Every archaeological project experiences a crisis at some point. Fortunately, the Western Argolid Regional Project managed to avoid all serious crises until the very last week of intensive field work. Over the last week or so a dog and her puppies has been hanging out at the church of Ay. Eleni and Konstantinos in our… More Western Argolid Regional Puppies
We have an apotheke now. Apotheke (αποθήκη) is Greek for storage facility, but for most archaeologists working in Greece, it means a place where you store and study the artifacts that you collect from the field. Up until today, we were getting the apotheke ready. That meant renting the space, having security measures installed, getting electricity, water, and… More The apotheke
1. A mid-morning blow out On Wednesday Bill and I hiked up the side of the mountain on the southern end of our survey area. We wanted to make sure that we hadn’t missed any major features. The result of our efforts was that we confirmed that we hadn’t missed anything, but in the process… More Five things
This week, I mapped some, drew some, and barely survived the rest of the time. I’m pretty sure that this is the last week of the season on the Western Argolid Regional Project. I got some good photos of members of our field teams out working. Grace Erny is super photogenic in the field (although… More Photo Friday on the Western Argolid Regional Project
It’s the midpoint of our six-week field season — or slightly before the midpoint, since we’ve worked 12 days in the field so far and we anticipate working another 14 or 15 — so it seems like a good time to take stock of where we stand. Here is the map of the units we’ve… More Taking stock mid-season
Sweeping is a big part of archaeology. Some would say that 90% of archaeology is sweeping. In an excavation, it’s really important to keep your trench clean. In a survey, it’s important to keep your apotheke (storage space) clean. We’re hoping that our apotheke will be approved for use soon, so we took the opportunity to… More Sweeping
Today was our third day of field trips. We hit a series of minor and major sites on the Argive plain. Just like last Saturday, we started local, with the pyramid in the village of Elliniko and the church of the Zoodochos Pigi at Kefalari. Both are within 10 kilometers of our home base of… More Week Two Field Trips
This morning, I got all riled up about a comment on the blog for Bryn Mawr Classical Reviews in which an anonymous Briton decried the “ignorant farmers” who, by plowing their own fields (imagine the gall!), have destroyed ancient and Ottoman roads. I know that such things shouldn’t upset me, but they do. The comment appeared… More “Ignorant farmers”
You can read our permit and the deathless prose of the Ministry of Culture and Sports here, on the website Δι@ύγεια (“tr@nsparency”), maintained by the Ministry of Administrative Reform and E-Governance (Yπουργείο Διοικητικής Μεταρρύθμισης και Ηλεκτρονικής Διακυβέρνησης). It seems amazing that this is the new normal in Greece: googling your name (in Greek, in the genitive) to find… More The permit
Real archaeological projects in Greece go on field trips. Lots and lots of field trips. This involves waking up earlier than we want to on the weekend (or on religious holidays), driving in caravans of small rental cars that can’t both run the AC and go up mountainous roads easily, getting lost, taking the wrong… More Field trips