Friday, January 15, 2016

Al-Baleed 2015B

We are back in Al-Baleed for a short season.  We arrived Dec 10-17, 2015 and are leaving today, Jan 15, 2016. We have switched to a December season for the next few years since Ramadan is moving into May and therefore by the time we get out of school and get to Oman we wouldn't be able to work during the day.

This season we brought 3 students from the University of Little Rock: Charlotte Dollar, Myriah Harrison, & Laura Whitehead.  


Myriah, Charlotte, & Laura

Senior Staff of Dr. Krista Lewis, Kristy Miller, & Brian Miller were back again.  New editions this year of Senior staff were Paleoethnobotonist Dr. Liz Horton and & Vanessa Bunton who has been on past digs with Krista.
Liz looking smug.
A lot had to get done in a short time because another vital member joined the crew this season, mapping specialist Bill Isenberger.  
Bill using a drone to map the site.


Bill originally mapped the site in 2012 but was back this season to remap the site so that we can expand out of our current dig in the near future.  Bill also took time to map Wadi Doka where frankincense trees are being preserved and helped to grow. 






Brian at Wadi Doka with a Frankincense tree.

The students & staff only opened 1 new square this season but continued excavations on many other areas in order to find the walls and the basic structure of the building for mapping purposes.  We also managed to find a few really, really cool artifacts but I'll get to that in a minute.

First off, a refresher of the map:

The weird pink & purple areas are everything that was touched this season: O, P, Q, R, W, & X were the main focus but time was also spent in V, Y, CC & DD.  There are some really cool shots of the mapping that Bill did but those are still being processed.  Hopefully, I will remember to add them later.

This year we found a cute small pot, a bone flute, and these adorable little guys... we think they are part of a musical instrument...


We were here for both Christmas and New Year's Eve. There were many different trees, gingerbread houses, special treats of food, & holiday displays all over Salalah.  If you follow Brian on Facebook you probably saw some of them.

Santa did manage to find us here, but I made everyone make or acquire their own stockings & we did a small gift exchange on Christmas morning. 
We bought garland & holiday lights at the Lulu.
We went to the beach on Christmas day and then had Chinese food for dinner, it was a fun day and a pretty great way to spend Christmas--even the grinches among us had a good time. ;)

Dinner at the Chinese Cascade on Dec 25th.
















New Years was celebrated by us and our friend Ganem.  We had a big meal, played some games and mostly stayed awake until midnight.

Kristy bedecked in NYE streamers.
We also managed to squeeze in a couple of field trips in our short stay.  As I said we went to the beach on Xmas day, which was in Mirbat.  The following week we went to Shisr & the Rub al Khali (the Great Empty Quarter desert).
I THINK that's Krista on top & Liz on the way up.
The last weekend we went to Mugsal where the blow holes are and to the secret beach just beyond that.  The blow holes were weirdly quiet since the sea is calm this time of year & the beaches were weirdly popular since the sea is calm this time of year.  There were 30 people on OUR favorite beach but luckily they left after about 30 min.

At Mugsal--all is quiet.
Every year students love seeing the camels wandering around but this year Myriah was a teeny bit obsessed. ;)  One of the highlights of the trip was on the way home from the secret beach we saw a small family of camel herders.  We pulled over and they let Myriah love & kiss & snuggle with baby camels--she was ecstatic. 
If you zoom in you can see Myriah next to the guy in the white shirt--she's squeezing a baby camel.
Sorry to only produce one blog this season but it just flew by.  Four weeks came & went in the blink of an eye.

We should be back next year in December, inshallah.


Tuesday, June 23, 2015

That's a Wrap!

Another season is coming to an end here in Oman.  This year was a short season due to Ramadan falling early.  Our plan for the next few years is to switch to December or maybe August so that we can avoid Ramadan.  (It moves forward about 10 days each year.)

The last two weeks have been very busy, we had a few field trips, found a few cool artifacts and finished mapping the site.  Today we are submitting our reports and packing everything up.  Report writing & paperwork is a large part of archaeology--you never see Indiana Jones doing paperwork!

First let's start with the field:

We found this possible lamp early on in Brett's Unit KK.
















Also from Unit KK a decorated piece of wood.  It's hard to tell but this is painted with red & black paint on what appears to be a wooden bowl.
Another lamp, this one in the shape of a star, was found by Sue in Unit LL.  This picture is before we cleaned it (obviously) we are going to keep a soil sample for analysis to see what was burnt in the lamp.






















I found a small room with a plastered floor in Unit W.  This is me trying to excavate the dirt but leave the plaster--not as easy as it sounds!

This is a picture of the floor & room once it was completely excavated.  This appears to be on the second story of the house we have been working on.
Brian using a Total Station to shoot in points so that we can accurately map the site.
Here is a draft of the composite map from all three years, made by Brian.

Now for the fun:

We traveled to several places this season, this one was taken on the way to Wubar/Shisr.  It must be early on because Zach & Brett still look awake. ;)

We visited Wadi Darbat, not very green yet but on it's way.

Sue (hidden) in a tree at Tawi Attar sinkhole.
Also at Tawi Attar, I was trying to figure out what sort of critter this was (he had gone to the great forest in the sky), turns out it was a civet. 
They are hard to see but here are Sue, Brian, Brett, & Zach in Wubar/Shisr.
Brian playing Lawrence of Arabia in Shisr.
The annual, Camels on the Road, photo.
And finally I leave you with this little guy... who was in our house... who's friend we had already gotten rid of and was MUCH larger.  This dude only has 6 legs but we think it's a banana spider.  I wasn't going to stick my hand up there for scale but he was at least 6-8 inches around!

