I had a lot of goals for myself in Cyprus. Some were your standard “participate and take advantage of opportunity” type of goals, while others were a bit more abstract, like “make friends” and “don’t cry”. Some were easier to accomplish than others.  

Some goals, though, were just wishes in disguise.  

Outside of archaeology, my passion for history lies in the fashion realm. I love fashion and textile history, and it is what I really want to pursue. I’ve often looked for ways in which those two passions, for fashion and archaeology, can intersect. 

So the most abstract goal that I had was to figure that out. 

I was so fascinated while in the Larnaca Archaeology museum at the jewelry section, and I crossed my fingers in hopes that I could find something similar. It’s not fashion in the textile sense, but most fashion never really is, even today.  

I was jealous at every bead and broach back pulled out of the dirt all month long.  

Sure, a lead sling bullet is cool, but oh how I longed to excavate a little bead or a ring or an earring.  

Something else that had caught my attention at the museum were the loom weights. Also not directly fashion textiles, but the means to that kind of thing. I liked the display that showed how they worked, a bunch of stone weights tied to the ends of strings. It reminded me of using my water bottle as an anchor for the string friendship bracelets I used to make.   

I was surprised that when I found one, I knew exactly what it was. 

I called it out by name, remembering the ones I had seen in the museum, and felt so joyful. 

The intersection was here, and just as the weights unraveled the strings a thousand years ago, I began to unravel my tangle of thoughts surrounding my future.