Abbi, another MSU Denver student on this trip, said it best: “Archaeology is like construction work.” She was not wrong. As a non-archaeology major here on this trip, I had no idea what doing archaeology would look like, and Abbi’s synopsis pretty much sums it up. We get to the site every morning at about 6am and, in established trenches, we often start out squatting or kneeling in the dirt to clean off the site. This is vital as it can be difficult to see the features of the site when there is loose dirt everywhere. Then, depending on which trench you are in, you are squatting some more and carefully excavating the site. If you are in the new trench, where I have been, we have been pickaxing and terraeing the ground (think of it as hoeing the earth). All of the dirt that gets churned up has to be sifted in case there are any important artifacts hiding within. Field work is not for the faint of heart. It is physical and sometimes it feels excruciating. This type of work is so physical, I have muscles that are sore that I didn’t even know existed. With all of that said, it is also extremely rewarding. It seems like when the morale starts to dip is precisely when someone finds an almost intact bowl, or a giant lid for a pot. The incredible thing about this line of work is you truly are not sure what you are going to find. Finding it is also just the first part. After it is found, it has to be labeled and put into an artifact bag. For special finds, such as intact bowls or sling bullets, geographic points are taken so that there can be exact coordinates of where the artifact was found. It is then transported to Terra Ombra where it is cleaned off and washed and read by a ceramicist. Ceramicists are able to look at diagnostic pottery and identify not only what it was used for but also the approximate time period it is dated to. As more and more artifacts are found, points are taken and read; a clearer picture starts to form of what the site was used for in the past. Due to what has been found at our site over years of excavating, we know it was some type of fortification. So, while I am terraeing or pickaxing or sweeping in the hot Mediterranean sun, it often feels like construction work, but it is so much more than that. It is truly the care and meticulous excavation of who people were thousands of years ago.

Madi Barber