We arrived in a little town called Tito, in the Basilicata region of Southern Italy on the 22nd of June. The dig began the next day for us, and it was a bit of a shock to our delicate systems, which had grown used to the three-hour lunch/siesta time we had everyday in Matera. I got up at 6am and stumbled to a nearby bakery for a chocolate croissant and then at 7am all the Canadians headed to where our prof was staying- a creepy old building called the Palazzo, which had scary old medical rooms that I never actually laid eyes on. We piled into an old beat-up van to get to the dig sites and from there were separated into three groups- one group of Canadians per dig site. I was posted at Saggio (site) VII where they were digging the remains of a hut from the 6th century BC. The first day was awful because we were told that there would be water for us at the site, and there was not. So pick-axeing, shovelling and hauling dirt in the blazing sun was not particularly enjoyable. By 2pm we were very dehydrated and tired and I thought the three weeks were going to be terrible. Right before we left, the Italian archaeologists were washing their hands with BOTTLED WATER. We must have looked quite pathetic and thirsty (or maybe just dirty) so they offered us each a splash of water. I was exceedingly dirty but I caught the water in my hands, watched it mix with the dirt and drank the whole tonic. It was heaven.
When we got back to the hotel, we all tore across the street to the park where there was a fountain with cold drinking water. We drank as much as our bellies would allow and splashed water on our hot and filthy hands, arms and faces. Then we sat in the hotel dining room and gorged on pasta.
That first day wasn't a good indication of how the dig would be every day. The second day (and every subsequent day) I armed myself with 4.5 liters of water and that made all the difference in the world. Even though we weren't unearthing stuff as exciting as they were on the other sites (Saggio V and X), I absolutely loved every day. We found a lot of pottery, because the hut was destroyed by fire while it was still inhabited- so everything that was in it was destroyed too. The geometric pottery was my favourite (dated roughly 9th-8th century BC) because of the painted decorations on it. One day I found a great haul of the stuff and the next day in the lab, I got to wash all my finds myself. Every day when we'd all reunite for lunch, we'd all compare our days and the things we found. At the other sites they were finding all kinds of glamourous stuff like bodies, bronze, iron, glass etc. The Saggio VII crew was jealous (archaeologists are only human too) but we all knew that it was pure chance that certain people found all the good stuff. It certainly wasn't skill, because there was a fair amount of stuff wrecked at the hands of the Canadians at the other sites.
One day there was a thunderstorm approaching in the early afternoon and we packed up early, covering the site to protect it from the rain. The next day we saw how futile those efforts were- our site was flooded. We spent most of the day bailing out the site with buckets and eventually we were sent up to the Medieval site at the top of the hill, where we stayed for the rest of the dig (this was halfway through the three weeks). At the Medieval site, my friend Jenn and I unearthed a terracotta drain pipe that led to the underground cistern where they collected rainwater. Jenn found the drain and I noticed a piece of iron in front of it, that the Italians decided was a filter for the rain water. Very cool.
I'll pause now and add some pictures of all this. More stories from the trip to come.
**The hat I wore every day**
**The wheat fields around the site, also known as Ye Olde Latrine**
**The life-giving fountain**
**My finds from one day at the site**
**The day Saggio VII flooded... quel désastre**
**Dwayne the Drain (iron not shown)**
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