Olivia Goes to Greece!
Hello Friends!
It has been a little while since I have written anything, partially due to my recent travels to Greece! It was an incredible opportunity to go with a team of professors and archaeologists from the University of Michigan to two sites in Northeastern Greece: Olynthos and Pella. I got the chance to work with real artifacts and help dig a trench. However, unlike the Indiana Jones movies, there were no fighting sequences, and I did not have to run away from a giant, rolling stone.
My interest in going on this trip started back in February, when one of my archaeology professors, who I was working with on an independent study, mentioned it to me. My study that semester was based on previous excavations done in the 1930s that included the majority of the town of Olynthos as well as its cemeteries. Specifically, I was concerned with the cemetery, collecting information about the burials and the items buried with the individuals. I was also working on inputting the hard-copy text that described the burials into a digital format of a spreadsheet. My professor recognized my hard work and offered me a spot on the University of Michigan-organized trip to Olynthos. While I would not get to work at the cemeteries I had been analyzing, I would get to become acclimated to the area and surroundings, as well as learn more about the ancient people themselves. I quickly recognized that this was an extremely valuable use of my time and would give me hands-on experience in archaeology.
I left American soil on June 11 and arrived in the big city of Thessaloniki on June 12. I would spend about 3 weeks in Olynthos, which was about a 45-minute drive from Thessaloniki. Olynthos was on the coast, so I knew that after work, I’d be at the beach, no question. Olynthos is a very small place. One could say it was a one-stoplight town, except it didn’t even have one of those. There was a hotel and a few cafes, but no tourists. This was authentic Greece. You may ask at this point if I knew any Greek. I knew extremely little and relied heavily on the Greek-speaking ability of my colleagues. Slowly, though, I learned the simple phrases and made a point to remember the townspeople who spoke English.
The University of Michigan has been working at the Ancient Olynthos site since 2014, with a 2-year hiatus due to COVID. The actual excavations were performed from 2014-2019, so this year, in 2022, the focus was directed towards re-organizing, studying, and analyzing the artifacts and various other objects. This meant that our work day was less laborious than it would have been if we needed to excavate. Even still, the 8 am to 3 pm work day was filled with various archaeological activities that all played a role in helping us understand the lifestyle of the Ancient Olynthians.
For my history buffs, here’s some background on the site:
Olynthos was an ancient city located in northeast Greece in the Macedonian/Chalcidice peninsula region and estimates of its occupation date from the 7th century BC to 348 BC or 316 BC. The ambiguity of the final occupation date of the city is primarily caused by King Phillip II of Macedon. In 348 BC he conquered and destroyed Olynthos. Some claim that the city was never repopulated after King Phillip’s attack, while others argue (citing coinage and pottery that dates post 348 BC) that people returned and lived there until 316 BC. Before the destruction of the city, Olynthos was named the capital of the Chalcidian League, which was comprised of various cities along the Chalcidice Peninsula. This means it was a fairly well-populated city and even had its own port. Population estimates at any given time range from 3,000 to 15,000, which are mostly based on archaeological findings, not literary resources.
On my first day on-site, I was able to tour the excavated housing district region (excavation of this area was completed in the 1930s and is now open for tourists) and really get myself acquainted with the history and previous work done at Ancient Olynthos.
The rest of the day consisted of re-organizing the storerooms where the artifacts were being held. It had been since 2019 that our archaeology team had gone through them. For the remainder of the week, after the majority of the organizing had been done, it was time to document some important objects and input their specifics into an online database that could be used remotely. This helped ‘digitize’ the artifacts and allowed their information to be accessible anywhere. My job was to help take pictures of said objects and input their information into a survey form specially designed for the Olynthos Project. Admittedly, this was not the most exciting part of my archaeological experience, but I did get to handle and examine many fascinating finds like ancient metal, loomweights, ancient glass, terracotta figures, and worked animal bone used for gaming pieces (these are called astragali). I got to see the exciting finds without having to dig for them!
After a week or so of photographing, it was time to move on to another task, which proved to be my favorite. When the excavations were being done in 2014-2019, big bags of soil were collected in certain spots that might have been of interest. These bags are called ‘heavy fractions’ and had not been touched in several years even though they were taking up a lot of space. Now, during the study season, it was time to analyze them. The contents of the bags were random and were often filled with rocks or gravel. But, the reason for going through them was to look for microdebris. Microdebris could be a various assortment of objects, but the most common items were: painted plaster (typically red or white), bits of sea shell, worn pottery sherds, charcoal, and sometimes bone. These items were very small (hence the term microdebris) and in order to find such things in a very large concentration of gravel and rock, we used sieves. For each bag, we would sieve in descending layers of size, picking out the largest objects first. We used trays and tweezers to pick through the contents. Think needle in a haystack. Surprisingly, sifting through microdebris was a lot of fun for me and I was not deterred by its tedious nature. I got pretty good at identifying bones and pieces of plaster from rocks.
I spent the majority of the remaining time working with the microdebris, although my professor and I managed to visit all three ancient cemeteries so that I could have the chance to explore them. It was honestly quite hard to tell that they had been excavated because the remains of the trenches dug in the 1930s were not easy to detect. However, regardless of my inability to excavate here, I was extremely excited to get to walk the grounds and understand the topography of the area (which is something you can’t really get on a map!). Perhaps the most thrilling ‘discovery’ at the cemeteries was an amphora sherd found on the surface of the ground. Without getting too technical, this was an amphora most likely used in a child burial. It was incredible to get to hold this sherd knowing its original purpose! Overall, the tours of the three ancient cemeteries were well worth the long hikes and sweltering heat. I've attached a few pictures of what the three cemeteries look like now, as well as the amphora!
