019ve hit soil change! The landscaping parts of the excavation honestly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5733,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research-blog"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Iz8A-10f","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5733"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3859"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3882,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3859\/revisions\/3882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/antiochia2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}