Last day

The last day of dig was a strange affair.  It felt all very surreal that it was going to be over, it felt like we had been doing it (and would always been doing it) forever, and yet at the same time it was like no time had passed at all.

I spent the morning washing pottery and bone from our own SU the day before which I enjoyed.  We then had our final trench tour where all the progress we had made on site, what was found and future implications were talked about. Although some of it was very interesting the director had a propensity to over-talk and the weather was extremely hot which made things difficult.  

We then went and took silly photos in trench which was great fun.

Team Work!

Waltzing on the mosaic floor

Our Dig team photo

The highlight was when we went to area D  for the tour and the students working there introduced us to the bone monster dance.

We then had an amazing lunch of lasagne and meats and bread and all sorts of yummy things. 

Our Area F Photo

It was a great last day and made me realize how much I will miss everyone. Joe, Nicole, Buck, Liz and Amelia, you guys especially were awesome and I hope we catch up again soon.

I think another dig is on the books for me, but not a field school, not such a large group of people,  and next time in Greece. I've learnt a lot, made some new friends, and although the experience wasn't what I expected (In many ways a disappointment) I am still glad I did it. 

The last week

Sunday entailed pizza and Tiramisu (which was delicious) and then it was on to the last week of dig.

The first few days were much of the sameness with the oh so dreaded wheelbarrowing, however Wednesday and Thursday were my favorite days on dig for the entire trip. My friend Nicole and I were given our own SU.

What this basically means that every wall, floor, special feature or dirt layer is given an SU number e.g. 5734. This numbered area is then measured and plotted in by the topography team, then we label a container with that number so that anything we find within that SU (usually animal bone, pottery fragments and occasionally metal or charcoal) gets put into labeled bags and placed in a container (like this one). 

Our SU was a very small area, a square patch of dirt between a floor where they thought a floor block had been robbed out,  and a strange number of bricks sticking out of a break in the wall, a simple robbery it was assumed. However once we started excavating it quickly became apparent that the bricks had been purposefully placed there and not long after we uncovered a brick arch. Underneath it were a couple of different soil layers and interestingly a thick layer of charcoal. This made us think that due to the close proximity to the newly discovered hearth a meter or so away that it may have been used in conjunction with it. The ideas of a drainage system, an oven and interestingly a kiln were all thrown around. 

I guess no one will know till next year with more time and analysis now!

If you look to the left behind Laura (the lady in blue) you can just see the beginning of our pit being uncovered.

Andrew giving a Trench tour of the progress made.

We then had a quick tour of the French teams excavation area which was very interesting. They have a team from the Louvre trying to uncover the road however instead they found later walls, some floors and best of all some burials actually in the walls. Interesting stuff!

And then quite suddenly, it was the last day.

Irish pubs and grom

Saturday after a late night at the Vatican was fairly relaxed. We wandered back to the piazza Navona which although far less impressive during the day was still very pretty.

The obelisk in the center being one of my favorite things,  although I was unsure if it was one stolen from Egypt or a roman copy.

The 'wedding cake' building in piazza Venezia was also very pretty.

We also saw Trajans Column but it wasn't too exciting to stare at especially due to all the construction and scaffolding around it.

By this point feeling extremely hot and tired we popped into an Irish pub for a cooling drink.  

The scholars lounge was actually an extremely awesome pub with dark wooden surrounds and live Irish fiddle music being played. 

Also Hoegaarden was on tap which I found wildly exciting. German beer was also enjoyable. My favorite moment however was when I discovered they came in pints. 'They come in pints!? I'm getting one' I tried in my best Pippin voice and this became my favorite line for the day.

Afterwards we finally discovered Grom just of the piazza Navona. The egg cream (odd as it sounds) was extremely super good. (Yannick and Necia be jealous!! Hehe)

The Vatican

The Vatican was absolutely fantastic. Without a doubt my favorite thing I have seen so far. Taking a night visit was a stroke of genius as it set a fantastic atmosphere and was also much quieter than during the day.

We arrived just as the sky was turning pink, allowing us some outside photos before venturing within. A giant pine cone (don't ask me why) instantly drew the eye.

Additionally some Egyptian lions proved to be my favorite thing in the courtyard. Liz was able to translate the hieroglyphs for us which was pretty fantastic.

We then entered into the Egyptian part of the museum which was one of my favorite parts. Fine tablets and huge statues greeted us on our way in.

My favorite however was the mummy. It was the first one I've seen in real life and it didn't disappoint. For some reason I liked the feet especially. My friends thought I was very strange for how much I wanted to touch it, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I can't wait for the other great museums I will see in Europe and the mummy's I hope to see!

What I couldn't believe was how many of the artifacts were made out of wood! I suppose I am just used to the Roman context where nothing survives, but it just boggled my mind how well preserved everything was. Very cool. One of my favorite things made of wood was this depiction of a man.

The paintings on the ceilings was the other thing that stood out to me. The number of beautiful rooms was endless and torturous as towards  the end we were forced to rush through so we weren't kicked out with closing time and to see the Sistine chapel before we left. We had three hours to see the Vatican and we were rushing. To be safe next time I would give myself five. However the rushing was worth it for the night visit. 

