Field School Week 1!

Field School Week 1:

So it turned out to be quite difficult to actually write up each day! We left for Grosseto on Sunday afternoon which meant there was time to go and look at the Villa Borghese again before we left! It is such a beautiful art gallery, and I think I could see it again for a third time!

We arrived in Grosseto about 3.30, it’s a really cute little walled town and has much crisper air than Rome! The first week of school was one that I will never forget! We began our introduction to the Alberese excavations through lectures from Dr Sebastiani and Mr Colombini, who are archaeologists who have been working on the project. They both provided us with very informative lectures about the landscape and general information of the area and the excavations that have taken place. This was then followed by a tour and more lectures by Dr Citter, an archaeologist who only recently excavated the mediaeval city centre of Grosseto along with a church in the city. He was incredibly informative, friendly and hilarious! We had the chance to see some of the most important sites in the city, such as the square and the city walls. The basilica of the city had been in construction since the 1200s!

After a relatively relaxing first two days, we finally started our field work! Wednesday and Thursday were dedicated to marble study, which was incredibly exciting! Dr Marri, an archaeologist and expert on marbles gave us an introductory lecture about marble and its use in antiquity, and some information about how to identify the type of stone it came from. We then started the really exciting stuff, separating into groups of three and then sorting through bags of marble fragments and identifying and documenting them. The group I was in found a few interesting fragments including a slab of some sort of mystery marble that was quite beautiful, but also quite unidentifiable! While the first day of marble study was really enjoyable, it really did not compare to the excitement of our second day!

We were very lucky to start the day with one fragment that was particularly interesting, it was very smooth, and had a rounded edge which suggested it was more than just a floor or wall veneer. Without thinking too much about this fragment we documented it, then moved on to our next bag. Then something very interesting happened. This second bag actually contained another very smooth, very rounded piece of marble… and another! These two pieces fit quite nicely together, so we had a look at the first piece we had examined and sure enough, it also fit! This soon turned into a frenzied search for other pieces that fit into our puzzle. Soon our three pieces had turned into 23 marble fragments of the same, smooth type!

It was like doing an incredibly exciting, and frustrating puzzle! It took our group quite a while to finally get all but two pieces together, and we felt so content with this result as many pieces that were uncooperative in the process soon stuck together. We were just left with three extra pieces that we were certain had to fit into the rest of the slab. It was soon revealed to us that this slab had been found on one of the burials at the excavation site. This was a part of an ancient tomb lid that was prepared quite quickly! So, while the fragment we had did not appear to be long enough to fit over the body, it became clear that it was probably the centrepiece of a lid, probably with brick or wood (which has not survived) either side of it. It was also evident that this marble slab was recycled as there are traces of mortar on the rough side, suggesting it may have had a role of something like a threshold or step. This was incredibly exciting. We then had the task of drawing the slab onto some paper to record in the catalogue. After carefully tracing the slab’s fragments onto the paper something amazing happened- we accidently made the three left over pieces fit into the rest of the slab! It was such an amazingly fulfilling moment, and so we had an almost complete slab!

This experience would not have been possible without the help of Dr Marri who constantly helped us, and put up with our putting things in the wrong place- all the time!

Unfortunately, our study of marble was concluded at the end of the day. On the Friday, we had a visit to the Archaeological Museum of Grosseto that boasts four levels of artefacts from Etruscan to Mediaeval times. The fourth level of the museum houses some beautiful religious artefacts and artworks from the area including many gold chalices, some mediaeval manuscripts and Renaissance paintings. I had not expected the museum to have housed so many religious relics that were outstandingly beautiful!

After this visit, we had a free afternoon which was a great chance to relax and explore the city after a very busy week! I had a delicious Napolitana pizza, and bought a pair of 10 euro leather boots!

On the weekend I headed back to Rome for Saturday night in order to finish my summer semester courses and my Bachelor of Arts! So, as of now I have completed one degree and now have to start researching for my Honours thesis this year! It was quite an honour to submit the last of the assessment for my BA at the British School at Rome!

We arrived back in Grosseto at about 6:30 last night, and I went and celebrated the end of my degree at a Mexican restaurant with some of the people on this trip, it was a very enjoyable and delicious way to celebrate!

