[32] A Roma Sempre - July 12th, 2008

Ciao mei amici!

I have conquered the Italian lands, peoples, and language. They are now mine. Or at least, more accurately, I have learned to speak bits of Italian (at least to communicate with my fellow archaeologists and the owner of the Gelateria in Tito), I have met some fabulous Italians (mainly Massimo B, Lia, Valentina, and Guiseppe), and I have seen more of Southern Italy than I had ever hoped to see.

At this point, I think it would be impossible to list all of the things I have seen and experience, let alone give enough details to please you all. So here are some highlights! (Photos to follow, once I remember to bring my camera connector cord to the internet place).

June 21: At the Museum in Venosa (yes, the birthplace of Horace), we saw stones from an ancient augury area; the stones are a scaled representation of the sky. SINAV is short fo sinister ave, a bird which comes from the left and brings bad fortune. BIVAV (which looked more like BIVN) stands for bene iuvare ave, or the bird which brings good luck (and does not come from the right.

June 23d: We were clearing the new part of Saggio VII, first witch pickaxes, then shovels, then trowels and brushes and dust pans. Yes, we are sweeping dirt from dirt, if you can imagine. Around the Archaic hut remains, there are banks of hard yellow clay, rife with concotto (a decorative ceramic waterproofing that covered the outside of the hut and was baked in the fire), which turns the clay red, and ash, which turns the clay grey. It is very hard to distinguish between stratigraphical unit, particularly inside the hut, where it seems are are only allowed to remove 1mm of dirt at a time (if even). To properly trowel and clean a square or quadrant, you are not allowed to stand within the square, which means you have to stand in another square. You cannot sit, but the ground is hot anyway, and who gets tired of squatting? You cannot stand on concotto, which crumbles upon contact with everything, but must eventually be removed and preserved, and which you cannot wash. So there are only a few very difficult and often dangerous stances which the seasoned archaeologist may adopt, all of which require to flexibility of a yogini and the cat like dexterity. While I was cleaning Tomb 63 at Saggio X, I balanced my stomach on the rock wall of the tomb, leaned over down into the tomb and had my legs braced above me against the wall of another tomb behind me. I am told I looked ready to go swimming at the beach.

June 25: When your site is rained out and you have to work at the lab (again), it is easy to become the lab director's favourite assitant when you can distinguish rocks from pottery, and can label in letters smaller than 4.0mm on all types of difficult surfaces. Said lab director does not speak English, and only some French, so I now know a lot of technical terms related to Archaic ceramics and the gay lifestyle.

June 28: On the way to Pompeii in our bus shaped much like a shark fin on the outside and decorated like a jellyfish on the inside (which I saw at the beach in Metaponto, by the way. The French and Italians call them medusa - it was electric blue and the size of a base-ball!), I observed that in Italy, there are two types of roads. The regional roads follow every curve of the land, whereas the interregional ones are built either on high pillars that tower over the low valley or in tunnels through hills. The road west from Tito runs through the Lucanian Dolomites - rolling mountains that have farms and towns cut into the dark trees and that very ancient rock. I was not expecting the fields of wheat and barley, as golden as any at home, and the combines cutting the grain perched precariously on hillsides defy gravity and all of my notions of farming. They have John Deeres here! There are terraced vineyards, but the fields grow straight up the hills, not like the mountain farms of Asia I have seen in picture books.

At Pompeii, Gladiators were the ultimate industry. You could watch the fight, you could buy them as lovers, and you could buy their blood bottled after they died. Gladiators, fun, love, and health all rolled into one!

July 4: Working in my first tomb along side Lia from Napoli, we found a bronze belt and five iron nails. The skeleton below the initial one had legs crossed so casually, the position was quite a mystery. Had they crossed his legs before they lowered him down in a sheet, or did it happen on the way down?

July 5th: At Paestum, we saw the remains of a swimming pool. At the side of the pool, there had been a temple to Venus Verticordia (the same as in one of my poems, turner of hearts towards or away from). Traditionally, all the women of the town would wash the statue and themselves in the pool as a part of ritual worship of the goddess. The ritual alludes to the traditional pre-weding bath taken by all women. Later on in the history of the settlement, only lower status women and prostitutes (who I guess were considered lower than low...?) washed in this practice and the worship of VV became ignominious.

