The Search for Ancient Eleon

Braden Stanley

This summer I embarked on an incredible journey to the beautiful country of Greece to take part in an experience I will never forget. It is hard to captivate the entirety of my experience with mere words, so I decided I would try to express my summer in Greece via video. When I first began this journey I often wondered what exactly I would be doing in the trenches of Eleon. Would I become the next Indiana Jones uncovering the temple of doom, or would I be an average person just moving dirt? As cool as Indiana Jones is, I would have to say that my experience at Eleon was far superior to any adventure that Jones took part in, and I say that for one simple reason...The big pick. In the infamous indy movies you never see Indiana wielding the big pick axe doing actual archaeology, where as in my opinion, there is nothing more satisfying than swinging the big pick doing a clean 10cm pass, and uncovering an ancient history in the process. I feel obligated, however, to mention a particular illness that will take over once the smooth wooden handle first touches your fingers. To the common man your body may just feel warm, as if you have received to much sun, but to the experienced archaeologist it is known as "the fever." The fever can be described as the irresistible desire to big pick, disregarding all cautionary measures to maintain locus levels and to observe differences in soil change. The fever will take over your body and mind in a way you never thought possible, and without realizing it you will have done three full 10cm trench passes before first break. By the end of the day you will have moved 150 buckets of dirt and ask yourself...what happened to me? Some may say they cannot tell if they have the fever or not, but perhaps the easiest way to diagnose the disease is when someone has been asked to do a shallow 5cm pass, but in reality they were digging closer to 10cm. Your body will do this on its own as it is something you will not be able to control. It will be up to your supervisor to get you out of the trench, feed you a cookie, insist that you take an Almora rehydration tablet, and tell you to go sit under the tree for some shade in order to get rid of the fever for the time being. I myself am burdened with this illness, but I do not intend on treating it. In all seriousness, my time in Greece has been something I will never forget. From the gorgeous beaches of Dilesi to the breathtaking 6am sunrises, from the incredible friendships to the amazing food, this experience will be an ever lasting memory. Being able to take part of an excavation at the incredible site of Eleon cannot be described with words - it is something that you will have to experience for yourself. But I warn you...if you do ever make it into the trenches, beware of the fever. 

Along with the video below, I have included a few time lapse clips to demonstrate the work we do in the trenches - Enjoy!

What a great group for 2015! And not everyone on our team is in the photo unfortunately. We took this photo yesterday, on Canada Day. We had heavy rains the night before so we had a very leisurely 7 am start time. Many of us went to the site, others to the apothiki (our work/storage area), and the rest stayed back in Dilesi, for data entry and pottery analysis. I was part of the team that went to the site. What we found was pretty surprising - pools of water in several of our newly dug trenches. 

We assembled a crack team of water-balers and quickly were able to empty the most heavily filled trenches. We let it all dry in the sun and by today we were back in business, more or less. With only a week or so left in the excavation season, every day matters. 

Our students are also going to be blogging a lot more since it's part of the course requirements - so look out for those. Thanks to the ones who have blogged already - Duncan and Tyler. 

The end will come very quickly for us - as usual we are busy with end of season photos, t-shirts, group photos, etc. Our Greek colleagues came to visit the site today and were as usual very helpful and supportive. We are very lucky to have such great partners during this very difficult time in Greece. This afternoon I was interviewed for our local CBC morning program back home in Victoria. I tried to give a balanced perspective on the choices facing Greece. People are uncertain of the future, of course, and how Greece will manage over the coming days and weeks. My only thought is that something has to happen soon because what's been going on over the last few years has obviously not been solving the many problems so many people are facing. We hope for the very best for this country that have given us all so much. 

Difficulties of life in Greece.

As one sits on a comfortable couch overlooking the channel that separates Euboea and the mainland, the mind wanders from the bliss that is a Sokalata Krea and free WiFi.

