Before I begin, let me just say that there is still one last day to trump the finds from today. There has been tremendous progress within the weeks that I have been here, and I am tempted to come back next year just so I can continue to be apart of this significant model of historical relevance. The site of Djanavara was witness to a massive transition of world history that changed everything. The more we can extract and learn from this site, the more we can be able to comprehend the devastation and transitions that were a result of that era. Whether we realize it or not, the significance of what happened here on the eastern seaboard of Bulgaria reverberates in someway with us all. What more could one ask for then to be apart of the folk that took part in decoding this mystery.
We are nearing the end of this digging season. On Thursday morning we had officially arrived.
Per usual, we found ourselves at the excavation site nearly 10 minutes before 8am. There was a slight breeze and the temperature was somewhere around 74˚ Fahrenheit. It was absolutely blissful. The morning light was peering through the cypresses and pine trees and we were all eager to make these last couple of days the most archaeologically memorable. Since the end was now in sight, this was to time to begin discovering reliquaries and caverns hidden beneath the infamous limestone layer. This was the last chance to begin to discover the monk’s bones and the treasure troves just centimeters below the current pit levels. Now was the time to bring to light the hidden identity of the churches’ unknown patron saint and to provide new information to support the theory that this site, Djanavara, was more than a church or a monastic site, that it was truly a small fortified village slowly being surfaced again after over fifteen hundred years of darkness under the soils. As the July sun warmed the already exposed stones of the church walls, we all hoped to bring to light something that would make a great impact on the history of this site.
Aleksandar Minchev, the director of the excavations, arrived with his retinue shortly after 8:15am. He scurried to the ad hoc excavation camp and laid down a Bulgarian newspaper, obviously ecstatic about something. He immediately started to shout something in Bulgarian to the respected leaders of our crew. They picked up the newspaper and asked him, I think, questions about the news. Another excavation team working in Sozopol, just south of Varna, discovered the "burial site" of St. John the Baptist. This is huge news! Complete with a sarcophagus, relics, and plenty of Byzantine imperial documents to back up their find, they had made world news.
Now the pressure was on. Today we had surpass the Sozopol find… but that was not going to happen unless we really did find something miraculous. Like the bones of Jesus himself or something.
We had luck on our side. First, there was the excavation square that some others and I were to begin digging in which we thought contained a grave. Second, that morning some of our team members happened upon hardboiled eggs that had double yokes. I guess that is a sign of good luck. I did not know this, but I will accept it as ‘truth’ from now on. Third, it has been a tradition at the Djanavara site to discover the most amazing finds during the last couple of days.
We were all eager to begin the daily dig.
To my disappointment, I was split from my usual partner and put into another group that was not going to excavate the square that supposedly contained the grave. Instead, I was put into a square that was diagonally across from it. That did not help my curiosity. I found myself looking over in that direction every so often to see if that team had hit the skeleton. Incidentally, I guess I lucked out because they neither found a skeleton nor anything else.
My new square, ‘P8’, was about 1.3 meters (~4.5 ft) deep and 5X5 meters (~16ft length and widthwise), with a pile of Roman roof tiles and bricks right in the middle of it all. Our digging-neighbors to the south of us kept discovering 6th century coins and metal nails. We found nothing, which I thought was ridiculous because there was no more than 1 ft between their square and ours. There could have been no way in which all those monks would have dropped their change in only that part of the total room. Frustration ensued, and we worked harder. What really took the cake was when the site leaders wished to preserve the roof tiles and brick in the middle of our square. My team ended up, essentially, digging a deep and narrow trench. We are not exactly small and there is only so much room for two shovels and a pickaxe. We wondered why they neglected to take working photos and properly document the items. That way they could be removed and we could continue to level the soil floor so that we all could have ample room to work diligently. Sadly, the heaps of shards were to remain in the way.
In the midst of all this the Bulgarian National Television (BNT) crew arrived on our site. After the half hour break at 10:30am, I was tapped on the shoulder to speak about the site, my experience here thus far and to state why I had come here to begin with. No pressure, right? Wrong, it was nerve-racking to even think about what I was going to say. When it was time to talk, I naturally gave my educational background information and talked about the connection with this site and its significance during the 6th century, right before and during the barbarian invasions. Then, of course, I stuck in there the connection between that and the importance of Byzantine history, as a whole. The BNT people had no clue what I was saying, since they only spoke Bulgarian. I am assuming they will attain a translator to dub over what I said, in which case I hope I made sense. Not having rehearsed, I was a bit nervous. I felt like I was rambling a tiny bit near the end, but never mind that. I have officially made a documented impact here in some form.
As the day wore on P8 became deeper. We had to place the wheelbarrow on the ledge, 4.5ft above our ground level. That means we had to basically sling the dirt from our shovels into the wheelbarrow in semi-Olympian manner. About an hour before we left the site, I was mid sling with my load of dirt when my right shoulder ceased to participate any more. It popped and only the grip of my hand prevented my arm from falling to my side. I blew my shoulder. I let out a little “Aaargggg”. My yelp was quite contained though, so it does not deserve an exclamation point. Being a “typical man” I spent the rest of the day pretending like it was nothing. But I stuck to the tasks that did not require much from my right arm. I mostly used the pickaxe, but not bending my shoulder past a certain degree because otherwise it would give out on me.