After three weeks at Olynthos, I traveled two hours west to Pella. Pella was a much larger town and even had a fancy museum that displayed many of the artifacts and history of the town. Most often, Pella is known as the birthplace of Alexander the Great and known for its grandiose palace on the northern hill. It served as the capital for Ancient Macedon. Personally, I had done very little research on Pella in the weeks leading up to the trip because there was a possibility that I was just going to stay in Olynthos for the whole four weeks. Admittedly, I was excited to get to go to Pella, because here I would have the chance to dig and work in a trench.
Our work area was located south of the ancient (and modern) city in an agricultural field. The field had since been bought for the use of archaeological purposes. It was here that our project director wanted to dig because of its potential association with the early, pre-capital city, the understanding of which was the goal of our project. Before we began digging, maps were drawn up via geophysical survey (the exact type I am unsure of) which uses electric/magnetic fields to help detect underground anomalies and structures like walls or roads. This helped us determine the best places to start trenches. Once five locations were picked out, I was paired with a team and we began our excavation!
Work started much earlier here. By around 7 am we were already in the field with our wheelbarrows, pickaxes, and trowels. I was assigned to Trench 02 where there was supposed to be a corner of a house and a road. Due to the somewhat imprecise nature of the geophysical survey, it was a very real possibility that our trench could turn up nothing at all. Regardless, I got practice at handling a pickaxe (both small and large), learning how to level the trench floor and keep the section (the wall of the trench) flat. One of the most important things about excavating is context. Since excavation is destructive, and it is impossible to refill a trench exactly the way the soil was laid, making note of the soil consistency and composition is arguably the most important part of archaeology. One type of soil receives its own context number and when a new type is uncovered, another context number is employed. When collecting finds within a context, the find is labeled with that context number. This helps keep artifacts and findings organized within their original layer which is imperative to do if any type of research is being done.
Over the next week, I frequently came home with very dirty jeans, mud caked in my socks and shoes, and sweat stains everywhere. However, our trench was making great progress on becoming a really deep hole. But that was it. No big findings and certainly no road. Although I was disappointed with the lack of interesting items, I never got over getting to cut away at the dirt and pull out a piece of pottery that probably hadn’t been touched in thousands of years. Every sherd had a story even if we might not ever figure it out.
Due to the active excavation season, I am not allowed to share many pictures of what we were working with, but here are a few fairly nondescriptive shots.
While the majority of my time in Greece was spent doing archaeology things, I did have the chance to explore around quite a bit. When I was in Olynthos, we frequently visited a nearby town called Nea Moundiana which was much larger, and home to many fun shops, great restaurants, and some touristy activities. I also had the chance to visit Thessaloniki twice. I did a good amount of shopping, but my favorite part about this city was getting to ride on a (refurbished) pirate ship and drink one (maybe two) strawberry daiquiris. It was quite a unique experience!
The cities were fun, but the places I enjoyed exploring the most were the many beaches along the northern coast. It would be difficult to name all of them, but I think I swam in at least six. Every single time, I was awestruck by the water and how clear and blue it was. There were lots of fish that I also ran into. Of course, I tried to catch them, but even my own swimming abilities were no match for them.
By the time my month in Greece was over, I was definitely ready to come home to America. My flight was fairly long, but I arrived safely back and am slowly getting caught up. My memories and experiences from this trip will be lifelong and I am so honored to have gotten to explore archaeology from this angle. But don't worry, I'm still going to be a pilot!
Speedy Shenanigans:
Just when you thought I couldn't possibly have packed any more into the months of June and July, I did. The first week of June I spent a long weekend on the western side of Michigan in South Haven with a crew of good friends at a racetrack at a special car-racing festival called Gridlife Midwest. One of my friends, who races the red Mazda I have pictured here before, competed this weekend and I was there to support and play pit crew. Thankfully we didn't have to do any extreme pit-crew duties, but I was in charge of torquing the lug nuts and checking tire pressure. We camped out at the racetrack and our days were filled with fast racing and burnt rubber. I honestly could not have imagined a better way to spend a weekend. I had an absolute blast! Here are a few photos from this event, some of which I took with a disposable camera! (Somebody even managed to capture me in full pit-crew mode)
Recipe Roulette:
The adventures in Greece yielded many yummy foods. I could fill a whole page with the deliciousness that I consumed while over there, but here is a simple, refreshing, and authentically Greek dish that I had almost every day:
Horiatiki (Greek Salad)
Cucumber
Small red pepper
Banana peppers
Diced white onion
Olives
Block of Feta Cheese
Tomatoes
Olive Oil
Oregano
Slice the cucumber, peppers and tomato. Half the block of feta (or crumble it).
Pour apx 1 tbs of olive oil into the base of the bowl.
Add ingredients to the bowl.
Drizzle an additional 1 tbs of olive oil over the salad and 1 tbs of oregano. Salt and pepper (as well as additional olive oil/oregano) to taste.
This was a long post, but I appreciate y'all reading it all! I've got lots more exciting things coming up soon that I will be writing about, so stay tuned!
-Olivia Carter