Although I enjoyed the Sistine chapel it was incredibly packed and hot and I found I rather preferred the many rooms we had wandered through. The thing about the ceilings was that no matter how molded they looked, they were painted.

This was painted. I couldn't quite believe it. 

We saw many more cool things which caught my eye. Only some of which I photographed, including the famous:

                                                 

The Awesome:

And the downright random but cool. The handle is made into a vine how sweet is that!?

Some more amazing roof paintings:

River walks, Pasta and Storms

Monday day was fairly dull on dig but after an excellent home made salad for dinner it was off for more gelato! A group of us meandered our way to the gelato shop where I tried hazelnut and then peach with wine, the latter being the nicest flavor so far.

We then went on a quest to find me lip balm and ended up at the river. It was already almost dark by this point which made for some lovely views of the river. The guitarist was busking there as usual, adding to the atmosphere. 

After losing spectacularly at foosball (also known as table soccer) from a coin-operated table we found by the river, we meandered across to Tiber island before heading home. My favorite part of the evening was watching a crazy German tourist shouting excitedly to his son as he tried to fish out one of the balls from foosball that he had accidentally thrown in the river. I was so certain he was going to fall in but he didn't. 

We had storms on Tuesday and Thursday afternoon which were rather cool though they came on so quickly we were caught in the downpour. 

Thursdays storm was especially epic with forked lightening and sickly orange colored clouds rising from behind the black mountains making it look like some come of volcanic eruption. 

We finally finished the giant room we have been excavating since the beginning of the dig (I hate room 16 with a fiery passion) we had to excavate three different stratigraphic layers (imagine pickaxing, then shoveling and then wheelbarrowing uphill all the dirt from a room the size of a lounge, and then imagine doing it three times, each time going about a foot or two deeper) until we actually reached bedrock and original tufo blocks. We then had to brush the entire room crouched (so that you are touching as little of the archaeology as possible) so that it looked clean and nice for recording and photographing the room. 

Great clouds of dust were flying everywhere while doing this and I managed to get the filthiest I have so far with a layer of dust so thick on my right arm I resembled Chewbacca. I don't think this photo does it justice but you can maybe see my lovely layer of dirt, exhaustion and happiness to finally be done straight after. 

Here you can see the excitement and joy of paperwork. The one cool thing is they have started using tablets this season to record everything which is kind of amazing, every special find (e.g. a coin) every wall and floor is precisely recorded and thus creates an extremely detailed map. They are also using video game technology to create 3-D versions of onsite so you can virtually walk around and see every detail of every room. It seems like groundbreaking stuff.

 

We also had some excellent food during the week, my flatmate Liz and I buying fresh pasta and having a lovely pesto, olive pasta dish. It was divine. 

Last night we had some friends over and I made capsicum and tomato lasagna which turned out very nicely even with our disastrous oven (turns out you have to stick the gas ignitor down a hole in the oven and click it until flame comes out. terrifying stuff) and the singular oven dish the apartment provided which didn't actually fit in said oven. Luckily the supermarket had aluminum disposable oven dishes we used and the crisis was averted. We also made a large salad and Amelia made seafood risotto which looked very nice. Our friends brought wine as their contribution and overall it made for a very nice evening. 

More homemade pasta.

Tonight we have our tickets booked for the Vatican. They have introduced night visits which is pretty cool so we are off at 7:30 to explore a new (though very small) country! 

Sunday

Although I planned to do nothing all day Sunday it was in fact a good day.

I went to the market (and spent all my money) but managed to purchase a suitcase, a pillow, a towel and some other odds and ends I needed. Haggling I discovered, is not my forte.

After my successful market trip it was lunchtime. And as usual I was craving pizza. There is nothing better than the excellent combination of pizza and red wine (and checkered table cloths!)

We then followed this up with gelato. Tiramisu.  So very good.

Weekend in Rome

Although I had a lot planned for this weekend I barely managed to do anything because I came down with a cough and cold yesterday.  So that hasn't been fun at all and I'm still feeling really awful today.

On Friday night I had a lovely homemade entree with my flatmates, who knew bread mozzarella basil and cherry tomatoes could taste so good!

Amelia and I then went out for a late dinner at the little piazza in Trastevere,  I had lovely bread mozzarella mushroom olive oil goodness and we had an awesome view of the piazza.

On Saturday we wandered Rome for a while which was nice as we were able to take in the scenic streets. Anywhere there were vines or mopeds looked pretty fantastic in my opinion.

The main thing we actually managed to see was the pantheon which was fantastic to say the least. 

Outside was a little square with a fountain and an Obelisk which was also very picturesque. With the Obelisks and the people dressed as Roman soldiers wandering around I felt like Asterix and Obelix would come running out beating up the Romans at any minute. 

We saw the Vatican and Castel Sant' Angelo from the outside but I was feeling too crappy by then for the line and walking more so they will have to be another day!

Today is storming and raining so doubt I will do much except try to recover .