It was a painful bus ride back.
It was a painful afternoon.
I had hoped to run my shoulder under cold water in my room when we returned. It turns out the city was doing water maintenance that day and our water would not come on until later that night. For a good number of hours I remained encrusted with dirt and sweat with a precarious right shoulder.
To take my mind off of it I joined a number of others to see a movie. I rode a packed bus to the mall where the cinema is. There were no seats and all the vertical handle bars were occupied for standers. I had no choice but to grin and bear the pain of lifting my arms up to grip the parallel bars that run along the canopy of the bus as it flew through the city to our destination.
I woke up around 4:30am this morning. The hotel had mistakenly dialed my room number for someone else’s wakeup call.
There is only one more day, after today, to find something incredible. It would be fun to come across something great and I honestly did not think we would. Still with high spirits, we set out the day working just hard as the day before. My shoulder felt a little better, but still not well enough to sling any dirt into the wheelbarrow. The pit was about 2 meters by now so slinging dirt was not an option for anyone, anymore. The wheelbarrow was simply too high up. We ended up adopting a system of filing up buckets and hoisting them to the top of the pit to be disposed of. After we lifted a few large stones and roman roof tiles we came across our first official unique find in the pit.
We found a skeleton.
We found a skeleton of a dog. The skull was partially intact and most of the bones, except for some large ones, were shattered. Obviously, the dog must have been caught amidst the crumbling building. The bones were very brittle and just about decomposed.
No sooner than moments later another magnificent find was unearthed across the site. In one of the dolia that I had previously been working in, my former partner, who was still working in that area, found a shard of pottery that had a signature on it. It was stamped with a running dog figure. According to John Hayes, a well-known expert on pottery types and archaeology, this particular pottery signature is unique to only one area in the world, Asia Minor. This further proves that whomever inhabited this church complex was more than likely from a heretical eastern sect. The mosaics within the church, the design of the Apse built within the walls of the church, and now this pottery piece all support this theory. Bit by bit the story of this church is coming together.
But my square, good old ‘P8’, was not done emptying its contents yet. Again, during the last hour of work for the day the metal detector picked up something strong just underneath the soil. What we found was the biggest and most comprehensible coin ever found on the site. On one face of the coin were the goddess Nike and the name of the place where it was minted, Sissa, Italy. There have been other coins found on the site but none of them are as clear as this one. The coin discoveries thus far have been composed of mostly small metal disks that are too tiny and rusted to make out anything of worth. Judging by the design of the face amongst other characteristics the director of the excavation determined that the coin dates from around the time of emperor Valens (328-378AD), who bolstered Roman military might in this region of the empire by making Marcianoplis the regional capital, briefly, when the Visigoths began to spill over the Danube into Roman territory. This, along with the bones and the pottery signature, was more than enough to satisfy my archaeological hunger for the season.
Today was an amazing day for discovery. More than ever, I welcome tomorrow.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
The Great Wait
When I was just finishing my last entry Monday night the rain began to pour upon Varna. Shortly after the thunder and lighting darted across the sky… the rain only intensified. My upstairs roommate, Tom, described it perfectly. He was upstairs in his room, looked out the window and it was nice and sunny. Perhaps a couple seagulls passed by but for the most part it was all clear skies. A minute later he looked again and what he saw was a black wall of water accompanied by thunder and lightning and other Zeus associated characteristics.
Needless to say, the streets flooded all around the hotel and permeated into the avenues, streets, and alleys around the city. I do have pictures.
*By the way, just so everyone is aware, I forgot (of course) the cord that connects my camera to my laptop. Ergo, I will put pictures up after I return to the States. I promise I will make this blog more visually stimulating.
That night was spent with the rest of the archaeological crew in the dinning room of another hotel - where the group as a whole dines. We drank our Zagorka beer and Bulgarian wine while playing card games. The original intention was to wait until the storm passed. It never did.
The next morning was sunny. The weather had cooled after the storm so it was pristine working conditions for the ol’ pickaxe and shovel. However, the working pits had literally become ‘Byzantine baths’ and the new segment (not M6) that my excavation team was to work on was under water. This was extremely disappointing because this was the day that we were going to be moved from M6 to P8 on the grid. P8 is the place where the previous diggers had exposed the limestone layer, which is the infamous layer that traditionally covers the graves discovered on the site. At least the graves discovered in the adjacent squares. In P8, all of the evidence was pointing toward another Roman grave discovery. My team and I were totally ready to be the ones to reveal this new hypothetical grave. But, as you now know, it rained hard the night before. My team and I were not therefore ushered into archaeological glory. We were instead subjected to tedious paper work. We spent the day doing scaled 1:10 drawings of walls. It was a neat task to learn but our real inspirations, our hopes and Indiana Jones-esque dreams, they were elsewhere on the site yesterday.
This morning my internal alarm clock woke me up at 6:45am, as it does everyday. It never fails. I stumbled downstairs and ate my yogurt, drank my ritualistic Nescafé Mocha, and tested a hardboiled egg. You have to be careful because sometimes you might end up with an egg that is not all the way cooked. In those situations, I silently curse to myself and search around for my napkin to wipe off the yokey mess on my hands in the most discrete way possible. Upon completion of the main breakfast operation, I then turn my attention to the fruit basket in hopes of finding something to nourish myself while at the site all day. A banana is usually a safe bet. I have had bad experiences with mealy apples, mealy melon, and rotten oranges while desperately biting into one with hopes of rejuvenation. It is horrible because I instead have received continued hardship. No break.