First and foremost, the weather is the greatest challenge to the experienced and would-be archaeologists. From thundering storms to blistering heat, the weather is as unrelenting and moody as my future wife. It is fun to think of the poetry of Homer in regards to the weather. So far, there has been a number of thunder storms, just like in poetry and writings from antiquity. Odysseus, for example, experienced a few similar storms. Imagine, the EBAP crew on a fast, black ship sailing home when we are hit by storm. Now, that's just an overactive imagination talking. We were really in the backyard washing sherds. Although the rain felt nice, everyone had one thought in mind: the site. Heavy rains can and will foil any thought of working on site, sometimes even for a few days. The last major storm had left layers of mud inside of trenches, making it impossible to work in until they dried out a few days later. The rain will make all the soil look the same, making it impossible to distinguish changes in the soil/marking stratigraphy changes. Statigraphy levels are used in order to properly date any material found. If there is no contamination, then materials found in the same locust should be related. Anyways, rain equals bad. On the other hand, sun equals heatstroke and heatstroke equals bad as well. The weather conditions are unforgiving, but thankfully there has been plenty of days in between blistering and rain. The best days are cloudy with a light wind.

Another difficulty would easily be the easily accessed beach that is near where we stay. Dilesi is a resort town, and so has a beautiful beach. It can be a challenge to lay there in the sun, sometimes you may get a sunburn instead of the crisp tan that you were after. A sunburn equals bad. It's handwork laying around on the beach contemplating whether or not the water seems welcoming. And nothing is worse than a mouth or nose full of salt water. Sometimes, if you're very unfortunate, you might even hurt your fingers trying to catch the frisbee. The real problems with having the beach so close would be the urge to go spend hours there. As mentioned, sunburns equal bad, and it is easy to burn here in Dilesi. The rocks on the shore and in the water pose a threat to your feet. Damaged feet equals bad.

Now, if the previously mentioned problems are bad, then this next one is BAD. As a Canadian, I grew up with a lot of luxury that I did not even register as luxurious until I came to Greece. I had never been out of Canada before, so everything was new and almost everything was exciting. You know what I was not excited for? Not being able to flush toilet paper, and not having drinkable water in Dilesi. In really any bathroom in Greece, you will find a trashcan that you press down on with one foot and the lid pops up. The specifics are not important, but to say I miss being able to flush and forget is an understatement. The same goes for the metallic water in Dilesi. Although most food and drink in Greece is deadly good, Dilesi tap water equals bad/maybe death in large quantities. The water here is really only good for washing clothes, brushing teeth, showering, and thats just about it.

Although some aspects of life in Greece is difficult to adjust to, we are very lucky to be here, doing what we are doing. Our mission ends in a week and a few days, so we are lucky in the sense that Greece is about to experience even more difficulties. With the referendum looming, and the vote being able to go either way, the next few days will be tense. So far, things have been peaceful, aside from a few fist fights here in Dilesi(May or may not be due to alcohol). The rallys at the parliament building have been peaceful, the two sides take turns on when to be there. I feel sad when I think of the harsh times that Greece is facing, and I feel worse knowing that it may not get better. Regardless, it is the people of Greece who will suffer, their lives will be difficult, but in less than two weeks I will be back home in Victoria. I now know how lucky I am to be living in Canada, rather than a country down on its luck. I wish Greece good luck, and I sincerely hope they make the right decision for as many people as possible.

We have reached the midway point of our excavation. Last week ended with a slightly shorter Saturday than normal because of a downpour. This resulted in a very chilly lunch at Stavroula's. The family kindly brought out every piece of clothing they had to keep everyone warm. Before the rain we were able to get a good amount accomplished - including the removal of a very large stone (photos below)

With three weeks remaining, things should be fairly exciting this week. Our project will also be getting several additional team members so our number should increase to about 35, our maximum this year. The upcoming days should be great. The weather, however, is again a little off-putting - cloudy skies and rain forecast for tomorrow morning does not sound good. We will see.

Actions have consequences. That was the title of my ‘lecture’ today as we began week three on site. It was forecast to be the hottest day of the year so far, and after a VERY sunny hot weekend, no one was surprised when temperatures reached around 35/95 degrees by the end of the day Monday. Over the weekend, several people thought it a good idea to spend the day at the beach, in the sun, all day, maybe with a beverage or two. Great fun, but I think some paid for all the fun a bit today while working the trenches. That’s originally what I meant by ‘actions have consequences’ – but there’s also another meaning.

