By Laila Hack
There are a lot of words that can be used to describe the past week of excavation; windy, tiring, and tough, but also interesting, fun, and fruitful. For the last week and a half or so, it has been a “bedrock or bust” mindset in my square. We have not yet busted, but we’ve also not found bedrock.
So far, the whole experience has been beyond any expectations I might’ve had coming into the field school. I decided to study archaeology because I’m a very hands-on learner. I like to touch things, especially old things with stories to tell, and I thought archaeology would allow me to do that. I was completely right. In the past three weeks of excavation I’ve been able to find and touch things like bone, charcoal, a horse figurine, a stone basin, and ceramics that date back to the Iron Age. It’s amazing. Even though I haven’t had the chance to excavate architecture, I’ve still learned so much in just three weeks. I’ve learned how to open a square, take elevation points, how to spot a locus change, how to trim and draw baulks, how to use a hoe and a hand-pick, how to flot a soil sample—the list goes on. I’ve also learned how unstable rocky baulks can be. Our southern baulk, full of cobbles in the top half, decided to collapse last Thursday. Four times! Thankfully, it waited until after we had finished mapping it, and no one was injured. It has been decided that we will leave the southern half of the square alone, and continue deeper in the northern half from here on out.
Beyond the excavation aspect of this experience, I also happen to absolutely adore the people here. I couldn’t be happier with my square partners and supervisors, and everyone else is incredibly nice. The atmosphere of this dig is very chill and relaxed, which is perfect and makes me really happy. Essentially, the fun combination of excavation and great people has made this the best experience of my life so far.