The site was still damp today. In some squares people were able to resume work, but the square that we all have our eyes on was still too bog-like to even shovel. My teammate and I spent the day emptying a dolium full of pottery shards, pebbles, and this one huge stone that was in the way the entire time. Right in the middle, almost peculiarly placed. As if some marauder put it there for the sole purpose of perplexing us. The stone is about 50cm x 50cm x 25cm. Massive enough to break my back if I tried to lift it out of that awkwardly shaped dolium – which at it greatest width is about 1m (3.28084 ft. for those who are not familiar with the metric system).
I hope that tomorrow will be the day to finally sink my shovel into that square that holds so many hopes of discovery.
There were more dolia discovered in an enclosed area of the churches outer architecture. About four more dolium in total, all of them were side by side and positioned in pairs. This indicates that the area was most certainly a storage room for grains, wine, or even apparently gargantuan stones. But on a serious note, the stone more than likely ended up in the dolium after tumbling from the nearby church wall when the structure was being torn apart by whomever. It was kind of funny though. A little bit ridiculous, which makes me smile.
So for tomorrow, keep the καλή τύχη coming!
Needless to say, the streets flooded all around the hotel and permeated into the avenues, streets, and alleys around the city. I do have pictures.
*By the way, just so everyone is aware, I forgot (of course) the cord that connects my camera to my laptop. Ergo, I will put pictures up after I return to the States. I promise I will make this blog more visually stimulating.
That night was spent with the rest of the archaeological crew in the dinning room of another hotel - where the group as a whole dines. We drank our Zagorka beer and Bulgarian wine while playing card games. The original intention was to wait until the storm passed. It never did.
The next morning was sunny. The weather had cooled after the storm so it was pristine working conditions for the ol’ pickaxe and shovel. However, the working pits had literally become ‘Byzantine baths’ and the new segment (not M6) that my excavation team was to work on was under water. This was extremely disappointing because this was the day that we were going to be moved from M6 to P8 on the grid. P8 is the place where the previous diggers had exposed the limestone layer, which is the infamous layer that traditionally covers the graves discovered on the site. At least the graves discovered in the adjacent squares. In P8, all of the evidence was pointing toward another Roman grave discovery. My team and I were totally ready to be the ones to reveal this new hypothetical grave. But, as you now know, it rained hard the night before. My team and I were not therefore ushered into archaeological glory. We were instead subjected to tedious paper work. We spent the day doing scaled 1:10 drawings of walls. It was a neat task to learn but our real inspirations, our hopes and Indiana Jones-esque dreams, they were elsewhere on the site yesterday.
This morning my internal alarm clock woke me up at 6:45am, as it does everyday. It never fails. I stumbled downstairs and ate my yogurt, drank my ritualistic Nescafé Mocha, and tested a hardboiled egg. You have to be careful because sometimes you might end up with an egg that is not all the way cooked. In those situations, I silently curse to myself and search around for my napkin to wipe off the yokey mess on my hands in the most discrete way possible. Upon completion of the main breakfast operation, I then turn my attention to the fruit basket in hopes of finding something to nourish myself while at the site all day. A banana is usually a safe bet. I have had bad experiences with mealy apples, mealy melon, and rotten oranges while desperately biting into one with hopes of rejuvenation. It is horrible because I instead have received continued hardship. No break.
The site was still damp today. In some squares people were able to resume work, but the square that we all have our eyes on was still too bog-like to even shovel. My teammate and I spent the day emptying a dolium full of pottery shards, pebbles, and this one huge stone that was in the way the entire time. Right in the middle, almost peculiarly placed. As if some marauder put it there for the sole purpose of perplexing us. The stone is about 50cm x 50cm x 25cm. Massive enough to break my back if I tried to lift it out of that awkwardly shaped dolium – which at it greatest width is about 1m (3.28084 ft. for those who are not familiar with the metric system).
I hope that tomorrow will be the day to finally sink my shovel into that square that holds so many hopes of discovery.
There were more dolia discovered in an enclosed area of the churches outer architecture. About four more dolium in total, all of them were side by side and positioned in pairs. This indicates that the area was most certainly a storage room for grains, wine, or even apparently gargantuan stones. But on a serious note, the stone more than likely ended up in the dolium after tumbling from the nearby church wall when the structure was being torn apart by whomever. It was kind of funny though. A little bit ridiculous, which makes me smile.
So for tomorrow, keep the καλή τύχη coming!
Monday, July 26, 2010
Ad Sanctos
As of this moment it seems as though the terrible heat wave has passed. Today was an incredible day to hold a shovel. The temperature was within the low 80s and there was hardly any humidity.
I could not have been more thankful.
