I heard yesterday that Sarah James’ and Dimitri Nakassis’ dog Holly passed away. Holly had a special place in my heart because I credit her with making me a dog person. Now we have two dogs. One of them, Argie (aka The Bargepole) adopted us largely thanks to Holly.
I had known Holly for years, but really came to appreciate her while working on the Western Argolid Regional Project (WARP). This was a big and ambitious intensive survey project in the Inachos Valley of the western Argolid. During that project I sometimes looked after Holly, took her for an occasional walk, and gave her a treat or two while hanging out with Sarah and Dimitri. It’s then that I appreciated how Holly was far more than the project mascot (much less a pet). She humanized that project.
Over five intense seasons of WARP, Holly worked hard to help us keep things in perspective. Sometimes it was simple things like the joy of doing zoomies in the grain stubble. She modeled enthusiastic support whenever Dimitri tried to eject an annoying flying insect from their apartment. While I’m not sure Dimitri enjoyed her leaping and yelping as he tried to swat at the insect invader, anyone observing the spectacle did. Her relentless enthusiasm for any game of ball was legendary. I vividly recall when Scott Gallimore, a project director, had to remove Holly from the football pitch to bring an end to a game of Holly Ball when she was still recovering from a torn ACL in her leg.
She didn’t party all the time, of course. In fact, her calm demeanor helped us all keep our cool when we were hot, tired, and frustrated with archaeology, with each other, and with the daily decision making at the core of any archaeological project. Holly kept us and the project together. As I scanned my archive for photos of Holly, I found quite a few of her sitting next to Dimitri, in the field, when he was making one of his innumerable phone calls to keep the project going. I was also reminded of the time that Dimitri and I were (trying) to survey and map the Acropolis of Orneai toward the end of a long field season. Holly was only too happy to tag along and stand on whatever wall, block, or feature that Dimitri and I were trying to GPS or measure. It was impossible to be too frustrated with each other or with Holly when she was around.
Holly helped morale stay high in the apotheke in Argos where she spent much of the last four seasons. Always cheerful and ready to play or for a walk, she broke up the workday and kept everyone smiling. She was in her zone at snack time when she would persistently ask everyone to share their food with her and was nearly always successful. She quickly became a much-loved part of artifact processing day for the students.
She also made room for dogs. Over the five years of WARP at least four other dogs made the return flight from Greece and two of those came back to North Dakota! Argie came back with me in 2016 and as a puppy in Greece he was intent on trying to play with Holly (or with Holly’s toys!). Holly was less into it, but her presence on the project ensured that there was room for another dog.
One of my favorite Holly episodes happened on a trip to Stymphalos. The team was tromping through chest-high maquis to see some of the Hellenistic fortifications at the site. This seemed a bit much for Holly and she refused to proceed through the dense brush. Dimitri picked her up and carried her. It’s funny that I remember Holly being carried so vividly (I think someone — maybe even me — took a photo of it) because in a way, it was she who carried us.
Rest peacefully, Holly, and thank you.
Part Two (by Dimitri Nakassis):
Bill’s wonderful tribute made me think about the many other roles Holly played on WARP.
Ambassador: it may surprise few readers that survey archaeologists tend to be dog people. In fact the survey archaeologists who introduced me to it, John Cherry and Sue Alcock, are very much dog people. When visitors came to the project, Holly was invariably the person they wanted most to see.
Assistant to the directors: Holly would either assist Sarah and Scott in the lab (apotheke) or, when we could be sure that there were no herding dogs around, me in the field.
Architectural specialist: Holly was good at identifying walls and standing on them so that we wouldn’t miss them.
Supervisor/cheerleader: She also liked to jump up onto high spots to see what was going on; she didn’t do much active supervising, but she did provide a lot of silent encouragement.
Model: Holly had a knack for jumping into whatever photo you were taking, if it weren’t already clear; I’ve got lots of carefully framed photos of blocks that she jumped on at the last minute. I can’t blame her, she was certainly the most photogenic member of the project’s permanent staff. Just take at this photo that the supremely talented Lianna Nixon took in 2016:
