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So like both the title of this blog, and my signature in my profile, I'm a (somewhat junior) Archaeologist, going into my third year at the university of Southampton.
As part of my degree, I have to complete at least 3 weeks of field work before I graduate, so for better or for worse, I'm not squatting in a chair in a crummy 4 bed flat in the south of England, Instead I'm on Greece, for 4 weeks.
So I guess this will work on the format of any questions, but first the easy ones.
Where I'm staying
In the middle of nowhere, in seemingly the flattest place in the world.
So feel free to ask me any questions that relate to things like the excavation and the site itself, the nightlife, other things I've done so far, how drunk I've gotten, how long each work day is, what I've had to eat, etc
The only thing I can't do is post pictures of things that I have dug, since there is a ban on dissemination of photographic materials directly relating to unpublished work.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/s4s8a.jpg)
Current view from my laptop as I sit in one of the 2 places you can get internet in the villiage.
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Can you post pictures of what you eat? That will make me rate it 5/5 :3
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Oh I'll totally do that, I don't have any pictures of food yet, but I'll be sure to pictures of them from tomorrow onwards.
I'm going to enjoy posting my breakfast tomorrow :3
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Yeah I read this news story on BBC news website, really quite exciting, I've read alot of Chris stringers work, he is one of premier archaeologists in the field of human originals.
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thedeadhaji
39489 Posts
Could you give two examples of culture shock you have experienced in Greece?
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Do you have a fedora?
Also did you pay for your trip?
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On September 12 2011 02:15 thedeadhaji wrote:
Could you give two examples of culture shock you have experienced in Greece?
I guess one of them would be from just walking around in the village, you begin to notice that almost everyone on the street is; at least a man, more often than not, a rotund 60 year old man, who glares a little you as you pass. There are seemingly no women around.
The second example, which always gets to me when I'm in Greece, is toilet etiquette.
No throwing toilet paper down the loo, you have to put you shit stained bog roll in a tiny bin beside the loo, with everyone else's shit stained paper.
This is made worst in my current situation, because the toilet in our house, doesn't flush properly, you have a to fill up a bucket with water, and tip it down the basin, which is further complicated by there being a whole in the side of the bucket.
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On September 12 2011 02:19 XCetron wrote:
Do you have a fedora?
Also did you pay for your trip?
No I don't have a fedora, I do have a hat however, its a tiley hat, which is practically indestructible, it floats, is water resistant, and is currently covered in dirt.
And yes, I had to pay for my trip, it cost me 500 pounds, with the university paying alot more money behind the scenes, including flights and accommodation.
There is a free field trip, and very cheap one, but these trips don't take place outside the UK, and the only reason all archaeologists do what they do, is to get a tan while they dig a hole.
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On September 12 2011 02:22 Kerotan wrote:
The second example, which always gets to me when I'm in Greece, is toilet etiquette.
No throwing toilet paper down the loo, you have to put you shit stained bog roll in a tiny bin beside the loo, with everyone else's shit stained paper.
How... why... ...ew
good luck :D
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On September 12 2011 02:38 Warpath wrote:Show nested quote +On September 12 2011 02:22 Kerotan wrote:
The second example, which always gets to me when I'm in Greece, is toilet etiquette.
No throwing toilet paper down the loo, you have to put you shit stained bog roll in a tiny bin beside the loo, with everyone else's shit stained paper. How... why... ...ew good luck :D
The story I've always heard as to why, is the plumbing I not good enough, and judging that the last dig I went on, which was also in Greece where the toilets in our apartment over followed sending toilet water everywhere, I think that might be the correct explanation.
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On September 12 2011 02:19 XCetron wrote:
Do you have a fedora?
Also did you pay for your trip?
Damn you, I thought of an OS...
But on topic, that is one amazing photo. I hope you are enjoying yourself. Is metaxa any good?
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good plumbing is something we take for granted, growing up in a third world country, i was pleasantly surprised when we moved to America by the simplicity of the toilet!