Because of this fortune, my team in pit M6 was able to shave another 15cm and discover more items of antiquity. On Friday we discovered a third dolia immersed at a tilt within the trench’s dirt wall across from the original stone church wall on the northeastern side of the complex. For all those who did not catch the last entry yet, it has been determined that M6, the grid square in which myself and three others are excavating, is most likely the monastery’s wine/grain storage room. As of today we started to dig inside these giant dolia in hopes of finding evidence of their true contents. This, however, was not the most exciting find on the site to date. I wish I could claim that. But I cannot.
During the last hour of work within the sweltering heat on Friday a team from another grid excavating a wall found a nearly perfectly preserved amphora. Usually, and I’ll be honest, it is really hard to be excited about pottery. But for some reason, being here at the site and seeing it being unearthed for the first time since the 6th century was something else. It was very small and only missing a handle.
Now, here is the awesome thing about amphora. Just by observing the shape of the object, you can tell where it came from. Not all the amphora in the world, at the time, was made with a standard mold or shape. For example, an amphora from Miletus may be more of an upside-down beehive shape in the abdomen whereas an amphora from Thessaloniki may be designed to resemble a watermelon, per se. You have to think of it like how a Coca Cola bottle is distinct from other cola bottles. It is a trademark and always that particular shape. It is the same idea with cities that transported their goods with amphora during antiquity. This is important because that signature shape can tell you who these settlements were trading with and possibly what they were trading. There, that is your fact for the day ☺
Saturday could not have come sooner. It was a hard week of intense labor under weather conditions that no human should ever experience. In the morning we traveled a bit outside of Varna to a site called Pobiti Kamani or Побити камъни in Cyrillic. It is this incredible ‘stone forest’, if you will, that was created ________ millennia ago. One of the theories that were presented to us claimed that a long time ago the ocean covered the region. There were pinhole breaks within the earth’s crust that allowed gas to escape toward the surface. Along with the gas came sediment that accumulated at the surface and built up until, eventually, the columns were officially solidified and preserved as they are today. It was neat to see but not my cup of tea.
Further up the road, past numerous fields of sunflowers, my group and I stopped at the famed Marcianopolis (Μαρκιανούπολις), present day Devnya. We roamed around small amount of excavated city ruins and witnessed the amazing mosaics at the local museum. It is important to know that this city was a major hub during the time period I am focusing on during this dig – 5th/6th century. Between the rich capital of the region and turbulent Danube frontier, Marcianopolis was the stopping point between the two. Naturally, it was a military town that held prominent soldiers who had retired there or were on their way to defend the Danubian borderlands. One mosaic that was uncovered during the excavations supports this thesis perfectly. It is composed of an intricate geometrical design with a portrait of Medusa in the center of the massive spherical mosaic. As one with a Roman militaristic historical background would tell you, Medusa in some shape or form is often found amongst Roman military equipment. Usually on the sword’s hilt, armor, or shield. At the current moment I do not quite remember as to why this is, but it is definitely for superstitious reasons.
After getting our apocalyptic feel for the crumbling last days of the Danubian frontier, we ate our butter and meat sandwiches for lunch and drove further west. The roads are in terrible condition, by the way. I am just going to state that the car’s tires were square. The fields of sunflowers were still just as beautiful as our vision outside the car steadily became a rapid blur of fertile landscape with yellow squiggles. About an hour from Marcianopolis we reach the ancient and venerated capital of the old Bulgarian Empire, Pliska. This amazing archaic settlement is the focal point of everything Bulgarian. It is here on the Madara plateau that the first Bulgar’s established their state and also carved into the precipice the ancient and mystical symbol of Bulgaria – The Horseman, or Madara Horseman.
The horseman has no name. Legend says that his name was always a secret and became lost with time. OOooooooo. My guess, because of the way the horseman is posed, was that he could either be modeled after the universal image of Saint George or depicting the pose of Alexander the Great, which can found on some sarcophagi from around his time period. The Bulgarian’s claim that the identity of the horseman dates to sometime around the 7th/8th centuries, and is probably of a Bulgarian King fresh from the Steppes of Asia. So my two theories do not fit. At any rate, it was an amazing site to see and a powerful image to witness in its real form.
The region is also well known for its caves that had been occupied since Neolithic times. There are a plethora of natural springs that come out of the massive precipice walls. There is a certain place that one can go to that is more or less a natural amphitheater. The cliff’s walls are arced in such a way that sound is captured and billowed throughout. As we were leaving to hike to the horseman a Bulgarian folk bagpiper began to play there. I had to stop in my tracks because the harmony of culture mixed with the significance of the history all the sudden became potent. I had to look up to the sky to prevent the welling of my tears. I simply cannot explain it any better than that. If you have ever experienced such a thing then you understand what I’m talking about.
We thoroughly shook back to Varna during the late afternoon. Just in time for the eggplant, tomato, and cucumber dinner at the hotel.
As I sit here on this Monday night the thunder has begun to crack and the lightning seems to be breaking dangerously close… as it does everyday. The electricity has faded on and off, which says something about the stability of the Bulgarian infrastructure. Though, given how hard the rain is and has been plummeting upon Varna, I can understand completely given the circumstances. The port of Odessos has put up with a lot over the centuries.
Tomorrow I will probably be moved from M6 and put into a square closer to the southern side of the church. I am personally excited because the square I’ll be put into is expected to reveal a grave, which is a huge deal. There have been four uncovered at the site so far and the layer of limestone in which these graves have all have been found is just becoming to be exposed.
I hope that by the next time I write an entry, I will have excellent news about the Roman grave I will have uncovered.
Wish me luck!
I could not have been more thankful.
Because of this fortune, my team in pit M6 was able to shave another 15cm and discover more items of antiquity. On Friday we discovered a third dolia immersed at a tilt within the trench’s dirt wall across from the original stone church wall on the northeastern side of the complex. For all those who did not catch the last entry yet, it has been determined that M6, the grid square in which myself and three others are excavating, is most likely the monastery’s wine/grain storage room. As of today we started to dig inside these giant dolia in hopes of finding evidence of their true contents. This, however, was not the most exciting find on the site to date. I wish I could claim that. But I cannot.
During the last hour of work within the sweltering heat on Friday a team from another grid excavating a wall found a nearly perfectly preserved amphora. Usually, and I’ll be honest, it is really hard to be excited about pottery. But for some reason, being here at the site and seeing it being unearthed for the first time since the 6th century was something else. It was very small and only missing a handle.
Now, here is the awesome thing about amphora. Just by observing the shape of the object, you can tell where it came from. Not all the amphora in the world, at the time, was made with a standard mold or shape. For example, an amphora from Miletus may be more of an upside-down beehive shape in the abdomen whereas an amphora from Thessaloniki may be designed to resemble a watermelon, per se. You have to think of it like how a Coca Cola bottle is distinct from other cola bottles. It is a trademark and always that particular shape. It is the same idea with cities that transported their goods with amphora during antiquity. This is important because that signature shape can tell you who these settlements were trading with and possibly what they were trading. There, that is your fact for the day ☺
Saturday could not have come sooner. It was a hard week of intense labor under weather conditions that no human should ever experience. In the morning we traveled a bit outside of Varna to a site called Pobiti Kamani or Побити камъни in Cyrillic. It is this incredible ‘stone forest’, if you will, that was created ________ millennia ago. One of the theories that were presented to us claimed that a long time ago the ocean covered the region. There were pinhole breaks within the earth’s crust that allowed gas to escape toward the surface. Along with the gas came sediment that accumulated at the surface and built up until, eventually, the columns were officially solidified and preserved as they are today. It was neat to see but not my cup of tea.
Further up the road, past numerous fields of sunflowers, my group and I stopped at the famed Marcianopolis (Μαρκιανούπολις), present day Devnya. We roamed around small amount of excavated city ruins and witnessed the amazing mosaics at the local museum. It is important to know that this city was a major hub during the time period I am focusing on during this dig – 5th/6th century. Between the rich capital of the region and turbulent Danube frontier, Marcianopolis was the stopping point between the two. Naturally, it was a military town that held prominent soldiers who had retired there or were on their way to defend the Danubian borderlands. One mosaic that was uncovered during the excavations supports this thesis perfectly. It is composed of an intricate geometrical design with a portrait of Medusa in the center of the massive spherical mosaic. As one with a Roman militaristic historical background would tell you, Medusa in some shape or form is often found amongst Roman military equipment. Usually on the sword’s hilt, armor, or shield. At the current moment I do not quite remember as to why this is, but it is definitely for superstitious reasons.
After getting our apocalyptic feel for the crumbling last days of the Danubian frontier, we ate our butter and meat sandwiches for lunch and drove further west. The roads are in terrible condition, by the way. I am just going to state that the car’s tires were square. The fields of sunflowers were still just as beautiful as our vision outside the car steadily became a rapid blur of fertile landscape with yellow squiggles. About an hour from Marcianopolis we reach the ancient and venerated capital of the old Bulgarian Empire, Pliska. This amazing archaic settlement is the focal point of everything Bulgarian. It is here on the Madara plateau that the first Bulgar’s established their state and also carved into the precipice the ancient and mystical symbol of Bulgaria – The Horseman, or Madara Horseman.
The horseman has no name. Legend says that his name was always a secret and became lost with time. OOooooooo. My guess, because of the way the horseman is posed, was that he could either be modeled after the universal image of Saint George or depicting the pose of Alexander the Great, which can found on some sarcophagi from around his time period. The Bulgarian’s claim that the identity of the horseman dates to sometime around the 7th/8th centuries, and is probably of a Bulgarian King fresh from the Steppes of Asia. So my two theories do not fit. At any rate, it was an amazing site to see and a powerful image to witness in its real form.
The region is also well known for its caves that had been occupied since Neolithic times. There are a plethora of natural springs that come out of the massive precipice walls. There is a certain place that one can go to that is more or less a natural amphitheater. The cliff’s walls are arced in such a way that sound is captured and billowed throughout. As we were leaving to hike to the horseman a Bulgarian folk bagpiper began to play there. I had to stop in my tracks because the harmony of culture mixed with the significance of the history all the sudden became potent. I had to look up to the sky to prevent the welling of my tears. I simply cannot explain it any better than that. If you have ever experienced such a thing then you understand what I’m talking about.
We thoroughly shook back to Varna during the late afternoon. Just in time for the eggplant, tomato, and cucumber dinner at the hotel.
