EBAP Eleon Excavation

Intermission

We are on our mid-season break now - 2 and a half days off, for rest, travel, laundry and other work obligations. Our project is a full six weeks and now we've reached the midpoint. Yesterday on-site I tried to make the comparison to some epic film, and how this was like intermission - where we don't know how the story will end, but the truth is, we'll never fully know everything. The story will continue for a long time. Research like ours will be a series of constant questions and theory-testing. With the limited time remaining we have to set specific questions that can be answered and go about achieving those goals. It's easy to get distracted because there are so many interesting, puzzling problems with lots of potentially spectacular answers.

Yesterday the Director and Assistant Director of the Canadian Institute in Greece (David Rupp and Jonathan Tomlinson) and the chairman of the Board of directors (Gerry Schaus) visited us. Bryan and I were happy to give them a detailed tour of the site and our apothiki. They were able to meet our team and see work in progress.

The majority of the students this weekend are heading to the beautiful Greek city of Nauplion, about 3 hours away from Dilesi. This old Venetian/Greek city is the perfect hub for exploring the important archaeological sites in the area - like Mycenae, Tiryns, Lerna, Argos and the Argive Heraion. Of course it doesn't hurt that the city is incredibly beautiful with great restaurants and a nice beach. I visit this site every year with the UVic in Greece course I teach, so many of those students this year have decided to save some money and stay back at Dilesi. Others are sailing off to the Greek island of Skyros, famous for the miniature ponies and for being the location where the movie Mama Mia was filmed. I'm spending the weekend in Athens doing errands, research, and laundry.

Next week we are excited to welcome a few new excavators and staff members to the project and to continue to build on the work we've begun so energetically in the first half of the project. We also have some birthdays to celebrate. Below I post several random photos from yesterday: