{"id":34,"date":"2019-05-23T12:37:42","date_gmt":"2019-05-23T19:37:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/vigla-archaeological-project\/?p=34"},"modified":"2019-05-29T12:10:38","modified_gmt":"2019-05-29T19:10:38","slug":"a-slow-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/vigla-archaeological-project\/2019\/05\/23\/a-slow-start\/","title":{"rendered":"A slow start"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the interesting aspects of working on the site of Vigla is that it is on a live military firing range. Indiana Jones may be comfortable doing archaeology under fire, but most field schools, ours included, opt for a safer route. This means no work on site on mornings when training exercises are happening–including the first three days of this dig season.<\/p>\n

We were able to get up to the site on Monday afternoon, after the firing was done for the day, for an introduction to the site given by co-director Dr. Brandon Olson. Brandon emphasized the importance of the site due to its brief occupation during the Hellenistic period. You can find more information on the About the Site<\/a> page of this blog.<\/p>\n

\"The
Site presentation by Dr. Brandon Olson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On Tuesday, Tom brought the group to Ancient Kition in the center of modern Larnaca. The site is a series of temples dating from the late bronze age into the iron age, when Larnaca was part of Eastern Mediterranean cultural networks including Mycenaean and, later, Phoenician influence.<\/p>\n

\"A
The group at the site of Kition<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We also visited the 10th-century Byzantine church of Saint Lazarus and the late medieval Larnaca Castle, built during the Lusignanian Kingdom of Cyprus.<\/p>\n

\"The
The church of Saint Lazarus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the afternoon, we drove 10 minutes to the edge of Larnaca to visit Hala Sultan Tepe. The mosque holds the tomb of Umm Haram, a companion of the prophet Muhammad, and is an important local pilgrimage site. The mosque is located on Larnaca Salt Lake, a pleasant and verdant area frequented by migrating flamingos.<\/p>\n

\"The
Introducing Hala Sultan Teke<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There are also many cats.<\/p>\n

\"A
Meeting a local feline resident<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Wednesday was supposed to be a work day, but, upon arriving at the site, we we met with a locked gate and a red flag–a warning to stay away from the shooting range during a training exercise. After confirming with range control that it was in fact a firing day, we improvised. We headed to Terra Ombra, the local archaeological museum’s storage and work facility, to see the pottery found at the site during past seasons. Brandon, a ceramics specialist, provided an introduction to working with pottery and explained the varieties of pottery that students are likely to encounter this season.<\/p>\n

\"A
Waiting for the key to open Terra Ombra<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Afterward, we headed to Choirokoitia, a pre-pottery neolithic village site near Larnaca. The 7000-year-old walled village includes many round houses, perched on a hillside above a low-flowing river.<\/p>\n

\"Three
The site of Choirokoitia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although no one in the group specializes in the neolithic, we all enjoyed exploring the reconstructed houses and settlement wall.<\/p>\n

\"A
Climbing the steps into the reconstructed settlement walls and houses of Choirokoitia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the interesting aspects of working on the site of Vigla is that it is on a live military firing range. Indiana Jones may be comfortable doing archaeology under fire, but most field schools, ours included, opt for a safer route. This means no work on site on mornings when training exercises are happening–including … Continue reading “A slow start”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1245,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/vigla-archaeological-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/vigla-archaeological-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/vigla-archaeological-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/vigla-archaeological-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1245"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/vigla-archaeological-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/vigla-archaeological-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/vigla-archaeological-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34\/revisions\/74"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/vigla-archaeological-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/vigla-archaeological-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/vigla-archaeological-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}