As I sit here on this Monday night the thunder has begun to crack and the lightning seems to be breaking dangerously close… as it does everyday. The electricity has faded on and off, which says something about the stability of the Bulgarian infrastructure. Though, given how hard the rain is and has been plummeting upon Varna, I can understand completely given the circumstances. The port of Odessos has put up with a lot over the centuries.
Tomorrow I will probably be moved from M6 and put into a square closer to the southern side of the church. I am personally excited because the square I’ll be put into is expected to reveal a grave, which is a huge deal. There have been four uncovered at the site so far and the layer of limestone in which these graves have all have been found is just becoming to be exposed.
I hope that by the next time I write an entry, I will have excellent news about the Roman grave I will have uncovered.
Wish me luck!
Friday, July 23, 2010
Thracian Rain
There is nothing that can compare to the afternoon deluge of a Thracian rain.
Let's think about that for a second.
Actually, there are a lot of things that can compare... but currently this is the wonderful afternoon surprise that I have had to deal with everyday.
I wish there was some way to convey to you all about the bizarre “autumn” weather that Varna has been experiencing this year during the summer. Everyday is hot (~94˚) and humid (~ 53% today for example). At exactly three o’clock the thunderheads roll in from the south and forcefully release their contents on top of our lives. It always catches us off guard. Apparently this is abnormal and identical to what their autumn consists of. Naturally I always wish for the daily rain to arrive early. That way there would be at least some way of cooling down and escaping the ‘mouth of the sun’ that is the excavation site.
I am very grateful that it is the end of the week. Throughout this week my body has been torn apart and slowly rebuilt to endure the hard labor. Today I was no longer sore but the heat was constantly sapping my energy. If I stood for too long, I would become very tempted to slip into the surrounding woods and take a nap. The only way to keep alert and useful was to be active through shoveling/pick axing/trowel/or using the spade all while singing blurbs of the latest song stuck in my head.
Since the beginning of the week my team has made substantial progress. Three others and myself have neatly dug about 2ft down in an area of about 6’ x 30’. Most of the finds have been blessings because there are a whole slew of people that need to be notified and paperwork to be filled once something has been unearthed. Though it is a wonderful moment, I’m not going to lie - this usually buys us a little time jump in the shade and take a breather and quaff your second 2 liter bottle of water for the morning. I cannot even imagine what it would be like to not have any findings. I might start having nightmares about that.
“M6” is the official designation of my square on the master grid of the site and it has been dubbed “the most interesting square” because there are new finds being surfaced practically on the hour. No gold yet, but if there is anywhere in the world to find lavish metals of astronomical worth it would be here (I’ll talk about that more a little later on another entry).
We have found mostly pieces of amphora, decorative marble, pottery shards, Roman roof tile and giant ‘dolia’, which were used to store grains (or treasures if the invaders were on the horizon). The funny thing is, the site director believes that my little team and I have found the wine/grain storage room. How appropriate. Of course the Napa’n would shave a couple feet of dirt off the ground and find the wine cellar right away. Ha.
In the meantime, I must put on some of my fancy togs. It’s Friday and I am in Bulgaria.
Until Sunday, Наздраве [Cheers]!
Let's think about that for a second.
Actually, there are a lot of things that can compare... but currently this is the wonderful afternoon surprise that I have had to deal with everyday.
I wish there was some way to convey to you all about the bizarre “autumn” weather that Varna has been experiencing this year during the summer. Everyday is hot (~94˚) and humid (~ 53% today for example). At exactly three o’clock the thunderheads roll in from the south and forcefully release their contents on top of our lives. It always catches us off guard. Apparently this is abnormal and identical to what their autumn consists of. Naturally I always wish for the daily rain to arrive early. That way there would be at least some way of cooling down and escaping the ‘mouth of the sun’ that is the excavation site.
I am very grateful that it is the end of the week. Throughout this week my body has been torn apart and slowly rebuilt to endure the hard labor. Today I was no longer sore but the heat was constantly sapping my energy. If I stood for too long, I would become very tempted to slip into the surrounding woods and take a nap. The only way to keep alert and useful was to be active through shoveling/pick axing/trowel/or using the spade all while singing blurbs of the latest song stuck in my head.
Since the beginning of the week my team has made substantial progress. Three others and myself have neatly dug about 2ft down in an area of about 6’ x 30’. Most of the finds have been blessings because there are a whole slew of people that need to be notified and paperwork to be filled once something has been unearthed. Though it is a wonderful moment, I’m not going to lie - this usually buys us a little time jump in the shade and take a breather and quaff your second 2 liter bottle of water for the morning. I cannot even imagine what it would be like to not have any findings. I might start having nightmares about that.
“M6” is the official designation of my square on the master grid of the site and it has been dubbed “the most interesting square” because there are new finds being surfaced practically on the hour. No gold yet, but if there is anywhere in the world to find lavish metals of astronomical worth it would be here (I’ll talk about that more a little later on another entry).
We have found mostly pieces of amphora, decorative marble, pottery shards, Roman roof tile and giant ‘dolia’, which were used to store grains (or treasures if the invaders were on the horizon). The funny thing is, the site director believes that my little team and I have found the wine/grain storage room. How appropriate. Of course the Napa’n would shave a couple feet of dirt off the ground and find the wine cellar right away. Ha.
In the meantime, I must put on some of my fancy togs. It’s Friday and I am in Bulgaria.
