2024: Stories from the field 2
By Elizabeth Roberts, 2024.
My experience as a volunteer student from Manchester University at the HMC Mytikas 2024 project thus far… What an experience it has been! Waking up to explore the medieval terrain of the Mytikas towers while the sun rises is something that will never get old. My time with the team has been split between ‘intensive working’ at the towers in the morning, depot days at the Archaeological museum in Chalkida, and ‘extensive’ days out in the hinterland of Evia, exploring the landscape for more archaeology and potential sites of interest.
Intensive work begins early in the morning with coffee and pastries; once the goods have been secured, we get to work…
We began the project by setting out box surveys and line surveys to examine the land around the towers and begin to systematically collect the plethora of pottery, tiles and shells that had been left as traces of medieval communities. Days on site often involve moving around between the North and South tower which gave us time for the students and staff to work together to teach excavation processes and to build upon existing skills with surveying and trial trenches. Once we have collected our finds, we go down to the processing station where, often with music and lots of water, we begin to organize what has been found into diagnostic and nondiagnostic groups. This part of the day was often time to discuss and consider our finds and how they related to the wider aims of the project, detailing who was settling around the towers and why, and also a great time to check in with the team to discuss what everyone has been up to.
Depot days consisted of taking our finds and further organizing them by way of fabric, colour and decoration. If your interests lie in museum collections and analyzing pottery remains to build a picture of ancient societies, this is the place for you. Our day included gently washing the finds, photographing them with finds cards and then organizing a collection of material from one survey into smaller groups that share similarities. This meant analyzing our finds quite meticulously to document and process them. Spending time at the depot meant that we became extremely familiar with the pottery that is found in the region and, often working alongside Professor Vroom, we learnt extremely valuable skills in organizing and dating pottery. This time was perfect in giving context to the work we were doing in the field and in creating a multifaceted picture of the Towers from its surrounding contexts. As someone who has never experienced pottery dating and finds processing before, having only ever worked in the field, days working at the depot with other students and staff was the perfect opportunity to understand post-excavation processes and to meet specialists and other professionals to see what archaeology has to offer.
Extensive days were the most enjoyable to me. They often consisted of a small group of three or four driving around the hinterland of Evia to explore potential sites of interests and remains. One of the days at extensive had us hiking up a mountain to the remains of a medieval tower and driving around exploring the remains of an Ottoman village. While experiencing the natural flora and fauna of this gorgeous Greek island, we became accustomed to the landscape and terrain which was essential for building our understanding of medieval Evia.
The project was only improved by the beautiful scenery of Greece. On weekends the project leaders organized trips and excursions to the local museums and other archaeological sites in the area. Our downtime was spent relaxing at the beach, swimming, eating the gorgeous local foods and experiencing the local bars and taverns! All in all, the most enjoyable three weeks; packed tightly with archaeology, sunrises, and swimming :)
Photo’s by Elizabeth Roberts 2024.
