Successful beyond our expectations because of the help we have received from the staff of the University of Missouri, St Louis. Their enthusiasm for us to be successful is only matched by the practical help they are giving us.
And the course is a fantastic experience also. Every day we are up at 5.30 ish for a good breakfast and then out to the bus ( a beautiful new Mercedes model with a very careful diver from guess where: yep, Koukounara!).
The jobs are rotated so you might find yourself field walking one day, cleaning specimens at the Pylos museum the next, then on the actual dig and helping the Sat Nav team the next. So if you are on the Sat Nav team you're up a bit earlier to get out into the field to set up the days grids for the field groups to cover.
I enjoyed that immensely as my grandfather was a land surveyor and used a theodolite and chain as his tools of trade. Nowadays of course all coordinates are obtained from satellites and distances are measured similarly or by laser. He would have been delighted, especially when I remember the mistakes I made when "chaining" for him!
No log tables , no chain tables to take into account the curve in the chain over the distance. But above all the mystery and the inevitable accuracy and truth of Mathematics. I'm a sucker for it: theory proven in the pursuit of a useful task and combined with the latest technology. And he was too!
But the essence of the practical side of the course is the field walking. And we did a lot of that. Split up into field teams of about 8 each and led by an experienced archaeologist we followed the grids laid out by the Sat / Nav team. After being dropped of by the bus at about 8.30 ish we walk to the grid site and our leader sets us up with compasses. We then walk our section of the grid very slowly looking down and around to find the slightest trace of an ancient artifact.
Sometimes we retrace our steps if the country is difficult. Now and again we are successful as we hold up a piece of brick. But often the leader says, "Great finding but it's modern". "Modern"is something I do not like! But today I excel my self and pick up a piece of the base of a 2000 year old drinking vessel.
Quite proud I am. Of to the museum for classification and then it will probably be returned almost to the exact spot that I found it.
Top: Fieldwalking country
Middle: J. A. Parry, Registered Surveyor, King Country, New Zealand C1915.
Bottom: What a find!