Until Sunday, Наздраве [Cheers]!
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Keeping on the Positive Pants
I have touched the dust of history.
There, I said it.
So that everyone is aware, that phrase was a requirement of mine to state on my blog while on this dig. It is a trite and cliché remark, sure but not at all far from the truth. In fact I would say that it is an understatement. Throughout the days under the merciless sun and heat in this partially humid climate you are more or less literally becoming apart of the dig.
It is true that I use my tools to dig deeper. But the deeper I pickaxe and shovel the more I start to resemble the pottery shards and rocks that I am unearthing. I have never continually experienced such intense physical labor.
The entire excavation site has to be viewed as if there is a grid on top of it. Thus each team essentially works in their designated squares. This makes it a lot easier to document any finds and keep the whole process organized. The square that my team (myself and three others) inhabits was basically at the surface level and located on the northwestern side of the church. Perhaps a foot of dirt had been peeled off the top of it, but nothing more. Some areas of the site are well below eight feet deep so there was no question as to how far my team and I would have to dig to arrive at the correct time period correlating with the rest of the site.
The first day we began working with unyielding energy to get past the layers of dirt riddled with broken glass and other modern garbage. Soon enough we ran into pottery shards and bits of decorative marble that was once inside the church. It is important to note here that according to Vasil, one of the project managers and field school instructors, the reason that the church was ushered into obscurity was that during the sixth century the numerous groups of people coming from the Steppes of Asia (Slavs, Avars, etc) absolutely decimated most of the places they came across when they migrated into/through the region. Another theory is deduced from the design and construction of the church. It seems to resemble nothing else found or known in the region. The location of the apse in conjunction with the orthodox tradition of it visibly facing the east tells us that whosever church this was, they were probably from Asia Minor or somewhere else from the near east where this practice was less common.
It would help a great deal if we knew the patron saint of the church. Within certain sects of Christianity, or certain regions, some saints were favored over other saints. For example, it would be rare to find a church dedicated to Saint John Chrysostom in the west because he is more popular with the orthodox east. For all that the excavation team knows at this point, it could have been a Monophysite place of worship or some other heretical sect from the time. That would at least explain its remoteness from the town. It would have been much safer to worship in the countryside.
There is one possible last way to deduce who the patron saint of the church might have been. In the eastern practice (and in the west as well, I believe), every saint is designated a day. When it came to constructing churches, the first day of setting the stones was always on that patron saint’s assigned day. Thus, if the patron saint of a church is Saint Andrew, construction would have began on Saint Andrew’s day with the church facing appropriately within the range of the rising eastern sun in particular to that day. So, using some complex astronomical/mathematical formula one could observe the day in which the sun rises exactly in line with the altar. Ultimately, with precaution, they could theorize as to what saint the said church might have been dedicated too.
Here's a view of the morning sun over the apse
Aside from that, over the centuries locals used the high quality stone of the church to build their own residences. Finally, the decorative marble more than likely fell victim during the Ottoman occupation of the Balkans. The marble was a key ingredient in a superior type of mortar that the Ottomans built with. Eventually, the church was picked apart and reclaimed by the jungle until the founding fathers of Bulgarian archaeology began to excavate the site during the beginning of the twentieth century.
Mom and dad you would not believe the amount of earth that I am moving on a daily basis. We are talking: lifting boulders 40cm wide; wheel barreling loads dirt up the steep hills to dispose of in the nearby woods, and sometimes stones from the battered walls; administering my pickaxe to loosen the dirt in hopes of finding the foundation or something else then shoveling it into the wheel barrel only to run the load back up the hill to empty… Pickaxe more. Shovel more. Drink water. It’s cloudy, so tolerable. Wheel barrel the excess dirt. Sun is out, now it is hotter than hell. Pickaxe more. Cut roots, oh those blasted roots! Dig deeper. Possible find - put it aside. Drink more water. Sweat Profusely. Shovel more. Ah nice! Is this marble from Prokonnesos or from Asia Minor? Rinse and repeat until you are just about ready to fall over. You had better believe that my muscles are in dire pain from soreness.
Though I must point out that the only thing that motivates me to work this hard is the potential of discovery on this excavation. This unique aspect of archaeology does not exist back home ☺
So I will go the extra mile
With my ‘positive pants’ on
There, I said it.
So that everyone is aware, that phrase was a requirement of mine to state on my blog while on this dig. It is a trite and cliché remark, sure but not at all far from the truth. In fact I would say that it is an understatement. Throughout the days under the merciless sun and heat in this partially humid climate you are more or less literally becoming apart of the dig.
It is true that I use my tools to dig deeper. But the deeper I pickaxe and shovel the more I start to resemble the pottery shards and rocks that I am unearthing. I have never continually experienced such intense physical labor.
The entire excavation site has to be viewed as if there is a grid on top of it. Thus each team essentially works in their designated squares. This makes it a lot easier to document any finds and keep the whole process organized. The square that my team (myself and three others) inhabits was basically at the surface level and located on the northwestern side of the church. Perhaps a foot of dirt had been peeled off the top of it, but nothing more. Some areas of the site are well below eight feet deep so there was no question as to how far my team and I would have to dig to arrive at the correct time period correlating with the rest of the site.
