(Guest post by Anna Wilson)
‘Tis now the second week of the PKAP Vigla 2023 excavation, and things are off to a spectacular start! It is my second season at this site and I feel very fortunate to return this year! Most days I am up on site with others but since I am working on a project with Tom I have been in Terra Ombra a lot more this year. We got started on the project last week when we pulled and washed some of the pottery from the relevant units to our project. Melanie Godsey, our field director and recent UNC Chapel Hill PhD, gave me an extremely informative crash course on how to read/scan pottery, and thanks to that – and her edits and words of wisdom – I feel much more equipped to venture into this project. This week I have been able to start scanning and logging pottery, and I am very excited that I get to help out with cataloging our vast collection of ceramics. This task, however, can be in the words of Melanie “mind-melting” at times, but it is quite fun and fascinating at others! While my heart lies in digging and excavating, I truly appreciate and have been enjoying this opportunity to learn this separate, important, and fascinating side of the archaeological process. Now when I read archeological papers I have so much more respect for the work that is put into the presentation and analysis of data. Another bonus of Terra Ombra is that I get to work closely with Lex (’19), a Reed alumna!
When I am not at Terra Ombra, I am on-site with everyone else and have had the privilege to work with Ana 1 (I am Anna 2), with whom I feel like I learn something new and amazing every minute! It has already been an extremely eventful unit, which we had initially planned to sweep, clean up, and close in a day … cut to halfway through week two and there is nooo end to this unit in site (*I am in no way complaining about this remarkable unit, but damn it just keeps churning up stuff, much of which is puzzling, to say the least!).
Everyone else in the other trenches are doing such an impressive job! Since we have much more people this season, things are moving faster, so it is fun to look up in surprise and see all the progress everyone is making! BOOM new feature! BOOM another half a meter down! BOOM cool pottery! As always one of the highlights of the trip has been meeting and getting to know the MSU students and graduate supervisors. The memories and lessons from last year are with me as I continue to make new ones this year, and I am so excited to see what comes of this season!