This week we are studying glass fragments- which I personally don’t find as interesting as marble study, but we had a wonderful lecture from Ms Sally Cottom from the University of Sheffield. She’s an astoundingly intelligent glass expert and taught us so much! We spent the afternoon cleaning up the fragments and then starting to piece them together (which is a lot harder than piecing marble together!). I’m sure the rest of this week will be just as exciting and bring wonderful experiences.

Hope everyone back home is well!

A piece of Porta Santa marble.

The first little fragment!

More pieces...

Like a giant puzzle

Almost there!

Drawing, with pesky bits not fitting...

The final product, still missing a few pieces!

Day 2

What a busy day it was! Having a free Saturday in Rome was most definitely a wonderful experience, and the shenanigans that were had were wonderful! I have to say, after we had finally finished our 10 hour day, my feet felt like they were going to fall off!

After having an early start, a small group of us headed off to the metro station to go to the Via Appia (part of the ancient Roman triumphal route). After successfully catching the metro to San Giovanni Baptiste; Ash, Marianne and I headed to go and have a look at the magnificent church. The scale of the building is just massive, and frankly, quite overwhelming! The ceilings were impossibly high, and the grandeur of the place was just unreal. The beauty of the building was really quite phenomenal. After ogling at the building’s vastness, we went and had a coffee. Well, actually, I had my first hot chocolate and it was absolutely delicious! The cup it came in was more like a bowl than a cup.

We managed to finish our hot chocolate just before the bus to the Via Appia arrived, but we then realised that we had no idea where to get off! So, I asked a little old lady for help and she then referred us on to her friends sitting behind her and soon the whole bus was giving us directions and trying to help us! It’s also quite lovely how excited people get when they hear that you are from Australia. We managed to get off the bus a short walk from the information point, which was quite handy considering the long trek we had in front of us. We each hired a bike from the information point and headed up the Via Appia to the Church of San Sebastiano. I really must note that I had not ridden a bike in about 10 years, so it was quite an experience. My legs are now incredibly bruised from failing at dismounting and pedalling! Marianne and Ash had a great time laughing at my inevitable inability to ride a bike properly! But, after about 20 minutes I got the hang of it a bit better- I’d forgotten how much fun it was!

When we reached the church we had a tour of the Christian catacombs built underground, and learnt of the legend of San Sebastiano and saw his crypt which is in the church. Although it was much smaller compared to the previous churches we had seen, it still had a beautiful reverence and was full of beautiful artworks including a Bernini sculpture, and another by one of his pupils.

We went on further down the road and finally reached the real Roman road! I have to say it was an amazing experience being able to stand on the road on which so many of the people I have studied had ridden after a huge victory! So, of course we did what any self-respecting Classics student would do and took photos of our own triumph on the Via Appia.

We travelled a little further up, caught a glimpse at the tomb of Cecilia Metella (but didn’t have enough cash to go in), saw an old abandoned mediaeval church and then headed back to the information point. After returning our bikes, we backtracked about 40 metres up the road to the Church of Quo Vadis, where Saint Peter apparently saw an apparition of Christ, who he asked ‘Quo vadis domine?’, to have Christ reply ‘Back to Rome to be crucified a second time’. Saint Peter apparently saw footprints of Jesus on the ground, and thus the Church of Quo Vadis was built around that point.

Then, we headed back to Rome to see more beautiful monuments, but first we had lunch at a nice little place near the Colosseum. In this afternoon we; saw the Colosseum, a bit of the Forum (it had closed just 15 minutes earlier!), the Arch of Titus, the Arch of Constantine, Trajan’s Column, the Pantheon, a few more churches, and Plaza Novana (built on top of Domitian’s Circus). We also managed to squeeze in a little bit of shopping before heading back to the British School. However, the day wasn’t quite over!

We headed out to dinner to a restaurant called ‘La Carbonara’ (we ended up catching a taxi in a group of four- we were just too tired to walk anymore!) and the food was absolutely amazing. So, after a delicious meal and a glass of wine, it was finally time for bed!

Day 1

Day 1:

After a long 28 hours of being on a plane, and running to catch connecting flights, we made it to Rome last night! Have to say it was one of the better night’s sleep I’ve had in a very long time!