The first day we began working with unyielding energy to get past the layers of dirt riddled with broken glass and other modern garbage. Soon enough we ran into pottery shards and bits of decorative marble that was once inside the church. It is important to note here that according to Vasil, one of the project managers and field school instructors, the reason that the church was ushered into obscurity was that during the sixth century the numerous groups of people coming from the Steppes of Asia (Slavs, Avars, etc) absolutely decimated most of the places they came across when they migrated into/through the region. Another theory is deduced from the design and construction of the church. It seems to resemble nothing else found or known in the region. The location of the apse in conjunction with the orthodox tradition of it visibly facing the east tells us that whosever church this was, they were probably from Asia Minor or somewhere else from the near east where this practice was less common.
It would help a great deal if we knew the patron saint of the church. Within certain sects of Christianity, or certain regions, some saints were favored over other saints. For example, it would be rare to find a church dedicated to Saint John Chrysostom in the west because he is more popular with the orthodox east. For all that the excavation team knows at this point, it could have been a Monophysite place of worship or some other heretical sect from the time. That would at least explain its remoteness from the town. It would have been much safer to worship in the countryside.
There is one possible last way to deduce who the patron saint of the church might have been. In the eastern practice (and in the west as well, I believe), every saint is designated a day. When it came to constructing churches, the first day of setting the stones was always on that patron saint’s assigned day. Thus, if the patron saint of a church is Saint Andrew, construction would have began on Saint Andrew’s day with the church facing appropriately within the range of the rising eastern sun in particular to that day. So, using some complex astronomical/mathematical formula one could observe the day in which the sun rises exactly in line with the altar. Ultimately, with precaution, they could theorize as to what saint the said church might have been dedicated too.
Here's a view of the morning sun over the apse
Aside from that, over the centuries locals used the high quality stone of the church to build their own residences. Finally, the decorative marble more than likely fell victim during the Ottoman occupation of the Balkans. The marble was a key ingredient in a superior type of mortar that the Ottomans built with. Eventually, the church was picked apart and reclaimed by the jungle until the founding fathers of Bulgarian archaeology began to excavate the site during the beginning of the twentieth century.
Mom and dad you would not believe the amount of earth that I am moving on a daily basis. We are talking: lifting boulders 40cm wide; wheel barreling loads dirt up the steep hills to dispose of in the nearby woods, and sometimes stones from the battered walls; administering my pickaxe to loosen the dirt in hopes of finding the foundation or something else then shoveling it into the wheel barrel only to run the load back up the hill to empty… Pickaxe more. Shovel more. Drink water. It’s cloudy, so tolerable. Wheel barrel the excess dirt. Sun is out, now it is hotter than hell. Pickaxe more. Cut roots, oh those blasted roots! Dig deeper. Possible find - put it aside. Drink more water. Sweat Profusely. Shovel more. Ah nice! Is this marble from Prokonnesos or from Asia Minor? Rinse and repeat until you are just about ready to fall over. You had better believe that my muscles are in dire pain from soreness.
Though I must point out that the only thing that motivates me to work this hard is the potential of discovery on this excavation. This unique aspect of archaeology does not exist back home ☺
So I will go the extra mile
With my ‘positive pants’ on
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Upon Arrival
Dear All,
I’ve finally made it to Varna, Bulgaria, after an amazing ten-day adventure through Germany! ~ btw, congratulations Peter and Julia, again :-D
In Byzantine/Roman terms today I flew over Pannonia, Dacia, Illyrium, Moesia inferior and superior. In all, about a four-hour flight from Berlin but centuries ago that same trek would have taken a week or so.
I was tickled when I landed at the airport in Varna because the first thing I saw was cyrillic writing all over everything. I laughed because I had not practiced any Bulgarian… and it was surely going to show until I arrived at my place of stay. Luckily, English speakers are not entirely unknown so there were a few helpful words to use here and there. But for the most part, my Bulgarian will definitely be up to par by the time this dig is over.
For all those who are wondering, the Balkan Heritage Field School and the Varna Regional Museum of History are putting on this project. Also, Varna is the old port of Odessos on the western side of the Black Sea (Pontos Euxeinos). The church (possibly monastic complex) is located just a few kilometers south of Odessos at a place that has been traditionally called Djanavara. Thus, I’ll be excavating the Djanavara church.
Basic information:
I’m no longer staying at this ubiquitously named “Hotel Astra”. Apparently there are so many people on this excursion that there is no room. So Instead, my driver from the airport dropped me off at some random location in the middle of town in front of a drycleaners and pointed to a building. I did not think I needed to do laundry that bad. But I was not going to argue… it has been a number of days. Seeing that I did obviously not understand the situation, she clarified the location of this Bulgar place of stay. It turns out that I am one of three on this excursion staying here. The rest of the ten or so are at the other, correct, hotel. Just so you all know it’s:
58 Osmi primorski polk Blvd.,
9002 Varna, Bulgaria - 052 681950
*That last nine-digit number is the phone number
In an hour and a half I am to meet up with this Balkan Heritage group outside my place and we will be eating a dinner at a traditional Bulgarian cuisine restaurant called Dragoman. MMMMMmmmmmmmmmm, meat and potatoes.
-JGH
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