Like many archaeologists, I spent my childhood being half-dragged around historic sites and failed to understand the significance of the places I was fortunate enough to visit. The first archaeologicval site that had a huge impact on me was Pompeii. I remember walking the streets with a sense of awe. I wondered how the city had survived, what it was like for the individuals there. I was jealous of those who helped uncover the city. I would never have believed that I would have a part in doing so.
In July 2018, I had the privilege of working with Etruria Nova at Pompeii, excavating a series of shops in regio 7 insula 14. The excavation looked for evidence of rebuilding of shops following the 62 AD earthquake. I was working at the site for 4 weeks with half of this time being spent helping the pottery experts.
An unfortunate part of working in archaeology is that it tends to involve early starts. Everyday we were on site bright an early at 7.30am. We were commonly joined by some stray dogs on our morning walks which would accompany us throughout the day and ‘help’. The workday started by collecting the pottery found and washed the previous day, and carrying it to the pottery building. There we would mark the newly discovered pottery with the context numbers in ink before categorising and sorting it. Characteristic pieces, including rim sherds, bases and decorative fragments, would be illustrated and photographed. The afternoons were generally less hectic. We would walk back down to site and begin washing the pottery finds of the morning. Due to the intense afternoon heat, we would hide in the shade.
Weekends were a mixture of relaxing and exploring. Despite being exhausted after the work week, on Saturdays we tended to wake up early and explore other archaeological sites, including Herculaneum and Pasteum. My favourite trip had to be to the day we spent in Naples where we visited the National Archaeological Museum followed by a tour of the Catacombs of San Gennaro. Our Sundays tended to be more relaxed- I generally would catch up on sleep in the mornings before walking back to the ruins of Pompeii and would allow myself to get lost in the past. Despite working at the site for 4 weeks and regularly visiting on the weekends, I truly felt like I hadn’t fully explored the site fully.
To all archaeology students I encourage you to consider taking part in any excavations possible, regardless of whether it is at home or abroad. I know how intimidating applying for excavations and other opportunities can be, but it’s a brilliant way to experience different types of archaeological sites, learn new excavation techniques, meet amazing people and work on brilliant sites.
