Every kid dreams of traveling the world someday. A lot of us want to meet new people, find new cultures and even discover new history. As a kid who loved getting dirty from head to toe, a trip to an archaeological site in Italy was a dream for me.
Coming to Italy there were definitely some culture shocks. For example all the people that smoked cigarettes and even how the people ate dinner. The shock only lasted a few days before we moved from Rome to Naples and even Viterbo. After that we headed to the small village of Ischia di Castro. This was the place I was most excited for because of one reason; playing in the dirt.
The first day we arrived was a little bit of a shock. The town was small enough to be walked in a half hour. By the time we got there at noon, the small shops were closed and the village was silent. We all walked down to the small village square where there was a gelato shop. This is where we were given instructions about what time we were getting up, having breakfast and even leaving for the digsite. To which, none of the times stuck, but at least we are being fed.
I would like to formally name the first day at the dig site "Aggressive Gardening". We all woke up and were ready to go. Half of us piled in a 1970's Ford van with nine seats that are able to fit eleven people. So it was kind of a tight fit, but at least we made it alive. After about a twenty minute drive we all piled out already sweating. Our tour guide/translator, Margherita took us for a walk around the site. She explained to us that the site was an ancient Roman villa that was in a farmers field. After our little mapping of the site we got right to work. The rest of the group joined in with what I like to call Aggressive Gardening. The first thing we did was hack away at all the weeds and plants that were overgrown. Using various tools including shovels, pick axes and small hand axes we cleared out all the overgrowth. After that we took some measurements and planned out where we were going to dig. Using the pythagorean thermon we settled on two spots right next to each other. After that we got rained out and headed back for dinner.
The next few days ended up being kind of the same. We split into two groups and started
tearing up the grass. As we were doing this some of us began to look for the next
layer by scraping away at the dirt. Personally, I was a fan of hacking at the dirt
with the axes and clearing it out with a shovel. However, doing that in the hot Italian
sun gets to ya after a bit, so many water breaks were taken. Both groups found a bunch
of stuff doing this, for example an ancient Roman nail (right), some animal bones, parts of an oil lamp and even some of a mosaic! During this time
we also uncovered many plow lines that had scarred the dirt. Following these lines,
the first group uncovered an unexpected spot in the soil. As of right now we believe
that the spot could possibly be an ancient Etruscan tomb, but we are still uncertain.
As the days went on we continued evening out the floor of the site and looking for the yellow layer of dirt. Finally when we found enough contracts between the black dirt of the plow lines and the yellow layer, it was time to clean it up. For this part we swept up all the crumbs and made the contrast pop. Then we set up some signs to mark the plow lines and a triangle that was pointing north. Finally it's picture time. Margherita took the official pictures herself, but most of us took out our phones and snapped some shots. For most of us this was our first ever archeological dig, so it was kind of a big moment.
After that it was time to dig into the plow lines we worked so hard on. So, we began tearing those up with small hand axes and cleared them out. Some of us also began to dig up the mysterious white spot, but we didn't get a chance to actually dig it up.
For the final day of the dig I actually brought my camera and took some pictures of our progress. Then I jumped back in and helped to trowel the rest of the plow lines. In the first site Jace and Andrew worked around the white spots. These spots were looking more and more like tombs of some sort. We got rained out the last day, but I had a lot of fun playing in the dirt.
Jace on the other hand was very excited to come to Italy as it was only the second time he left the U.S. and first time in Europe. Also being from a big Italian family he also wanted to explore where his family came from. Exploring different cities, people, food, and just all around the culture of Italy. Although he came for the culture of Italy he also came to explore archeology as he is unsure of what field he wants to go into and thought this would be an excellent chance to explore archeology. Although he had fun on the dig site and found it to be interesting work he had more fun exploring the history and culture of Italy. Finding the ancient artifacts and buildings amazing, the food delicious, and the culture of Italy very interesting.
Throughout these three weeks both of us have had new experiences. Iliana loved her time on the digsite and Jace loved learning about the history and culture of Italy.
Tags: Study Abroad