What do you want to do with your degree? More schooling to teach? Is there such thing as professional archeologist? Do you pretend to be Indiana Jonesque sometimes?
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What exactly are you looking for, there? I guess objects from ancient greece, or are you looking for remains of early humans/animals/plants?
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on google earth, it looks like i'm playing civilization V lol xD
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Do you ever watch Time Team?
My dads favorite show.
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Woo another anthropologist on TL, look at that O_o I am a Biological Anthropologist though.
What time period is the site you are excavating from? I did some excavations in Poland and that was a blast.
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I can't claim to know you Kerotan, but here is my "artist's impression" of where I hope your excellent career and lovely blog take us:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/lS0BD.jpg)
<3
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can't take pics? Well can you at least describe the shit you dig up?
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I'm not certain if this is a legitimate question, but how exactly does one get into Archaeology? How long does it take? What programs do you have to qualify for, and what degree do you need to get into it?
Inquiring minds want to know!
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On September 12 2011 05:42 goiflin wrote:
I'm not certain if this is a legitimate question, but how exactly does one get into Archaeology? How long does it take? What programs do you have to qualify for, and what degree do you need to get into it?
Inquiring minds want to know!
It can depend per country, as there is actually a few big difference between European and American Anthropology (how they go about it). I know in the United States it depends on how far you want to go. You want to be a professor and teach and do research"? PhD it is for you! But some archaeologists can get into contract work (what we call CRM which means cultural resource management) and generally you do a lot of surveying and digs and writing reports and that usually only requires a masters now a days. You can also work for state parks and stuff like that with a masters.
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Firstly, I promised pictures of my food in my last update, so here are some photos:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Gu5EX.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/kdj3r.jpg)
Breakfast at the ungodly hour of quarter to 7, as you can tell, I'm really not that hungry at this time in the morning.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/5UiUG.jpg)
This is our ten thirty snack, which I was going to say is basically re-purposed breakfast, but it is, save a fresh loaf of bread here and there.
LUNCH!
Best meal of the day, although I wasn't too happy about having fish, but feta and salad is a great mixture, along with copious amounts of olive oil.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/RHcgx.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/ux6ea.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Z3IX8.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/B1vVa.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/EHAXz.jpg)
Plus bonus shot of what the site itself looks like:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/gfd5i.jpg)
Taken in the dead early morning when we start work.
On September 12 2011 02:59 stork4ever wrote:
good plumbing is something we take for granted, growing up in a third world country, i was pleasantly surprised when we moved to America by the simplicity of the toilet!
What do you want to do with your degree? More schooling to teach? Is there such thing as professional archeologist? Do you pretend to be Indiana Jonesque sometimes?
I' not entirely sure, I would love to stay to be an academic, teach and work on MA/PhD etc, quite frankly I wouldn't mind teaching history alala Indiana Jones at the start of every Indy film.
Yes, there are such things as profesional archaeologists, but jobs are few and far between, and having worked a short time with commercial archaeological units, I would rather not. I can go into greater detail about that if you want.
On September 12 2011 03:07 surfinbird1 wrote:
What exactly are you looking for, there? I guess objects from ancient greece, or are you looking for remains of early humans/animals/plants?
Score on your second try. The site itself is what is called a tell site, or an artificial mound that has been built up by human activity. The mound itself isn't very noticeable, until you're standing on it, but they do come larger than ours.
The site itself is in the middle of a cotton field to the south east of the village. The dating for the site is about 6000 years old, so what we are looking for is anything we can get, right now our finds consist mostly of animal bones, pottery, oh and 2 houses of the same period, one of which has been built on top of some previous houses, in the same alignment. We have some cool small finds, like clay sling bullets, some obsidian blades, (one of which we found today) and a number of abstract figurines, in various styles. I'l try and describe these finds in greater detail later.
