Digging begins!

After I received my teacher's certification, I wanted to go on a trip overseas somewhere. Originally, I thought about going back to Russia (went to Soviet Union in 1990), but that group trip was canceled. So, I decided to go to the Czech Republic for archaelogical field school. It was through the community college where I took some of the classes I needed for my certification. And, I'm so glad I decided to go, because it ended up being one of the most interesting experiences of my life.

I have already showed a map of where the dig was and where I lived. Now a little about the dig itself.

This is how we found our dig site. Full of tall grass!

We used sharpened shovels to cut the grass down on the dig site. And, then had to section off our dig area into 25 square meters with individual 1x1 meter sections.

We worked in pairs for each 1x1 section.

We carefully removed the sod level and then used trowels to slowly remove layer after layer of dirt. We filled the buckets with the dirt and then ran them through the screens looking for artifacts. We often found pieces of pottery, some stone tools, and occasionally bones or jewelry. My first square was horrible. Unlike most of the others, which had dirt, ours had hard layers of stones. This was difficult to trowel and also difficult to determine what was worth keeping and what was just stones.

Amy, my partner for our first 1x1 meter, looking at the screen with Mike, our instructor.

That was how the dig began. We did switch up partners and worked on different squares. Over the five weeks, we ended up digging two- 5x5 meter areas.

It was hard labor every day, but so much fun!

Czech Republic- Archaeological Dig- Pohansko

A few years ago, I spent 5 weeks in the Czech Republic on an archaeological dig. It was near the southern border near Austria and Slovakia. It was not something I necessarily set out to do, but the opportunity came up and I went. The area where we dug was on the outskirts of Breclav in an relatively isolated area. We had a main building with a dining room, flush toilets and showers (though more often than not COLD showers). It was a step up from tent camping. Above is a picture of our 'homes'. They were metal boxes with beds. I lucked out with only 4 of us sharing one unit. Others had up to 6 people. We spent our days digging on the site and our nights socializing or doing lab work, which included cleaning our finds. During the weekends, we visited various different cities in the Czech Republic, Austria and Slovakia.

Below is the google map of where we stayed and our site. The small white box shape on the upper corner under 'show labels' is the camp where the main building and sleeping quarters were located. The "B" is the museum that was located on the site and where we used the facilities while digging. Our actual dig site was in the rough clearing to the right of the trees there. We would walk each day to the dig site in the morning, returning to home camp for lunch and then back to the site in the afternoon.


View Larger Map
That gives you an idea of where I went. I will write further posts about the dig and some of our side trips. Do you have any questions? Anything you would like to know or see? Lots more to come!

5-Blahs is relaunched again.

I have lost count of the number of times I have launched this blog. I would write about 5 posts and then stop writing and then months or a year later would decide to write again. This past time, I stopped and started using Posterous for awhile. While I do like Posterous, I was always writing on the web rather than via mobile phone, so I figure I might as well return to blogger.

If you have read this blog before, you know the story behind the name, but for those visiting for the first time I will tell the story again. 

5-blahs comes from a time in the past when I was informed by Jenny who worked for me that I would always say- "blah blah blah blah blah". Always 5 times and always the exact same way. When I was originally starting a blog, it seemed a fitting name. While I don't say "blah blah blah blah blah" anymore (ok, it will slip out every once in a while), I just love the name for my blog. I will write about whatever is on my mind and I'm sure some of you will think some posts are just blah. Hopefully, you will find more interesting than not.

Over the past few months, I have talked to quite a few people about my trip in 2004 for five weeks to the Czech Republic for an archaeological dig.  This was definitely one of the highlights of my life and I would love to share it with you. So, that will be my first 'real' post.