Hostel Plague

Yesterday I didn't write, but I had good cause. We made it to the site, and were rained out within the first hour. Needless to say, not a lot of terribly exciting things happened. When we all got back to the hostel, most of us went back to bed because most of us have a chest cold that won't give up. I was one of the "most".
Yesterday evening we had a trip to Kirkwall where we got to listen to a lecture from a Japanese pottery expert. (He was both Japanese, and an expert of Japanese pottery). He had a difficult time speaking publically and he was difficult to understand at times, but his slides were very detailed and were more like sub-titles rather than bullet points.
He spoke to us primarily on Jomon pottery which was created around 14,000 BC! "Jomon" means "rope-patterns" and it is called this because ropes were used to create extremely detailed designs on the vessels. While the patterns look as though weeks were spent on creating each little groove, it was actually done by rolling rope onto the surface of the clay before it was fired. Sometimes the rope was left straight and then rolled. This resulted in a series of parallel, diagonal lines. Other times it was tied into knots before being impressed upon the clay. This resulted in a kind of celtic-knot looking pattern. The professor even gave each of the viewers a piece of tissue paper and taught us how the ropes were made from fine strips of bark or grass. (I think that was the material he said was used. Some things were unclear because of his accent and translation problems.)
Another thing that was characteristic of this pottery was elaborate coils of clay shaped around the vessels to create even more elaborate works. I suggest looking up pictures of Jomon pottery to get an idea.
I had a very good time at this lecture and was fascinated by some of the examples of restored Jomon and other pottery he showed to us. I kept thinking how interesting it was that the indigenous people of Japan were making these complex works of art 16 thousand years ago, and at the Ness, we are excited over bits of pottery that have had grooves scratched into them 5 thouand years ago.
Today the weather was nice. It was overcast but not terribly windy. The ground was moist and made trowelling much easier than it had been on Monday after our weekend of sun. That was good for me, because I was working in Structure 22 where I was going through a pale yellowish clayey material that may have been used to help waterproof the roof tiles. On Monday, this stuff might as well have been concrete.
Before lunch, I uncovered the bottom of a sturdy, early neolithic wall that we were hoping was still in tact. Right next to me, Jo, the same girl who found the large, fancy piece of pottery in the midden on our second day on site, uncovered the first comlete stone ax head found at the Ness. The stone it is made from is very beautiful and I suggest you check out the NoB site to see a picture of it.
Another good reason to look at the site's site today is that I was the one forced to write the "View from the Trenches" today. I was hoping that I had gone unnoticed by the blog poliece, but apparently they had a check list in the supervisor's hut of which of the Willamette students had blogged, and which ones hadn't. I was the last one. I almost made it.
Writing that was not so fun. I had no idea what to say that would interest the followers of that blog. Everything that happened that day would already be written about. I ended up giving a brief explanation of how I came to be at the Ness this year, and how great I think it is. I also said I hadn't found a task I didn't like, but that was a lie. I wanted to add to the end of that sentence, "except for writing the blog". My professor said I should have, but I think the site director, Nick would have cut it when he edited my entry. As it is, I can't see that he changed a single word. He didn't even change my American way of spelling "favorite".
Tonight our professor got a story teller to come and tell us folk tales of Orkney. It was very neat. Unfortunately I injured my back this morning somehow, and had a lot of trouble sitting while listening to the stories he told. I ended up on my side on the floor, which was fine, until he was leaving and I couldn't get off the floor. I'm going to be so incredibly annoyed if I can't move tomorrow. I'll go and lay in the floor of the house on site if I have to. I'm not missing the last day. (This afternoon I helped in the house where I could sit on the flor with my back up against a wall. I would have been physically unable to trowel anymore.)
I know I said this already, but I woul like to reiterate that the story teller was wonderful. His stories were fun, his voice was deep and animated, and his accent was beautiful. I never caught his name, but I will ask my professor for it, because I believe the story-teller is fairly well known. He travels all around the world telling folk-tales, and I think he has a few books. I asked him for suggestions of other works of literature about folk-lore of this area and of surrounding areas such as Norway. I have a few suggestions to investigate now.