On September 12 2011 03:16 Gak2 wrote:
on google earth, it looks like i'm playing civilization V lol xD
If N. Monsestri was a town in CIV V, it would have 3 citizens TT.
(in fairness, the N stands for neo, or new. Want to have a guess why? the old town got hit by an earthquake, and the village was recreated in the 1950s, hence the grid plan streets.)
On September 12 2011 03:57 Thrill wrote:
Do you ever watch Time Team?
My dads favorite show.
Oh yeah sure, shit tons of the time, I watch it less now I'm a student, and have less access to a television, but alot of my professors from Southampton have starred in episodes, so they give s the background gossip of how the shows production works etc.
On September 12 2011 04:02 Slaughter wrote:
Woo another anthropologist on TL, look at that O_o I am a Biological Anthropologist though.
What time period is the site you are excavating from? I did some excavations in Poland and that was a blast.
Yeah its odd, American and English Archaeology works differently to how it does in Europe, due how the discipline has developed, so while I engage in ethnography, my job title is still very much "Archaeologist"
The time period of the site is from the neolithic to the early perhaps even late bronze age, so is about the transition to a more sedentary life style, developing towards the classic period.
On September 12 2011 04:44 UltimateHurl wrote:I can't claim to know you Kerotan, but here is my "artist's impression" of where I hope your excellent career and lovely blog take us: <3
Oh if only, if you saw pictures of me right now, you would be severely disappointed, and while I'm bulking up during this trip, me in a word is still: Wispy.
On September 12 2011 04:47 SpoR wrote:
can't take pics? Well can you at least describe the shit you dig up?
Yeah I certainly can, I'm going to try and do that in full later tonight, give a detailed run down of the sort of things we find, along with pictures of objects which are of a similar style.
On September 12 2011 05:42 goiflin wrote:
I'm not certain if this is a legitimate question, but how exactly does one get into Archaeology? How long does it take? What programs do you have to qualify for, and what degree do you need to get into it?
Inquiring minds want to know!
I got into Archaeology the same way you get into history at degree level. In the UK, you can do an A level in Archaeology, (an A level being something you complete by the time you are 18, and usually takes 2 years).
I however did not, I did Geography, History, Classics and Philosophy at A level, and now I'm doing a BA in Archaeology, which takes 3 years full time. One I complete my BA in Archaeology, what I really need to be a proper professional archaeologist is a Masters before any professional unit would take me seriously. Its then kinda expected that you work towards a PhD.
Right thanks for all the responses, I really thought I would get like 2 replies :D.
I'll try and be quick with my replies, but I'm working from 6 in the morning to more or less 8 in the evening, and then I have to get down to the taverna to use the internet.
Thanks for reading! :D
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I got into Archaeology the same way you get into history at degree level. In the UK, you can do an A level in Archaeology, (an A level being something you complete by the time you are 18, and usually takes 2 years).
I however did not, I did Geography, History, Classics and Philosophy at A level, and now I'm doing a BA in Archaeology, which takes 3 years full time. One I complete my BA in Archaeology, what I really need to be a proper professional archaeologist is a Masters before any professional unit would take me seriously. Its then kinda expected that you work towards a PhD.
Right thanks for all the responses, I really thought I would get like 2 replies :D.
I'll try and be quick with my replies, but I'm working from 6 in the morning to more or less 8 in the evening, and then I have to get down to the taverna to use the internet.
Thanks for reading! :D
Thanks a bunch for the info, both you and the other person who replied. I've been wondering this for a while, and you guys answered my question perfectly 
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Research interests? What region of the world are you most interested in (though I'm going to assume you're more into Classical archaeology)? What time period? How's your language background? How's the weather? What (mental) skills do you think all archaeologists need to succeed in the field? What are you going to do to ensure you won't be living in a cardboard box after you graduate? When do you expect to develop RSI or carpal tunnel? 