July 6: After our loud toga party probably echoed across the whole town last night, I am sure the three cannon ball shots and the marching band playing down in the street outside our hotel must have been some sort of revenged planned for us by the inhabitants of Tito. Yes, we frequented their Gelateria two or three times a day, loyal customer that we were, or addicts, rather, but we walked in groups up the wrong side of those narrow winding, hilly, roads, and we played soccer with a small blue inflatable ball that Dave probably stole from a child back in Matera that flew out into traffic more often than not and above all we were loud. I am sure, by now, if they do not hate us, they anticipate our departure. Either that or we are the most fascinating oddity this town has ever known and they spend their long afternoon siestas wondering how such people could ever be. There will be Tito before and after the Canadian archaeology students. Next, Professor Colivicchi says, we will be excavating Tito itself.

So far there have also been a lot of sweet quotes. Here are a few of my favourites.

At the Casa di Augusto on the Palantine Hill, Chris, in the voice of Augustus: I told you to take those broken pot sherds out to the rubbish heap! Chris in the whiny voice of young Tiberius: But Dad! I don't wanna!

At the Scavi Forum Romani, Laura Major: Look! Archaeologists in their natural habitat. Zeyd: Can we feed them? Jess 'burst of fury': Shake keys at them? Chris: Don't tap the glass, that's just cruel.

At the Piazza Barberini, Chris: The hangover fountain: Everyone is puking and this guy's taking a piss...from his giant fish!

On the street, Zeyd translating a Latin inscription: In honour of the getting back up again of Jesus Christ.

Sitting outside the Castello which was once known as Hadrian's Mausoleum, Jess: what do you want to do next? Chris: How about no more stairs (we clearly haven't been to Matera and Tito yet...). Guy (the random Australian): The Spanish Steps? Chris: How about the Spanish bed with the Spanish Pillows and the Spanish Sheets? Mike: It's right over there (pointing to St. Peter's Basilica). Chris: Really? Mike: No, I meant the metro.

Eating dinner at the Cola Cola in Matera, Laura Minor: Wait to you see the mullets. They come out a night. Kiff: That is comic-book worthy. Laura Minor: When mullets attack. Laura Major: When good mullets go bad.

At the University of Basilicata, drawing vases and fragments of vases, Mike 'Slowfish': I think I lost a part of my pot (and by lost he meant broke). Professor Colivicchi: This is exactly what you were not supposed to do.

In the restaurant near the Museum at Metaponto, Chris: What is this (music from)? Italian power rangers? Dave: No, it' soccer. Chris: Avanti, avanti! Forza Rangers!

In the restaurant near the Museum at Venosa, Professor Colivicchi, watching Mike spin a plate on his finger: If you break it, you must draw it.

Italian soldiers on the bus from Matera to Potenza: The animal says baaaaa! What's your name? (It's a sheep, in case you have not guessed).

Dave's stuff is taking over the room. It seems to ooze out from everywhere. Chris: maybe we hould do a stratigraphic analysis of this area. Professor Colivicchi: Maybe a core sample would be more useful.

On the short bus to Pompeii, Jess: Why is the stewardess (on the button) fat? Zeyd: What happens when I push the jelly fish button? Laura Minor: No, it's the alien abduction button! When you press it, you summon the aliens.

On the way to Pompeii, Mike: Let's have a picnic in the House of the Fauns. Andrew: The Fonz lives in Pompeii?!

Playing Kings, Everyone: Dave, you're thirty-nine. Dave: Fourty. Jess reads this quote aloud later. Dave: Can you say that again in proper English?

Chris scraps the peeling skin of Dave's sunburn with his trowel, Dave: This feels way too good to be done by a guy.

Eating Pizza, Dave: Potatoes (on a pizza)?! Go back to Gaul. Laura Major: I am pretty sure they are from the New World. Dave: Persia? Aren't they some sort of desert legume?

Well, that is about it for now. I hope you have enjoyed this update, which was brought to you today by a Big Mac for lunch (ew!) and a Red Bull (yummy!).

A dopo!

Laura