Category: Uncategorized
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A Puzzle Without a Box
Archaeological field work, especially when you are working on a new trench site, is much like putting together a puzzle without the box featuring a picture of the completed puzzle for reference. I have been working in the new trench, and for the last several days we have been terrae-ing and pickaxing. As we…
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Mediterranean Construction Work
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…
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Creating the Sacred Through the Physical
On our final official field trip, our professors took us on a hike that they kept forebodingly referring to as a “death march.” How comforting. The archaeological site we visited was the acropolis of the ancient city of Amathus. And as beautiful as the view was, I have to admit I was a bit winded…
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Ceramic Dating
Anyone who worked at any point at Vigla during this season has pulled up and washed dozens of sherds of ceramics. Ceramics are the most common finds with most of them being non-diagnostic and difficult to read. I’m not going to pretend to know half as much about ceramic and ceramic dating as I would…
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The Warlike Aphrodite
I have never appreciated Aphrodite nor had much desire to learn about her and the religion focused around her. I had only ever encountered a version of her which focused on love, sex, and beauty. Think Titian’s Venus of Urbino or Cabanel’s The Birth of Venus. This is a very limited and very modern view…
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Watercolor Interpretations in Cyprus Museum, Nicosia
When visiting Cyprus Museum, amidst all the incredible archaeological finds, it was hard not to notice the lovely watercolor paintings in front of many of the exhibits. Sometimes, the painting was displayed even before the description of the artifact, as you can see in this photo of a limestone base or altar. It had me…
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It’s a Great Day
I learn something new every day in Cyprus. Like how Maratheftiko is an ancient variety of red grape still used for wine production on the island, or that there is a kind of feline COVID going around taking its toll on the local cat population. However, one thing that becomes clearer to me every day…
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Lokmako
My first day on the island of Cyprus, I was stressed out and jetlagged. The fact that I was here on a tiny island in the Mediterranean had not hit yet. A group of us after dinner were wandering around Larnaca when we came across Lokmakos, which at first looked like a nice place to…
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Eustolios’ baths
At the ancient site of Kourin there are a series of stunning floor mosaics that depict various geometric patterns and animals. They are part of a larger complex made up of a private house and a public bathhouse which were owned by a man named Eustolios. Eustolios’ complex would be remodeled during the reign of…
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Important Questions With No Clear Answers
As we made our way from the Archaeological Museum in Paphos a few days ago a man called out as we filed onto our large white tour bus, “where are you from?” he asked. We informed him we were all from America and he proceeded to share with us something he clearly felt passionate about.…
Vigla Archaeological Project 