Aditu Field School- 8-13 Aug 2017

Week 2- a busy and slow week all in one with a lot that has been done but it has not been to eventful. A lot of the week has been extremely cold even reaching down to 3 degrees Celsius! On top of the cold weather the rain has been pouring and the wind whipping.  A lot of time was lost due to simply having to pack up quickly and go inside for a little while and then do it all again and go back outside. The weather is so crazy because we are basically up in the cloud, so it comes in waves. Because we have  been finding human remains (articulated and non-articulated) in the first part of the week we have to be extra cautious with the water and wind as it can do a lot of damage to the very fragile bones. We also have to try and be as efficient as possible to because a lot of the information is lost when a skeleton is removed from the ground. 

Image from google. The relic close up

San Miguel in Excelsis 

The alter inside of San Miguel

Lectures have been wonderful this week ranging in a variety of topics. The first of the week was on paleopathology, a study of illnesses and their effects on the skeleton.  A perfect combination of my love of forensics, human health and osteology! Thursday's lecture was on sexing and aging a skeleton, and as interesting as this may be we had spent the entire day inside cleaning bones due to the weather and I could hardly pay attention. I'm not sure if it is sheer exhaustion or the weather but I could barely keep my eyes open. We at least were able to have some lab time in the afternoon to review the bones of the hands and feet. These are often bones that are not well known and it is important to be good at them if I want a career. So here here with a big shout out to University of Tennessee for stressing the importance of knowing them because I was able to look like a bone identifying superstar (it truly is an odd environment I am in that this qualifies as "cool"). 

Finally the sun popped out on Friday and we were able to work outside all day. I was put inside of trench 2 with Marianne (Portland) and we almost all of the day taking the trench down. What does this entail you might ask... A pick axe. What can I say archaeology is not always the delicate image of what is portrayed through wooden tools and brushes. Sometimes you have to bring out the big guns-especially if the ground you are removing is wet clay, stones, and bedrock. Being on a mountain provides some pretty stellar views but it comes at a cost and that is the difficult terrain. As satisfying as it was to use large destructive tools it was hard work. By the end of the day I could hardly move. The temperature became so hot that we had to go inside for a dentition lecture to break up the day. I was a bit overwhelmed with learning all about dentition because I had never gone in as much depth as they were teaching, in fact I know should be able to side which tooth I find! Because it is a separate class at UT we only learned the basics and I am going to have to actually use some of my time to study. 

Friday there was a meteor shower that happens annually throughout the northern hemisphere called the Tears of Saint Lawrence. Saint Lawrence was an early christian martyr who was cooked to death on an outdoor grill by the Romans. His supposed last words were in humor of his death sentence, "Turn me over, I'm done on this side". In science terms the meteor shower is associated with the debris left over from the comet Swift-Tuttle but it is much more romantic to say that it is the tears left behind of a martyr. 

Saturday comes along and I thought I was going to have a lovely sunny day working on drawing and recording the skeletons. Boy was I wrong. I guess I am really good at pick-axing because I got another 2 1/2 hours doing that.  Let me tell you, my body hurt. Nearing the end my arms were giving out which is not a thing you want to happen as you are swinging a weapon at a the ground that possibly houses artifacts. Thankfully I got to go inside and clean bones for a little while, it was nice to have a meditative break. Due to the beautiful weather there were sooooo many tourists here. It was hilarious to see their faces as they looked into the site and could see the huesos humans (human bones- see mom and dad I'm learning some Spanish!). It was so hot outside that we had to take two breaks throughout the day and we all got ice cream, definitely a good way to bring up the mood. There was a wedding at the sanctuary and it was interesting to see the local traditions and festivities. It is a great honor to be able to be married at the church so the couple must have been part of a long time local family. 

Marianne working hard

Our normal half day on Sunday was shifted into a full day of work due to time lost from the rain. What can I say this is the weather post.  But it was okay because I was finally able to break out the tank top and work on my tan. Kelly, my room mate, and I spent the entire day inside of trench two. We had reason to believe that there were remains below us from a previous test pit done in 2009. Unfortunately these archaeologists were a group of untrained students with no practice in osteology. The ended up truncating a skeleton so Kelly and I were looking for a set of legs. Digging our test pit Kelly found a patella articulated on the tibia and man oh man it was nice to know that my hard work didn't go to waste. For the next few days we will be working on these legs. Unfortunately being in trench 2 means that Kelly and I are separated from the rest of the group and the groups chats. We sometimes feel a little left out so we pop our heads out of the trench and are now little trench 2 gophers. 

Food this week was not too adventurous for me. I tried some sardines and did not like them at all, it was entirely to greasy and oily. Also the head and bones were taunting me. At least I can say I have tried it and check it off the list. We had lamb in a stew sauce that was delicious. It also had all of the bones in and it has become very distracting to me. With bones being one of the only things on my mind, I can not help but identify the ones I am eating. It kind of freaks me out.  Another traditional dish served is called tortilla, but not the tortilla that we are familiar with. This tortilla is and egg and potato based dish that is very similar to keesh. It was quite yummy but I am not sure that they would approve of my desire to eat it for breakfast. The food culture here is very particular and the smallest things are said to offend, such as mixing foods that are not meant to be mixed or keeping pepper or seasonings on the table. 

In my short time left, would you be interested in seeing pictures of some of the dishes we are served?