Today we went to an exhibition at the Quirinale Museum about Augustus, it was amazing. Unfortunately, they did not allow us to take photos inside, which was incredibly disappointing. The exhibition included statues of Augustus- including the Prima Porta (which was really exciting as we didn’t see it on our last visit to Rome!). As well as statues of Augustus, there were many pieces of art from his time.

After a very busy morning, and a long walk, we went to lunch at a café nearby where we all ate margherita pizza and enjoyed Italian food.

Next, we went to the Baths of Diocletian, which are HUGE! Along with being an archaeological site, the Baths house so many beautiful artefacts ranging from busts, sarcophagi, pots and even some armour. We spent quite a bit of time here as there was just so much to see! Unfortunately, much of the archaeological site is currently closed for maintenance.

After this we headed to the Basilica attached to the Bathes- St Mary Mother of Angels. It was absolutely breathtaking. I’ve attached a couple of photos. After we had finished looking at this massive and beautiful structure, we went to another Church, Mary of the Victory which houses a Bernini sculpture which is also magnificent.

By this stage we were all absolutely exhausted! However, we made a quick stop at the Ara Pacis museum before heading back to the BSR. It’s been pretty great being back in Italy and the cool!

Time for a new adventure!

In just a few days, I will be off on my second trip to Italy, to participate in an internship at the new archaeological site in Alberese.

So, that means I have resurrected my blog and am hoping to update it fairly regularly over the next month and a bit.

Days 11 and 12: Paestum, Velia, Baia and Bacoli

Days 11 and 12 were very intense days of visiting archaeological sites, and to be honest, after a whole week of it, we were all a bit ruins-ed out!! A great quote going around is 'another day, another Ostia!!'

I don't really have a great deal to say about these places other than how beautiful they are. Of all the sites we visited in the two days, Paestum was definitely my favourite, the temples in the city are just so beautifully preserved and amazing!! It is amazing to think that the temples we saw were about 2500 years old and still standing!! As it is quite late here and I'm sleepy, here are some photos of these wonderful sites (I will write more later!!!)

Day 10: Naples Museum, trains and shopping!

Day 10 was definitely a fantastic day, full of adventure, new experiences and really, really cool artefacts. The day started with a trip into Naples by train, which is always an interesting experience!! We arrived at the National Archaeological Museum first thing and went straight into the huge museum and definitely my favourite museum experience so far!!

The museum itself is built inside a palace from Naples' heyday, and full of artefacts that once belonged to the King that had come from places including Rome, Pompeii and Greece. Our first part of the day was browsing through the beautiful wall paintings that were taken from villas and houses at Pompeii and Herculaneum (this makes my inner archaeologist cry a bit, but life goes on). The sheer number of the frescos is just astounding, the colours are still so vibrant and the pictures still crisp and beautiful. Something I really loved seeing was the Alexander Mosaic on the wall. We had seen a replica of it when at Pompeii but it was evident that the mosaic was definitely better off in a museum and away from the open elements. That said, it was amazing to finally see something so famous in real life!!

After our look at the wall paintings, we headed down to the Farnese Collection, the personal collection of a wealthy Neapolitan family. The sheer amount of artefacts that these people had in their possession is ridiculous, especially considering only a fraction are on display. There was a hall of busts that was reminiscent of the Vatican Museum, and held the familiar faces of many great and not so great emperors and figures, including........ Another Domitian!!! We also saw our first Caesar. We all were feeling a little silly so we took self shots with our favourite emperors and posed badly to have a laugh. It is amazing how laid back staff are at these museums, especially given that as a whole our group was pretty noisy!!

After browsing through some other not so exciting things, we were free to run around Naples for the afternoon and then make our own way back to the hotel. I can definitely say that it was an experience and a half considering we got a little lost on the way back home, what with catching the wrong train, walking the wrong way and then ending up at the station we were not intending to.

Luckily for us we had some very helpful and nice people give us a hand in catching the correct trains, my friend Michael asked a man for directions and it turned out he was off to the same place as us, so he got on and off trains with us until we were on the right one. At this point we were a little stressed because we were late for a lecture that was meant to be happening that night, so when we arrived at the Ercolano station, which is quite a walk from our hotel, we flagged down a very nice taxi driver and were back at Villa Signorini in no time, and for the huge price of 2€ each! Was the cheapest taxi ride I have ever had! Despite the stress about missing the lecture, it turned out that only a handful of people were back, we discovered this as the taxi pulled into the driveway at the same time as a large group of our people were walking up the driveway.

