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Day 1 of the Excavation
Today was the first day we excavated at the Cap de Cavalleria on the northern coast of Menorca. We got up around 4:30 this morning in order to leave by 5:45. It's about at 45-minute drive to the Ecomuseo, which is where we are based.
There are two groups of us who are excavating. The smaller group is excavating a Roman necropolis (of which there are 6 in the area!), and my group is starting out by excavating a Roman military fort, ca. 123 - 50 BC. Later we will work on a Roman city that occurs a little later in date (First century AD, I think).
Fernando, the head archaeologist, showed us the entire fort site. They've been working on it for 12 years, already, and we're one of the last groups who're going to excavate. We're exposing the rest of the defensive trench that surrouns the encampment.
Most of the work we're doing is with pick-axes. I definitely did not realize how heavy those things are. The soil is very rocky, too, which doesn't make it any easier. We have to haul these tiny boulders out of the earth and carry them to the dump site. We're also trying to filter out large pieces of pottery as we go, by trowelling the dirt into rubber baskets and going through it.
The weather was actually really nice in the morning, due to the north wind that blows across the Cape. Apparently it's usually much hotter.
I unearthed the find of the day, today! I uncovered the base of a piece of Roman pottery. It wasn't all that unusual, except that you could actually see part of an inscription on it. Apparently this is a big deal. Fernando showed it to everybody and had me label it and put it in a bag, instead of the collective artifact basket.
We were all completely exhausted by the time we finished work aroung 12:30. I think it will get easier as we get used to it, though. I'm definitely going to develop some arm muscles; I just hope they're not all on one side of my body.
I'm definitely going to sleep well tonight. We have another day just like it tomorrow!
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