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(as if)... should tune in to radio station KNZZ and listen to the interview I just did about our study. (I'm so glad I'll never have to hear it!)
Jun. 3rd, 2004
Archaeological daydreams
Jun. 3rd, 2004 02:27 pmA close friend of both people currently listed in my LJ Friends list is about to go do the most exciting thing I can imagine. (Well, the most exciting thing a person could have a reasonable chance of doing if they wanted, unlike, say, winning the Nobel Prize or walking on the moon). Anyway, she's about to go spend a month participating in an archaeological dig in southern Europe.
Now, if this appeals to you too, stop a moment and form a mental picture of it. See, when I first heard about it, for several days all I knew was that it would be "in southern Europe," and from that, my imagination was free to fill in the blanks according to my own fantasies. And then when I heard where she's actually going -- which I agree is definitely a desirable place to go -- still, it was a bit discrepant from how I'd imagined it, which I found quite interesting.
So apparently my dream of "an archaeological dig in southern Europe" would involve excavating Greek ruins in Magna Graecia (southern Italy) or Sicily, or prehistoric and possibly matriarchal villages in Croatia. My mental picture also conjured up the recent excavations in the harbor at Alexandria, and the oracle at Siwa in the Egyptian desert where Alexander the Great learned that his father was actually Zeus and not Philip of Macedon, and the undersea search for wreckage from the Battle of Salamis. (Apparently, too, my imagination thinks of North Africa as "southern Europe" more than it thinks of the northern half of Italy as "southern Europe"...)
Then upon further reflection, I realized which archaeological dig I would most have loved to participate in -- the discovery of the Minoan civilization by Sir Arthur Evans by excavating the ruins at Knossos on Crete, about a hundred years ago. I mean, imagine discovering the Minoans! What could be more thrilling? To be the first to learn that the earliest civilization in Europe was centered on trade and the arts, and not war and conquest, with women having equal status in all aspects of political, economic, and religious life? Here's a great website about the Minoans.
Anyway, this friend of my friends is actually going to be participating at a dig to learn more about the Romans and the Etruscans, at a site about 30 miles south of Livorno, not far from the west coast of Italy. The Etruscans are of course very cool too; would that they'd been a bit further from Rome so they could have flourished even longer and contributed more of their world to our own. This dig is part of the Cecina Valley Project at Torre di Donoratico, and here's a look at the site's ruined medieval castle. (If you look at the link for the project, you'll see that the participants actually get to stay in a nice-looking building, with a pool! A far cry from the "tents in a desert" scenario that had originally come to my mind.)
I certainly wish her luck, and a lifetime of memories to come.
Now, if this appeals to you too, stop a moment and form a mental picture of it. See, when I first heard about it, for several days all I knew was that it would be "in southern Europe," and from that, my imagination was free to fill in the blanks according to my own fantasies. And then when I heard where she's actually going -- which I agree is definitely a desirable place to go -- still, it was a bit discrepant from how I'd imagined it, which I found quite interesting.
So apparently my dream of "an archaeological dig in southern Europe" would involve excavating Greek ruins in Magna Graecia (southern Italy) or Sicily, or prehistoric and possibly matriarchal villages in Croatia. My mental picture also conjured up the recent excavations in the harbor at Alexandria, and the oracle at Siwa in the Egyptian desert where Alexander the Great learned that his father was actually Zeus and not Philip of Macedon, and the undersea search for wreckage from the Battle of Salamis. (Apparently, too, my imagination thinks of North Africa as "southern Europe" more than it thinks of the northern half of Italy as "southern Europe"...)
Then upon further reflection, I realized which archaeological dig I would most have loved to participate in -- the discovery of the Minoan civilization by Sir Arthur Evans by excavating the ruins at Knossos on Crete, about a hundred years ago. I mean, imagine discovering the Minoans! What could be more thrilling? To be the first to learn that the earliest civilization in Europe was centered on trade and the arts, and not war and conquest, with women having equal status in all aspects of political, economic, and religious life? Here's a great website about the Minoans.
Anyway, this friend of my friends is actually going to be participating at a dig to learn more about the Romans and the Etruscans, at a site about 30 miles south of Livorno, not far from the west coast of Italy. The Etruscans are of course very cool too; would that they'd been a bit further from Rome so they could have flourished even longer and contributed more of their world to our own. This dig is part of the Cecina Valley Project at Torre di Donoratico, and here's a look at the site's ruined medieval castle. (If you look at the link for the project, you'll see that the participants actually get to stay in a nice-looking building, with a pool! A far cry from the "tents in a desert" scenario that had originally come to my mind.)
I certainly wish her luck, and a lifetime of memories to come.