The Apolline Project | Week Five

September 01, 2015

The One Where I Dug A Hole


As always, I've had another great week- as can be expected when you're in the sunshine all day doing something you love. This week we welcomed another bunch of people to our wee home, and got to know them while having some drinks on the roof of our house. I found it rather odd this week, returning to site and working on the same trench with the same supervisor, but this time with new trench mates. Although we didn't have the same trench games going on that we had last block, we still were chatting away and introducing the new girls to our tarp trench. We are now the only trench on site to have all girls - although the boys humour is missed, we sure are showing 'girl power' as we work away.



I've loved continuing on the same trench as the last two weeks, and we've finished our drawing of one context and now excavated further down to expose the foundation of the ramp - our goal for trench 12. If I'd have to pick a day that was my favourite for my whole time here, this Friday would have to be a strong contender. As I have been here the longest on site (officially the veteran for this block!) my supervisor Gabie asked if I'd help her excavate a little dip we had found in the ramp. Although this may not seem like a huge deal, I was exceedingly happy, as it shows that I've come a long way in my excavating skills, and am trusted enough to do something of this nature. It was really interesting to excavate this area of the ramp as we were producing lots of frescoe, some of which had amazing patterns of flowers and leaves on them. Although we didn't find a coin like we were all praying for, we did uncover some evidence about the building of the ramp, which may help the original research question of when it was built.



Friday was also an amazing day because Ferdinando (the project director) said that I could return next year as a supervisor! This is an amazing achievement for me, to be given this position so early on in my archaeology career is a real privilege. What I hadn't realised was that I was being trained for a supervisor role this whole week, but my official training begins next week, and I will be called a "trainee supervisor". I don't think I stopped smiling the whole time I talked to Ferdinando, nor the when telling people. I can't wait to return next year, hopefully seeing many of the same faces, and be involved in the project with a different perspective then a student. I think this year will be spent on improving my confidence, and I will throw myself fully into the courses that will help me in the field, so that I can be the best that I can be.

This week has had another few boozy nights, and an amazing barbecue with Veronika's incredible burgers - so filling, but so worth it. We've taken the last few days slow in anticipation for the weekend, when we take a trip to Ischia and plan to have a very drunk Saturday night.

Lots of love,
Emily
xxx

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