Hello all. :) Today when I woke up I was a little less sore. I couldd get out of bed in 5 minutes instead of 15! It seems to be the general consesus of my group that our muscles are getting a little better. This is like Archaeology Boot Camp!
Today I didn't find much. A few pieces of pottery and a few pieces of "cramp" which is a "vitreous slag-like material" which is probably the remains of burned sea-weed and fat, human or otherwise. (For other information on this, visit the following website: sasaa.co.uk/oja_cramp.pdf There is a really neat article here.)
I did find several large pieces of pottery which I haven't uncovered yet. Tomorrow I will borrow a leaf trowel and get to see how well those are preserved and if they will stay in tact as I remove them.
The scenery here is beautiful. My hostel looks out over a small bay where we can see seals and swans in the water. Either yesterday or the day before two swans floated by in the fresh -water loch next to the Ness. They had three ducklings which were, indeed, ugly. They were cute though. It's barely 8 oclock but I want to sleep. This is surprisingly difficult manual labor. Hopefully I'll have something more exciting to tell you all tomorrow. Maybe I will even have enough sleep to upload some pictures.
Goodnight
Jul 26, 2012
Jul 25, 2012
Decorated Pot and Worked Flint
The weather was back to cool, breezy, and overcast today. (Yesterday it was sunny and almost too hot for me, but luckily I didn't get a sunburn.) It is now sunny which is apparently rare.
I was working in the same place today. I didn't find anything too exciting today except for a piece of decorated pot, and a piece of flint that was obviously a chip from some tool. The piece of pottery I got was about 3x2 inches. It's back was up, so it was the first thing I uncovered. after I realized it was more than just a little chip, I switched to using a small "leaf trowel" and excavated a little more carefully until I was able to lift it out and brush the dirt off of the back side. Then I found the ridge of decoration. It was pretty neat because I discovered, and excavated the entire thing all alone, unlike the large piece I was working on yesterday.
Toward the end of the day I was moved to another section of the midden and on my second trowel full, I found a nice chip of flint that our supervisor said was very nice.
I'm good at recognizing worked pieces of stone, thanks to my background of arrow-head hunting, but distinguishing pottery from stone from burnt stone, is more difficult for me. I'm starting to figure it out though.
We are attending a lecture this evening given by one of the professional archaeologists who works on site with us. I'm not sure what the lecture will be on, but possibly iron-age brocks. That is apparently this guy's expertise.
I was working in the same place today. I didn't find anything too exciting today except for a piece of decorated pot, and a piece of flint that was obviously a chip from some tool. The piece of pottery I got was about 3x2 inches. It's back was up, so it was the first thing I uncovered. after I realized it was more than just a little chip, I switched to using a small "leaf trowel" and excavated a little more carefully until I was able to lift it out and brush the dirt off of the back side. Then I found the ridge of decoration. It was pretty neat because I discovered, and excavated the entire thing all alone, unlike the large piece I was working on yesterday.
Toward the end of the day I was moved to another section of the midden and on my second trowel full, I found a nice chip of flint that our supervisor said was very nice.
I'm good at recognizing worked pieces of stone, thanks to my background of arrow-head hunting, but distinguishing pottery from stone from burnt stone, is more difficult for me. I'm starting to figure it out though.
We are attending a lecture this evening given by one of the professional archaeologists who works on site with us. I'm not sure what the lecture will be on, but possibly iron-age brocks. That is apparently this guy's expertise.
Jul 24, 2012
P.S. Pics on Other Blog
I forgot to mention that there is a daily site blog also, if anyone is interested. I mentioned it in my preface. Willamette students were featured on the page from yesterday and I'm in the picture on the post. Of course my eyes were closed. On today's page both my piece of pottery and the horizontal decorated piece are featured as "finds-of-the-day" but not the best one. Apparently someone found a flint knife. He had to upstage us :p
The website is orkneyjar.com/archaeology/nessofbrodgar On today's post there is a picture of the decorated pottery, but it is mostly a picture of Jo, the girl who is working on it. The pottery is difficult to see. There is no picture of my find on their blog, but I took a few and will try to add them later.
The website is orkneyjar.com/archaeology/nessofbrodgar On today's post there is a picture of the decorated pottery, but it is mostly a picture of Jo, the girl who is working on it. The pottery is difficult to see. There is no picture of my find on their blog, but I took a few and will try to add them later.
Big pot!
Hello all! I just finished with the second day of our excavations. Most of us, including me, were working in the same place we were yesterday, but moving backward on a level to reveal more stuff. Yesterday the tip of some pottery was poking out from my area, but it was sturdy and attached to something still in the ground. Today I got to work on it, as I finished leveling in front of it. I went down several more inches and it is a very large clay vessel of indefinate size. At it's tallest point so far, it is about 2 inches from the ground! If it were an entire piece, (which is very unlikely, especially since it is in the midden,) its diameter would be about 1.5feet. It appears to be standing nearly up-right, at about an 80-85 degree angle. The inside of the vessel is painted black with slip, which was a mixture of clay and water that turns different colors when fired. The outside is the orange color, that i think is natural of this clay, or at least after this clay has been fired.