Every year, several of our students make the choice to come to the excavation during the summer and forego their home graduation. It’s a tough choice, especially when they leave behind expectant proud parents who miss out on celebrating their offsprings’ well-earned success and acclaim. To try to make up for missing their formal graduation, we typically have party for those students. This year we were very happy to celebrate a range of graduations: one from high school (Duncan Jones), two from undergraduate (Max MacDonald and David Royce) and one with her MA at UBC (Haley Bertram). Led by Sam Bartlett and Janelle Sadarananda, the party planning committee threw together a great garden party with personalized drink stations for each grad, special gifts and speeches by key members of the team for the individual graduate’s honor. It was a great Friday evening event. 

We are extremely proud of our graduates and wish them the best of luck. Two will be at UVic next year (Duncan and Max). Haley will be entering the PhD program at Cincinnati. While we sometimes look for any reason to host a party on this excavation, the great success and hard work of our students prove that ‘actions’ can have truly great ‘consequences’.

We’ve now started our third week of excavating and things are going very well. We will deal with the heat by starting tomorrow with a 6 am departure. We will consequently reduce our work time in the afternoon by a half hour. It will still be hot, but our work will continue.  

Here are some photos showing what goes on in the second half of our day, starting at 5 pm until 7 Monday to Friday.After returning from site we observe a typical Greek town rest-period, quiet hours. Some of us sleep, some swim, others read and rest. A few sneak in a bit more time working or catching up with work back home. At 5 our house comes to life. Students begin by collecting the dried pottery from the screens from the day before. These are bagged with their numerical tags inside and outside and put in bins for the supervisors to sort, assisted by students at the white tables. The sherds are sorted by weight and type. Diagnostic pieces are separated out for further detailed study and photography. Other students start washing the daily sherds we've brought home from the field that day. On a hot a day, it can be somewhat cool and refreshing to be gently cleaning dirt off the ceramic fragments in plain water using small brushes. We have a beautiful apricot tree providing shade and the sweetest apricots for snacking. 

Week Two

Our second full week started well. We got a new (wooden!) closet, custom made to fit our beautiful tree. This will hold our valuable equipment onsite so we don't have to carry too much up everyday. We also had an earth mover flatten out our backdirt pile and stone heap on Saturday. This will improve the overall appearance of the site. Our only concern is that the new flatter, larger back dirt pile will cover potentially interesting archaeology for our successors in decades to come. For now though, we're are very happy with the way the site has been cleaned up so quickly and looks really great for any visitors. Our 2015 team has proven to be an EXCELLENT selection of students and volunteers. They are engaged in ceramic studies - fighting for copies of Moutjoy - and our working diligently to learn modern Greek. They also work very hard with a happy attitude. 

This morning, Tuesday 9 June 2015, was remarkable to many because we all awoke at 4:09 am to a 5.2 magnitude earthquake. It seems to have been centered right off the coast between the mainland and the island of Euboea which our home town of Dilesi overlooks. The quake was strong and it's remarkable that for our proximity we did not see any noticeable damage. Some students said they saw some tiles come off in their kitchen. Thankfully no other damage or injuries have been reported in the local papers. We will all be aware of Poseidon's power!

Having started off the day with some great difficulties, reflecting on the fragility of life, we all rebounded, came together and focused on the work at hand. The weather cooperated nicely - sunny, breezy and not too scorching hot. My car read 32 when leaving the site - not terrible (I've seen 44 before! - this is around 92 to well-over- 100 for our Fahrenheit readers). 

The work day ended with a delicious crowd-pleasing lunch: Classic Greek mousaka by Stavroula! A small Greek masterpiece. We are extremely lucky to have such great food so expertly prepared for us in the village of Arma by Stavroula and her incredibly welcoming family. 

We will enjoy dinner at the Delion taverna by the sea - seafood tonight I believe.