Tag: Nikon
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Rome is Home
When I returned from the 2017 summer field season, I was riding high on optimism for my archaeological career but running on fumes for money. Very fortunately, though, the stars aligned and offered me not one but two promotions in about a month’s time, providing me the means to stabilize my finances. Since this is…
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The Plow-Zone
The past couple of weeks have been quite busy at Aeclanum. My trench (Saggio 8) received two, bright eyed, bushy tailed new participants who were eager to dive deep into all the mysteries that the archaeology of Aeclanum holds. What are those mysteries? In case you missed my post from the last block, our trench’s…
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Charles IV, a couple Alpine border crossings, and a quagmire of red tape.
Well everybody, it’s been a long time coming but the field season is finally here (and after too much delay, the first blog post of the season as well!). I’m finally in the field…digging. There is a verifiable amount of dirt on my trowel so it’s official! It has (quite literally) been a long road…
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Ending the Season
Well, my field season is officially over (Cue “This is the End” by The Doors). Friday was my last day digging at Sainte-Candie. A tiny part of me is saying Hallelujah; the other, larger part is a bit melancholy about leaving the field. I’m feeling the same nervousness I had when I was leaving Aeclanum…
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Appreciating the Little Finds in Life
Stratigraphy can be a fickle beast. In a previous post, I explained at length how it can become a nightmare. I’m sure I’ve alluded to the stratigraphic terrors that I’ve been unveiling here at Sainte-Candie. Nevertheless, here’s a quick refresher for the newbies or the ones who were sleeping in the back of class: Stratigraphy…
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Tools of the Trade
Frustration continues near the summit of Sainte-Candie as we struggle to excavate through increasingly difficult stratigraphy. Compact brownish silt has given way to soft fine-grained pink sand, which was easily removed and underneath was compact grey clayish silt, which, when excavated, was mixed with pinkish sand and a grittier reddish sand. Underneath all of that…
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A Familiar Feeling
Greetings from Le Clos de la Tour, in Frejus, France. It’s safe to say I’m not in Italy anymore (I know, I’ve been in France for more than a week but go with it). My mini-vacation in Nice was absolutely enjoyable, despite catching a sinus infection, which I only get when I’m living in groups,…
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R&R
Apologies for the delayed post. As the title of this post suggests, I’ve been enjoying some (in my opinion) well deserved decompressing time. Nevertheless, I’m still here and I haven’t totally succumbed to the sweet repose of the French Riviera…yet. Last week was my final week at the Apolline Project. It was a bit melancholic to…
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Transitions
At the beginning of last week, we finally concluded digging to the bottom of our rubble context to find a “preparation layer.” While digging in a hole that was getting deeper than I am tall is my idea of a good time, both Ferdinando and the hard-packed surface of concrete stopped us from going any…
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“Another day, another context”
The past week has been a bit long. We’ve continued digging our trench and gone more than a meter below the surface. We’ve been moving through a new context every day, each one approximately 20cm thick. In terms of moving soil, that is kind of slow. In terms of doing paperwork and making drawings of…
The Starving Archaeologist 