Mason Ross
This year, us three returning students (myself, Riley, and Matthew) have been given our own shiny new EU to open. As seasoned veterans of Vigla we are supervising the trench together, which has turned out to be fairly similar to the year before, except with far more paperwork to fill out while covered in dirt with the knowledge that what you write will become a part of this trench and this site forever.
Our trench is EU 36, the westernmost unit of the site, directly in front of the shade tents. The trench was opened with the goal of finding the western outer wall of the whole building complex. The three of us began work on EU 36 optimistic and slightly confused about soil consolidation. After a few days, and more than a few new blisters, we made it through the topsoil in the 5 meter by 5 meter trench. Our fearless and stress-free directors then received word from the British base officials that their shoot schedule was going into overtime. Vigla is unfortunately located within the base’s firing range area, meaning we must work around their target practice. Now, with suddenly fewer days on site, the decision was made to cut the 5×5 meter trench in half and focus on one side for the foreseeable future.
Riley, Matt, and I picked up our pace and started picking our way down, only to immediately come upon my personal enemy, a big pile of confusing rocks covering about 75% of our SU. Though we all suspected most of the rock pile was wall collapse, we had to articulate each rock to be sure we weren’t accidentally going to remove part of a wall. Large pieces of amphorae were on top of and wedged between many of the large rocks. We spent a day or two scraping dirt off rocks before Tom advised we switch gears and investigate two patches of the trench that suspiciously lacked any rocks at all. I began digging in a roughly circular patch in front of a Southern wall we had previously found. Riley and Matt worked along the east bulk, where we had halved our unit. That cramped circle of dirt became my enclosure as I continued digging down still finding no rocks. We soon took to calling it “The Pit,” and under the midday baking sun, without a hint of a breeze, I was sure it would be my final resting place. Eventually, and to the great benefit of my continued survival, I hit a floor surface, meaning I was allowed to crawl out of The Pit and we had a good idea of how deep the rock pile. The next day, it was time for the great rock removal. It seemed like we could have built a mountain by hand from the amount of rocks we pulled out of the ground. While removing boulder after boulder, large sherds of amphorae popped up along with some metal pieces. After three days of rock clearing and another day to level out the unit to the floor surface, we had done it. The rocks and The Pit were gone and we felt free.
The directors then let us know we would be reopening the western half of the EU and bringing it all down to this surface level. We had failed to find the western edge of the building complex, finding another room instead, so they hoped that if we just went a little further west, we would find it. Spoiler alert: that has not happened. Yesterday, we began work on the west side and almost immediately found yet more of the southern wall, meaning we had another room. I am not disappointed, however, because we have not come down on another large mess of rocks to delicately pick around. We did find what appears to be a semi-curved wall running north to south in about the middle of the trench that deeply irritates and confuses Tom. We ended the day with 4 absurdly large bags of pottery to show for our work. We still have quite a ways to go before matching the surface level of the eastern side, but it should go far more quickly because we already know the stratigraphy and there aren’t rocks to slow us down.
