The "Work Vacation"

The past four weeks have been very eventful. Each weekend has been wonderful and unique, the highlights are plenty, like visiting the museums, going to the opera, taking a ferry over to Euboea, climbing the Mycenae acropolis, or simply relaxing in the clearest, bluest sea water after a long walk under the blazing sun. There are not enough weekends to do everything. Although, seeing all these ancient remnants of magnificent cities at the sites and museums is not as stimulating as digging them up yourself. It is a fantastic thing to experience the satisfaction of finding something, slowly and carefully uncovering it, and finally being able to pull it out of the ground. The problem is the most fantastic artifacts are not so easily found as in a museum. And once found, does not usually come with the helpful plaque explaining what it is. So it is exciting to overhear the "purple ideas" as to what each significant find could be. Of course, not every object is a mystery, most, we are taught how to identify by type and timeframe. From what we have uncovered so far I am very impressed, Eleon was certainly no hamlet. I will have to remember to return 50 years from now, after many more seasons of study and excavation to see and learn, along with the tourists, the history we do not know yet.

This weekend is special for many EBAPers. Tomorrow is Canada Day but we will be celebrating today as tomorrow is a work day. What does it matter? Even if we did it tomorrow we still wouldn't be partying the same time as everyone else back home.