Day den xero of excavation:
I'm going to go by day, since it's been a while and a lot's happened. You're going to have a long post!
Saturday: We visited Olympia. Francis and Andy created a photo contest to help us go through the major sites, in which we had to make an archaeological observation or inquiry and then take a photo at the building, in some sort of pose that had to do with the building's ancient function. I.E. Palaistra=wrestling, etc. It was cool to go around to all the places that I didn't get a chance to see last time because our tour had skipped over it. After taking a course on the Olympic Games, I knew the layout, the buildings, and even what time period they were constructed in, but seeing the architecture Professor Maggidis had talked about in person is so much cooler than a lecture slideshow!
After Olympia we went to a beach on the Ionian Sea. So I've been in both the Aegean (to the east) and Ionian (to the west). Ionian was rougher, but that might've been because we weren't in an inlet, within an inlet. Marjorie, Scott, Amanda, Patricia, and I built a sand model of the Acropolis, complete with west-east facing Parthenon, a propylae, the Erectheon, and that weird circle thing with the Greek flag at the back of the Acropolis now. Of course it was in it's ruined state. Hopefully pictures will find their way onto Facebook soon!
Sunday: I got to go to Nafplio with Cynthia, Marjorie, Cynthia's friend Simina (not sure that's how you spell her name), and the rest of the Maggidi. Cynthia, Marjorie, Simina, and I split off and wandered the shopping district. I got some cool things, but I'm not going to tell you what because I don't want to ruin the surprise for those at home, waiting anxiously for gifts!
Monday: This was our only "free" day, where we didn't have anything going on after excavation. I washed pottery, and then slept. It was magical.
Tuesday: Tuesday was Panegyrie. Basically it translates into "All Saints Day" and it's a religious festival, mostly celebrating the patron saint of the town. It starts in the church and there's a procession through the streets with the icon of the patron saint. Then, we feasted! Pork, greek salad (all tomatoes, no lettuce in REAL greek salad), potatoes (of course!), sesame bread, and tzatziki. It was GOOOD! And then, we danced!
Antonia started us off, sort of trail by fire-style. But it wasn't too hard. A few step-ball-changes and some grapevines and voila! For the first dance anyways! The second involved kicks and shuffles and was over my head. The funny thing was, the "foreigners" started the dance (well, Antonia is really Greek, but she counts as one of 'us'), but then everyone came out of the woodwork! Apparently it's possible NOT to see people in a 200 or so population town for a whole month! At one point there were about three concentric circles going, the 'fancy' ones in the center and us undergrad learners near the outside. There were a few log jams, but once everyone got on the same beat and sequence, it worked out!
We had to work the next day, so we only stayed out until about midnight, 1 o'clock, but the festivities continued until around 6 in the morning, when we all had to get up to start excavation. So I guess if you wanted to, you could've pulled an all-nighter. I'm not sure why anyone would want to, though, with how much work needs to be done!
Wednesday: My third trench was closed down. :-( We didn't find a wall like we'd hoped, but we did find a few cobbles and this weird corner thing that apparently is not part of any wall. Go figure! Wednesday involved mostly planning. We had to make one final plan and take a closing photo and then we undergrads were in the sift the rest of the day. Not exactly the most thrilling day, but the evening made up for it. It was "Mycenaean Idol", the third annual talent show for DEPAS. Of course I performed a form for it, Jung Sun Ee Dan. I did the whole tournament presentation and everything for the "judges" and in the end one of them just sort of whimpered "okay". Of course, now I don't have to sift if I don't want to. ;-) Marjorie did her belly-dance to "Waka Waka" (by Shakira) and Amanda did a tap dance to "Lollipop" that she choreographed in two days! I liked Francis's reading of "The Highwayman" and Gus sang us a song. "I put some Ouzo, in my Ouzo. I put some heartbreak in my heart". Brilliant! Molly and Professor Maggidis did a duet at the end and it was ADORABLE! Plus, Professor Maggidis has a surprisingly high range.
And that brings us to today. Today, I did three things. The East Wall, the North Wall, and the West Wall. All stratigraphy, which involves going by ten centimeters apiece and measuring where each context changes. That means staring intently at dirt and a fair bit of subtraction. Ugh. Still, I understand the necessity. It took two hours to do the east wall, another 2 and 1/2 for the north, and I'm finishing the west wall tomorrow morning, when it's easier to see the changes in soil. The sun makes funky shadows in the middle of the day.
Tonight we, the Archaeologists, played the Greek workmen in football (meaning "soccer"). I don't know what the real score was, but the "Official" one was 27-26, to the Archaeologists! Adrianos and his brother scored most of our shots, but I at least touched the ball in the game! The boys passed it to me! I also had a slide tackle that was semi-effective in stripping the ball and 100% effective in scraping the side of my shin and getting turf jibblets in my shorts. Grr!
Tomorrow is clean-up. The trenches still going will do their last plans and then we will take down all the tarps and such and take an aerial photograph before rounding this week off with the Treasury of Atreus. I'm having mixed feelings about wrapping everything up. This month was great and Gla next year will be just as cool! I got to meet some new people and work on my Greek, but I'm also ready to go home. It's tiring physically and mentally and right now tension is running a bit high, just because everyone's on a shorter fuse. I plan on updating again tomorrow, but now it's time for bed.