The thing about small towns in the middle of southern Italy.... they dont have internet. I wish i could have updated more frequently, but taking a 20 minute bus ride to potenza to use the internet was just too much, and the two times i did go was quite a pain and being at a premium for time, the blog was ignored.
Pretty much, the last few weeks have been really great, with a few minor exceptions due mainly to language barriers and dig politics at the site. Working on Saggio X, we unearthed a large stone building from the 6th to 5th centuries BC, with roof decoration that was usually reserved for greek temples. many pieces of pottery, roof tiles, and bronze were found, also including some iron nails and bones. You name it, and we pick axed our way clean through all of the above. Sometimes it was tedious and annoying work, but when you actually start finding cool things, the day immediately gets so much better... especially when the Italians arent finding anything and the Canadians are finding everything.
I will write a conclusion with some photos when i get home, but for now, ciao!
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Sassi di Matera
So a week into the course, I love it. First day of class I broke a cup from the 3rd century bc and was dubbed by Professor Collivicchi "the destroyer".
Matera is a beautiful beautiful town, but sadly we move to Tito tomorow to start digging in the morning. Apparently Tito is not quite as pretty. I would put up photos but i have been having difficulties with computers and technology here. One of my memory cards wouldnt work at the shop yesterday, so i only got a few photos burnt onto a DVD, and sadly this computer does not take dvds... and because of what happened yesterday with the memory card, im not even sure it will work to plug in the camera. To give an overview of Matera... on one side is the Sasso di Barisano, which is the the inhabited side... the Sasso di Cavioso is the uninhabited side. As the name suggests, the Cavioso side is basically homes cut into caves on the side of the valley, which are damp and thus not healthy to live in. in the middle of the two valleys is the Civite, or the city, on top of the hill. The Sassi and the Civite are all parallel to eachother, while across a main valley with a small river at the bottom, are even older caves. We took two treks over there to different hills this past week. yesterday morning the trek was great, lots of cliffs and steep inclines to climb up!
Anyways, we are heading to Tito soon so I shall try to put up some photos this week if I can make it into Potenza (there is no internet in Tito).
Watching the Italy game tonight at an pub in Tito... the only one in town... should be entertaining!!!
ciao!
Matera is a beautiful beautiful town, but sadly we move to Tito tomorow to start digging in the morning. Apparently Tito is not quite as pretty. I would put up photos but i have been having difficulties with computers and technology here. One of my memory cards wouldnt work at the shop yesterday, so i only got a few photos burnt onto a DVD, and sadly this computer does not take dvds... and because of what happened yesterday with the memory card, im not even sure it will work to plug in the camera. To give an overview of Matera... on one side is the Sasso di Barisano, which is the the inhabited side... the Sasso di Cavioso is the uninhabited side. As the name suggests, the Cavioso side is basically homes cut into caves on the side of the valley, which are damp and thus not healthy to live in. in the middle of the two valleys is the Civite, or the city, on top of the hill. The Sassi and the Civite are all parallel to eachother, while across a main valley with a small river at the bottom, are even older caves. We took two treks over there to different hills this past week. yesterday morning the trek was great, lots of cliffs and steep inclines to climb up!
Anyways, we are heading to Tito soon so I shall try to put up some photos this week if I can make it into Potenza (there is no internet in Tito).
Watching the Italy game tonight at an pub in Tito... the only one in town... should be entertaining!!!
ciao!
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Sicilia!
Alright so the past few days have been excellent minus the loss of my brand new harddrive and possibly a few gigs of photos from the castle and London... we shall see.
The last nights in London were great, I had a pint with Katie Mackay the Great, and saw the Elgin Marbles and much more!
Sicily is beautiful!! We're staying in Taormina, which is right next to Etna. Our hotel backs onto an old Greek Theatre which is kind of cool. A view from the balcony of Mount Etna tops it off. Tomorow we're headed down to a town a bit north of Syracuse, so I'll post again when i have a chance!
The last nights in London were great, I had a pint with Katie Mackay the Great, and saw the Elgin Marbles and much more!
Sicily is beautiful!! We're staying in Taormina, which is right next to Etna. Our hotel backs onto an old Greek Theatre which is kind of cool. A view from the balcony of Mount Etna tops it off. Tomorow we're headed down to a town a bit north of Syracuse, so I'll post again when i have a chance!
Monday, June 2, 2008
Sunny old England!
Of course it has to be raining when we land in London... and it most definitely has to rain for two days straight. Arriving in London yesterday morning, we ate breakfast, took a nap, and then went out for dinner. We walked to Picadilly Circus and then Trafalgar Sq. and caught a taxi who drove us around for a bit to see some sights and then back to the hotel.
This morning i caught a train to Herstmonceux and spent about 3 hours in the cafeteria running into people and catching up. After lunch, my friend Elamin took me for a wet tour of the grounds and so here are a few photos of the trek! My pants are presently drying out from all the rain.
Ciao until next time... Sicily probably?
This morning i caught a train to Herstmonceux and spent about 3 hours in the cafeteria running into people and catching up. After lunch, my friend Elamin took me for a wet tour of the grounds and so here are a few photos of the trek! My pants are presently drying out from all the rain.
Ciao until next time... Sicily probably?
Friday, May 30, 2008
Up Up and Away
Well, since tomorrow is departure day, I thought i'd start off this blog by saying... it's not going to be much of a blog. I'm probably going to post fairly regularly, but I don't plan on writing very much. That could change, but mainly this will just be a place where y'all can come and look at some pictures from Italy!
Almost all packed... totally forgot to get a proper notebook for the dig, but luckily one of the girls volunteered some space in her bag and kindly picked one up for me in Kingston. I've got a couple cameras packed: the standard fare D80 and a trusty old film Olympus Trip 35 which will mainly be a back-up if i get robbed/ just an outlet to let me take some film shots if I want to.
To start off the photos, here's one from my last trip to Italy.
Almost all packed... totally forgot to get a proper notebook for the dig, but luckily one of the girls volunteered some space in her bag and kindly picked one up for me in Kingston. I've got a couple cameras packed: the standard fare D80 and a trusty old film Olympus Trip 35 which will mainly be a back-up if i get robbed/ just an outlet to let me take some film shots if I want to.
To start off the photos, here's one from my last trip to Italy.
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