It turns out that all the trains were broken that afternoon so we had been stressed over nothing!!

Our lecture was postponed which was good, because it was an excellent presentation from Jo Berry of the Herculaneum Conservation Project.

Day 10 was definitely one of my favourites, it was real fun seeing an amazing museum and shopping in a city as lovely as Naples. That said, I still prefer Rome to Naples, but it is very difficult to compare them to each other.

Attached are some photos of the day:

Also mum, there is a chicken mosaic from Pompeii, thought you would appreciate this haha

Days 8 and 9: Herculaneum, Oplontis and Pompeii!!

After much anticipation from all involved on the tour, we were finally about to see volcanic ruins! I guess none of us really knew what to expect from the two little known towns of Herculaneum and Oplontis. We were in for an absolutely amazing experience.

We walked from our hotel to Herculaneum excavation site, where we were fed sweets and made to drink coffee. After an introduction to the site and the main archaeologists involved in the project, we investigated a makeshift museum, full of naval finds, with an almost perfectly preserved ship, fishing gear, anchor and even a leather bag. It was here we learnt of how harsh Vesuvius was to the small community, with about 350 skeletons found around the city so far (only a third of the town has been excavated as the ash that fell on Herculaneum is much harder than that in sites such as Pompeii). The people trying to escape would have had no chance, with the heat waves coming from the volcano at a heat of at least 450*c, this would have killed them immediately with muscles spasming and organs basically liquefying and flesh being completely stripped from the bodies. Due to the ash burying the bodies, archaeologists have been able to see the positions that the civilians died in, all horribly contorted and twisted. The only saving grace about such an awful death is that it would have been extraordinarily quick, so at least they weren't in pain for long. We had the opportunity to see these skeletons that were found in boat sheds, presumably attempting to escape. Many had possessions with them such as jewellery, swords and even a bag full of coins. The saddest instance was a woman, 8 months pregnant, her child's skeleton is visible inside hers. Despite all the sadness, the ruins we saw were astounding, because of the sorts of ash that fell on Herculaneum, many biological things have survived such as wood and leather.

As well as wood and leather, the frescos of many houses have also survived. These paintings were amazing, and we saw the best examples of them in the Villa of Popeia, Nero's wife in Oplontis. The villa is huge and has absolutely stunning frescoes, mosaics and rooms. Some photos of the boat shed from Herculaneum and the frescos from Oplontis are at the end of the blog. This was definitely an amazing day, and it will be one that will be very hard to top!

Day 9 we went to Pompeii. Before I write anymore I really need to point out the disappointment I experienced in Pompeii. It is much more famous than Herculaneum, but really, it is in such disgusting disrepair that it actually made me feel like crying, the Herculaneum Conservation Project is why the sister site to Pompeii is just so much better. It is such a shame to see the disrepair of the buildings that, with the proper care should not be crumbling down around itself.

Despite this disappointment and sadness, the site still holds its beauty and it is certainly understandable why the site is so famous, but again, I feel it is just a tourist trap rather than a site of historical and archaeological significance. That said, the necropoli in Pompeii are amazing, with varying sizes and classes of mausoleums visible. I really love funerary monuments as they offer such a great insight to the people of the towns and how they wanted to be remembered. My personal favourite was a tomb that a man made for himself and his wife, she outlived him and mustn't have liked his mausoleum because she built herself a bigger and nicer one!! Despite this she still dedicated it to him as well.

The absolute highlight of our visit to Pompeii was definitely out stop at the Villa of Mysteries, just outside the city gates. The mysterious fresco in this villa was the first thing I learnt of Pompeii at uni and I remember the lecture quite fondly, as I had no understanding of the Pompeiian wall painting styles or of its most famous fresco. The mysterious scene on the wall was absolutely breathtaking in real life.

Overall, the experience I had of Herculaneum and Pompeii was amazing and one I will never forget, I just hope that archaeologists can continue to conserve the two sites.