All that is neat, but what I found to be the coolest thing about it is that it is preserved so well in most places, that you can feel the finger indentations from where the people made it. They are shallow, presumably because the artist didn't want them to be visible, but I'm very glad that they are.
The site supervisors and important people on site are all excited about it. Throughout the day as I cleared bits of it, supervisors came by and made sure I was doing everything alright. They were all pleased with how careful I as with it, although I don't know why they would expect anyone to NOT be careful with a 5,000 year old pot. Anyway, it was great because I love that careful, little work.
Unfortunately when we make the next pass at that strech of land, we are going to excavate down around the pot while keeping it encased in a square of soil. This way it can be "lifted" from the site and extracted in a more careful environment. That means I probably won't get to work on it again, but that's OK. I'm glad I got to work on it so much today.
Another really neat find today was made by another girl from our group, also working in the midden. She found a large piece of pottery laying horizontally on the ground. I didn't get as close a look at it as I did with mine, but it seemed to be about 1 foot square. While the size is neat in itself, the piece was even more special--it had sculped decorations made in clay. From what I saw, there was a pattern that looked like a piece of twine that is twisted together to make it bind. There were several other raised decorations, but I didn't get much time to examine them.
I'm very sore. This morning as we were walking out to the site, a friend of mine mentioned that she was sore, and when I said I was too, she was relieved that she wasn't the only one. She had been thinking that maybe she was just a wimp, which is crazy since she is a college swimmer. I was also relieved, because I didn't seem like such a wimp because she was sore too.My knees, elbows, and palms are bruised and excavating was painful today, but it was still really neat.
I took pictures today,, both of the pot I was working on, and the setting. Again, I'm not going to upload them yet. By the time we get back from the dig, we are all exhausted. We have time to all take showers, all eat dinner, and then about an hour or two left if we want to get a decent amount of sleep. After work today I walked to the small co-op here and picked up more food for lunches and dinners. We are all in charge of our own food.
Goodnight. :)
All that is neat, but what I found to be the coolest thing about it is that it is preserved so well in most places, that you can feel the finger indentations from where the people made it. They are shallow, presumably because the artist didn't want them to be visible, but I'm very glad that they are.
The site supervisors and important people on site are all excited about it. Throughout the day as I cleared bits of it, supervisors came by and made sure I was doing everything alright. They were all pleased with how careful I as with it, although I don't know why they would expect anyone to NOT be careful with a 5,000 year old pot. Anyway, it was great because I love that careful, little work.
Unfortunately when we make the next pass at that strech of land, we are going to excavate down around the pot while keeping it encased in a square of soil. This way it can be "lifted" from the site and extracted in a more careful environment. That means I probably won't get to work on it again, but that's OK. I'm glad I got to work on it so much today.
Another really neat find today was made by another girl from our group, also working in the midden. She found a large piece of pottery laying horizontally on the ground. I didn't get as close a look at it as I did with mine, but it seemed to be about 1 foot square. While the size is neat in itself, the piece was even more special--it had sculped decorations made in clay. From what I saw, there was a pattern that looked like a piece of twine that is twisted together to make it bind. There were several other raised decorations, but I didn't get much time to examine them.
I'm very sore. This morning as we were walking out to the site, a friend of mine mentioned that she was sore, and when I said I was too, she was relieved that she wasn't the only one. She had been thinking that maybe she was just a wimp, which is crazy since she is a college swimmer. I was also relieved, because I didn't seem like such a wimp because she was sore too.My knees, elbows, and palms are bruised and excavating was painful today, but it was still really neat.
I took pictures today,, both of the pot I was working on, and the setting. Again, I'm not going to upload them yet. By the time we get back from the dig, we are all exhausted. We have time to all take showers, all eat dinner, and then about an hour or two left if we want to get a decent amount of sleep. After work today I walked to the small co-op here and picked up more food for lunches and dinners. We are all in charge of our own food.
Goodnight. :)
Jul 23, 2012
Excavations today!
Today we started excavations. We were given a brief talking to about safety and procedure, but those of us who read our excavation manual as we were instructed to, had some idea of what we were doing... but not much.
We worked from 9-5, with a 15 minute break in the morning, a 30 minute break for lunch, and another 15 minute tea break in the afternoon.
I was put on excavation of the midden, which we might sophisticatedly call a "trash pile" But that's a great place to be. The most commonly found items that were found in the midden today were pieces of burnt bone, chunks of pottery, and a few pieces of flint. Personally I found several pieces of pottery, or to be more precise, ceramic material. To call them pottery is assuming that the ceramic was used to make vessels such as pots.
I also found two pieces of flint, and many small pieces of bone. When we find something significant such as those, we put them in a bag and carefully mark it. We put a matching tag and nail in the ground exactly where it was found and at the same level. The bag is put in a tray that is filled up with bags containing artifacts. When it is full, it is taken to the "Finds hut" where it is sorted or something important like that. I will get to work and learn there later :)
The day was long and hard work, because we are on our knees all the time except when we have to empty our bucket of "spoil" which is the dirt we remove from around artifacts.