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On September 13 2011 03:09 babylon wrote:Research interests? What region of the world are you most interested in (though I'm going to assume you're more into Classical archaeology)? What time period? How's your language background? How's the weather? What (mental) skills do you think all archaeologists need to succeed in the field? What are you going to do to ensure you won't be living in a cardboard box after you graduate? When do you expect to develop RSI or carpal tunnel?
I have classical interests just like most people entering into archaeology, since Ancient Rome and Greece feature so heavily in popular culture, but my research interests more like in issues of representation, political, ethical, moral issues, as well anthropological study, so alot of things that are traditionally seen as being outside the subject, but are in fact key to the business of us as academics. (my BA dissertation is about interactive media - computer games and their role in representing the past)
I enjoy things like indigenous archaeology, and archaeologists of gender, since I've always believed that the role of the intellectual is to represent the downtrodden, disposed and unheard. This comes from studying philosophy I guess, I don't think i could do a job where I wasn't behaving in an ethical manner.
My favorite time period... perhaps the early imperial period, late republican period, very interesting point of dramatic changes for Rome as a city state.
My languages, I speak conversation french... badly, very basic German, some spanish, I understand Latin to a good degree, but my Greek is pretty terrible, but I get by.
The weather here is baking hot almost all the time, we start early to try and get a few hours in early morning, but by midday the temperature is 40 degrees Celsius, the rain that sometimes comes in the night makes it worst, because at least the air i usually dry, but instead it becomes humid, so lots of water is always a given.
When I graduate, I'm moving straight back into my parents house, and most likely getting a job rather than a career, at least so I have some money to try and pay off my loan and fund (potential) masters. I might then apply for a teacher training course, which is sentence I would never thought I would say as a kid, but I can name 3 teachers from my school who really changed me for the better, so if i could have that sort of effect on people, I think I could die happy.
Ideally, I could become a post grad once I get enough money, so I can piss about reading books before I actually get a proper job.
The RSI carpel tunnel question tickles me, because I was just thinking that today, we have a tool on site, that I can only describe as one of those things they use on poker tables to move chips around, its really good for moving spill around, since it has a very long handle, and I have to say that my wrist felt really tight every time I reached for more dirt, so I have to say that isn't far off now.
If it stops me playing video games for a while, I'm going be annoyed, since while I'd like to think that I could pull a TLO, and just power through, I honestly don't think I could.
Again thanks for the response, replying to these actually gives me something to do in the evenings than just going to bed.
Picture bonus!
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Fr4lc.jpg)
These are the sort of figurines that we are finding on site, this picture was taken in a museum that we went to in the nearby town of vollos.
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Another achaeologist! Wow! I am also an archaeologist, graduated last year from the university of montana. I worked for about 6 weeks at yellowstone national park at a prehistoric site near yellowstone lake. It was a blast...perhaps the most fun I had in all of my college experience. Enjoy the field work!
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I have a rather large bone that I would really, really like to have examined... close up if possible
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How much of your time is field work and how much of it is other stuff? Is there some kinda quota or is it like "ok guys we're gonna finish this mini-project before we sleep" kind of thing?
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On September 13 2011 04:14 zOula... wrote:
Another achaeologist! Wow! I am also an archaeologist, graduated last year from the university of montana. I worked for about 6 weeks at yellowstone national park at a prehistoric site near yellowstone lake. It was a blast...perhaps the most fun I had in all of my college experience. Enjoy the field work!
Just graduated undergrad or grad?
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So you listed a few generic questions, I wan tto combine it
How drunk have you ever gotten on site 8)
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On September 12 2011 23:03 Kerotan wrote:
Oh if only, if you saw pictures of me right now, you would be severely disappointed, and while I'm bulking up during this trip, me in a word is still: Wispy.
One day man, one day
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I realised at a random point in the middle of the day that I hadn't addressed this question,
On September 13 2011 03:09 babylon wrote:
What (mental) skills do you think all archaeologists need to succeed in the field?
