jane c. waldbaum archaeological field school … exposed for the first time to human osteology and...
TRANSCRIPT
JaneC.WaldbaumArchaeologicalFieldSchoolScholarship-Report.EasternBoeotiaArchaeologicalProject,2017
NovellaNicchitta
Figure1EBAP'steamfor2017
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ThisyearIhadthepleasureofparticipatinginmyfirstarchaeologicalproject
as a new student in Classics, being part of the team of the Eastern Boeotia
ArchaeologicalProjectinGreece,directedbyDr.BrendanBurkefromtheUniversity
ofVictoriaandDr.BryanBurns fromWellesleyCollege.Myparticipationwasonly
possiblethanksbothtotheArchaeologicalInstituteofAmericaandtheUniversityof
Victoria,thatsupportedmerespectivelywiththeJaneC.WaldbaumArchaeological
Field School Scholarship andwith the International Student InternationalActivity
Fund.
Theexcavationsite isnearthemodern
cityofArma in centralGreeceand focuseson
ancient Eleon, which was already cited by
Homer.1The site has archaeological evidence
from theMiddle andLateHelladicperiods, to
theArchaicandtheClassicalperiods,withthe
site being in use until Medieval times. Such
evidence comes from crafts (such as pottery,
bone decorations, and painted figurines),
architectures(suchasthe17thcenturyBCBlue
Stone Structure, the Archaic ramp at the
entranceofthesiteandthePolygonalwall)and
bonesfromburialcontexts.
Excavationsstartedthisyearonthe28th
of May and it proceeded until the 8th of July. The beginning of the season was
characterized by some rainy episodes that slowed down the work right at the
beginning,butwemanagedtoproceedatagoodspeedafterwards.Theteam’sroutine
wasveryregular:startingworkingat6:30am,orearlierdependingontheintensity
1HopeSimpsonR.–LazenbyJ.,1970.TheCatalogueofShipsinHomer’sIliad,Oxford.
Figure2AncientEleon
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oftheheat.Theworkonthefieldwouldconcluderegularlyat1:00pm,whilefrom
5:00pmto7:00pmwewouldwashandsortbonesandpottery foundinthe field
duringtheday,orwewoulddophotorecordinganddataentry.Ontheoccasionsin
whichanewtomb
was discovered,
there was no
scheduled hour,
until the
excavation of the
area was
concluded, as by
law. On those
occasions, the
workingdaycould
have been fairly
long,butcertainly
fulfilling.Alternatively,we
wouldtaketurnstoworkintheapothekeonpottery,wheneverneeded.
Eachjuniorarchaeologistwasassigned,onaweeklybase,toadifferenttrench
supervisor, who had specific expertise on his/her area of the site. In such away
everyonewouldgainpracticeinallthedifferentareasofthesite;moreover,thesmall
sizeofthegroupsinthetrenchesallowedustobetrained,instructedandsupervised
verycloselyandefficiently.
Theworkthisyearwascentredintwomainareas:theBlueStoneStructure
andtheNorthWesthousingcomplex.WeopenednewtrenchesontheeastoftheBlue
StoneStructure,whereattheendoftheseasonwerevealedthewholearchitecture
oftheexternalsidewall.Duringthisprocesswecouldseethedifferentstratigraphic
layersofthetumulusthatwascoveringthecomplex.Onthenorthern-eastsideofthe
BlueStoneStructure,wealsofound,withsomesurprise,somecapstonesandtombs.
Excavatingthistrenchrequiredalotofeffortanddedication,duetothepresenceof
Figure3Potterywashing.Photofromhttps://ebapexcavations.org/
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several exposed skeletons, sometimes with some painted and interesting
accompanyingwares.
Duringtheexcavationofthetombs,underthesupervisionofDr.Herrmann
andhisteamofmaster’sstudentsfromtheTexasStateUniversity,Ihadthechanceto
beexposedforthefirsttimetohumanosteologyandthusIcouldalsolearnaloton
howtoexcavateaskeleton.Oncethesurroundingloosesoilhasbeenremoved,the
bones are maintained in their position and shape. Successively, a more detailed
processbeginswith trying todefine thebones,with thesmallest tools inorder to
contour and individuate their first characteristics. The identification can be
problematicascharacteristicsandshapescanbe
smoothedordestroyedovertime.
InthehousingcomplexintheNorth-West
side of the site, we expanded the excavation of
previous years, revealing more of the
architectures among which some walls, niches,
hearths. In this area a huge quantity of cooking
andstoragepotterywasfound,aswellasanimal
bonesandsmallobsidiantools,with fewcopper
andalloyfindings.Theoveralldispositionanduse
ofthespacehastobeyettobeclearlydetermined.
Figure4JacobKaras,JosephBellowsandIexcavatingbones
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Through this incredible experience, I had the chance to work with
knowledgeableexpertsandtheircohesivegroup.Learningfromeveryoneintheteam
enriched me as a junior archaeologist and it also has instilled an irrepressible
curiosityonthefutureexcavationsofthesite.Iamverygratefultothewholeteamof
theEBAPforteachingme
all the skills that I need
andtotheArchaeological
Institute of America and
theUniversityofVictoria
forhavinginvestedinme
by financing this
experience.
Figure5MeandtheBlueStoneStructureonthebackground