We work slowly, scraping the dirt and keeping it level, while we slowly go deeper and deeper. I probably moved an area of about 2x3 feet, down about 3-4 inches. Everyone else from my group (who was new) did about te same.
Tomorrow might be rough, because knees are bruised and muscles are sore, but I'm looking forward to it anyway. It was beautiful all day- overcast, cool and breezy. Perfect for me. :) This job is already the coolest thing ever. I love the careful work and how organized everything is. One of the site supervisors mentioned how well archaeology works for obsessibe people.
Goodnight. I'm exhausted.
P.S. My luggage finally arrived at the closest airport and my professor picked it up for me while we were working. It's nice to have a clean shirt!
We worked from 9-5, with a 15 minute break in the morning, a 30 minute break for lunch, and another 15 minute tea break in the afternoon.
I was put on excavation of the midden, which we might sophisticatedly call a "trash pile" But that's a great place to be. The most commonly found items that were found in the midden today were pieces of burnt bone, chunks of pottery, and a few pieces of flint. Personally I found several pieces of pottery, or to be more precise, ceramic material. To call them pottery is assuming that the ceramic was used to make vessels such as pots.
I also found two pieces of flint, and many small pieces of bone. When we find something significant such as those, we put them in a bag and carefully mark it. We put a matching tag and nail in the ground exactly where it was found and at the same level. The bag is put in a tray that is filled up with bags containing artifacts. When it is full, it is taken to the "Finds hut" where it is sorted or something important like that. I will get to work and learn there later :)
The day was long and hard work, because we are on our knees all the time except when we have to empty our bucket of "spoil" which is the dirt we remove from around artifacts.
We work slowly, scraping the dirt and keeping it level, while we slowly go deeper and deeper. I probably moved an area of about 2x3 feet, down about 3-4 inches. Everyone else from my group (who was new) did about te same.
Tomorrow might be rough, because knees are bruised and muscles are sore, but I'm looking forward to it anyway. It was beautiful all day- overcast, cool and breezy. Perfect for me. :) This job is already the coolest thing ever. I love the careful work and how organized everything is. One of the site supervisors mentioned how well archaeology works for obsessibe people.
Goodnight. I'm exhausted.
P.S. My luggage finally arrived at the closest airport and my professor picked it up for me while we were working. It's nice to have a clean shirt!
Jul 22, 2012
Orkney!
Hello all!
I reached the Orkney mainland last night at 11pm. My flights took me from Boise to Minniapolis, to Paris, then I found out that my flight from Paris to Aberdeen, Scotlad was canceled because of strike! So I was re-routed to Dublin, then to Aberdeen. Because of the flight changes, I had very little time to make it to my ferry, so I was wworried about that when I finally got to Aberdeen. I went to collect my luggage and it didn't come. Neither did the luggage of any of the other people who were re-routed through Dublin.
I gave the Airline my email, since it is my only form of communication, then I set out for the ferry. I made it in time and rode it for 6 hours to Kirkwall, Orkney. I met two young men, one from Wales and one from Manchester and we talked the entire time about differences in our languages and I learned lots of British sayings. I had a goo time but was exhausted.
My professor picked me up, along with another student who was apparently on the ferry with me. Luckily there was still a store open at 11pm so we went by for me to buy some underwear--or "pants" as they are called in the UK-- shampoo, and some pjs. Thankfully I brought all of the absolutely necessary things in my carry on. (retainer, pills, tooth brush and paste) (Good to think ahead, Eric ;)
Got to sleep 56 hours after leaving Boise. I was so tired. Definitely not enough sleep.
Today me and the 12 other college students got to take a tour of this island. We went to Skara Brae which is a Neolithic settlement very similar to the one that we will be excavating at the Ness of Brodgar. It was amazing. Their houses were inside of hills, kind of like the Hobbits' homes, except there were tunnels all over. Also, they had a rather complex indoor drainage system for a toilet. They had jewelry and made art work. We got to see a lot of that at the museum there.
We viewed several other neolithic sites and ruins. We also got to go to a cathedral called St Magnus' Cathedral. It dates back to the 12th century! It is still in use today. It was breath taking. I took lots of pictures, but you can probably find better ones online.
I'm tired and I need to catch up on some sleep I'll try to upload pictures later. :)
I'm so excited. If the weather cooperates, tomorrow we will go to the site and start our excavtions. Our professor says we will be dirty by lunch time, so we're going to get right to it!
Jul 14, 2012
Adventures in Orkney- Preface
Hello everyone!
I'm working out some kinks with this old blog so that I can keep a public record of my upcoming trip to Scotland. I'll be excavating at the Ness of Brodgar site in the Orkney islands. (Visit this website for more information: orkneyjar.com/archaeology/nessofbrodgar/ I leave on a big steel bird on Friday, the 20th and return to the States a month later, then it's off to school, so I will be unable to share my experienes in person with everyone.
I hope to post here every day, or at least every other day. I also hope to be able to upload pictures, but since I haven't tried to do that from my tablet yet, I'm not sure I will have the time to figure it out.
I wish you all well. Be sure to tell me if you can't see this post so that I can address the problem immediately. ;)
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