The ability to tolerate dull tedium, I think is a good one to have. Or the ability to focus on the bigger picture, not just from a motivation view, but also as a way of organising the strata and contexts in your mind. You can't find exciting stuff all the time.
Physical strength shouldn't be un-estimated, alot of the girls on the team seem to struggle with the labour, and even the guys too.
On September 13 2011 04:14 zOula... wrote:
Another achaeologist! Wow! I am also an archaeologist, graduated last year from the university of montana. I worked for about 6 weeks at yellowstone national park at a prehistoric site near yellowstone lake. It was a blast...perhaps the most fun I had in all of my college experience. Enjoy the field work!
Will do thanks! :D
On September 13 2011 04:36 FreshandLegit wrote:
I have a rather large bone that I would really, really like to have examined... close up if possible
Gladly..
Crude archaeological humour! :D
On September 13 2011 05:46 ymir233 wrote:
How much of your time is field work and how much of it is other stuff? Is there some kinda quota or is it like "ok guys we're gonna finish this mini-project before we sleep" kind of thing?
We work in the field from 6 am to 2:30pm, then finds processing and lab work from 5:30 to 8. If we can't finish something, we clean up, and it gets done tommorow.
On September 13 2011 09:19 Zlasher wrote:
So you listed a few generic questions, I wan tto combine it
How drunk have you ever gotten on site 8)
Oh this is a fun one! :D
Second day of digging in this excavation, I woke up, still drunk from the night before, became hung over by the time I got on site, and then I got heatstroke, and sat out the last hour of digging.
We get drunk on the reg on weekends.
Thanks for all your replies, I do really enjoy reading and replying back to them. I'm an idiot and forgot to bring my camera to the Taverna, so there won't be any new photos until I finish labs at 8pm.
Thanks again.
Some actual photos!
Link to last years photos including some of the sites features
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United States4796 Posts
That's a gorgeous view. :3
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rofl remember playing PCWs in TF2 with a certain Kerotan couple of years back...
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Very cool. I might have stayed in Arch if the food was that good on site lol. I'm currently working on a MA in Cultural Anthropology instead. Do you know if it is difficult to find work in anthro over in Europe? Either cultural or arch.
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On September 14 2011 03:07 gullberg wrote:
rofl remember playing PCWs in TF2 with a certain Kerotan couple of years back...
I did play PCW's on TF2, but only under one team, so unless its tag was XS, it was a different person.
Also on the update front, of actually news from the site, I had a really shit day today, so I'm not going to make a big post tonight.
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On September 15 2011 02:48 Kerotan wrote:Show nested quote +On September 14 2011 03:07 gullberg wrote:
rofl remember playing PCWs in TF2 with a certain Kerotan couple of years back... I did play PCW's on TF2, but only under one team, so unless its tag was XS, it was a different person. Also on the update front, of actually news from the site, I had a really shit day today, so I'm not going to make a big post tonight.
XS-Mikey, lol'd. Didn't know that you were an archaeologist, cool stuff :O
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On September 15 2011 04:05 gullberg wrote:Show nested quote +On September 15 2011 02:48 Kerotan wrote:On September 14 2011 03:07 gullberg wrote:
rofl remember playing PCWs in TF2 with a certain Kerotan couple of years back... I did play PCW's on TF2, but only under one team, so unless its tag was XS, it was a different person. Also on the update front, of actually news from the site, I had a really shit day today, so I'm not going to make a big post tonight. XS-Mikey, lol'd. Didn't know that you were an archaeologist, cool stuff :O
Oh wow, this is just going to turn into a XS reunion thread. I miss Milo and Skas, I still talk with telgor.
Talking about my fieldwork for a second, on Thursday I was ill, and then all the cool shit happened while I wasn't on site.
We found a human skull in one of the trenches, we are unsure on date, but the range is neolithic to Byzantine currently.
Right now, I'm just about to go to Metorea right when OSL is on 
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EPT