ICK!
That's it for us this season.  We will return to Salalah in December, inshallah (hopefully.)

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Tips & Tricks for the Successful Archaeologist

Here are a few photos that show some of the methods we employ as archaeologists in the field.  These are tried & true methods for digging in the sand, I’m sure they work similarly in other soils as well.

Method 1: The Stork
Sometimes there just isn’t enough room for you and your legs so one must bend at the waist and trowel from on high.  Most people believe the sign of a good archaeologist is head down, butt in the air—this method proves that to be true.

Sue bent over excavating on the boarder of Units EE & LL.


Method 2: The Pedestal
While working in the heat, one gets tired and needs to sit.  We are technically never supposed to dig down (towards China, or in our case Guatemala) but instead steadily across our units, this is hard to do while sitting.  The best method is to pedestal yourself (onto a platform of sorts), excavate as far as you can reach in all directions, then move your tush to the newly excavated area and take down the pedestal.  One can remain sitting for at least an hour or two.

Brett working from a "center point" outwards in Unit KK.


Method 3: The Reverse Pedestal
Sometimes, while employing the Stork you end up with a small space in which to sit.  This is an excellent time to try the Reverse Pedestal.  In this method you place yourself in the newly excavated lower elevation (aka hole) and work the surrounding area down to your current level (aka hole.)

Sue working from a "lower area" of Unit LL.


Method 4: The High Angle
When buildings fall down the remaining walls & debris sometimes leave severe slopes.  These must be excavated like any other area: slowly and across (not down to Guatemala.)  To complete this process you must start high, hang on for dear life, try not to slide down, and excavate carefully.  Eventually the slope becomes manageable but usually not for hours (after you legs have turned to jelly and so much sweat is in your eyes that you can no longer see.) One way to counteract this is with the lean.  It is a version of the Stork but using your alternate leg for balance (& to lean on) you provide leverage for yourself.

Brian & Kristy working on the slope of Unit Y. Kristy favors the High Angle, Brian goes with a crouched Stork.


Method 5: The Alt High Angle
After many hours on the severe slope (there seems to be a lot of slopes) one must come up with alternate ways to balance, perch, and keep digging away.  One method is to use a hand for support, but then you only have one hand (which makes it hard to sweep, brush, & trowel at the same time.)  Another alternative method is to give up and sit awkwardly hoping for the best.  (Note: sometimes pedestaling follows this method.)

Zach & Brian working on yet another slope, this one is in Units CC & V (respectively.)


Method 6: The Wait
Due to the irregular intervals of digging there is occasionally some downtime, even for the workers.  The workers are kind enough to carry our buckets down to the screen (where all dirt goes so that nothing is missed) then other workers do the actual screening.  They dutifully sift though every bit of dirt looking for bits of shell, bone, pottery, glass, and whatever other wonders may be seen.  However, as mentioned, the buckets can come irregularly, in those times the workers have come up with a system of waiting… they prefer the shade, on a bucket, next to whatever job they are supposed to be doing. 

Two workers sitting, waiting for buckets; one screening; one carrying a bucket.


Method 7: The Boss
This is a personal favorite, in this particular method one stands tall and politely asks others to do whatever needs to be done.  This can also be called guided instruction or even helpfulness, if so desired.  (Note: occasionally forcefulness & pointing are required—it’s also more fun—to get the relevant information across clearly.)

Kristy (politely) bossing people around from Unit KK.


Method 8: The End
At the end of the day, after approximately six hours of hard work, paperwork must be done (or in our case digital work).  Luckily, this is done mostly on the iPad and mostly sitting in an actual chair.  However, sometimes while waiting one’s turn you must sit where you fit.

Brett filling out a Photo form on the iPad.


Sue sitting in Unit EE waiting for her turn with the Photo Form.


Bonus Information:
On occasion a particular piece of equipment can’t be found, like a tape measure, line level, & plumb bob.  One can employ the “same size” technique to eyeball the approximate depth of a unit… I’m sure it is accurate.

Brian & Brett being used for scale.  They are both about 6 feet 3 inches, the objective was to see the difference in depth between Units LL & FF.  Obviously, Brett is deeper, therefore the experiment was successful and Sue needs to dig deeper in Unit LL!


Monday, June 1, 2015

Field Trip!

We took the students on a field trip on Friday, to let them see some of the local sites.  We actually started on Thursday night at the local Suq (market) to buy souvenirs and eat at a Yemeni restaurant.  You order skewers with meat on them, hummus, foul (beans--pronounced fool), plus they serve this amazing bread made in a round ceramic oven.
Hummus, foul, bread, & skewers.

Zach & Brett eating at the Suq.




Friday we started at Sumhuran aka Khor Rori (a Khor is where sea & fresh water meet, a brackish water area, there are many along the coast of Oman.)  It is a bit older and lot smaller than Al-Baleed but it is a really cool fortified city.  We share a house with a few Italians that work on this site throughout the year.

Sue, Brett, Zach, & me in the main gate at Khor Rori.
Brett might be a tiny bit taller than those that built Khor Rori!




































Me & Krista with Khor Rori in the background.
After a trip to the museum & beach at Khor Rori we headed to Mirbat.  It is a local fishing village that has a really old center of town then newer areas around it.  It also has a fun little beach with a park that we like to visit.  We watch the sunset and collect shells.

One of the many cool, but falling down buildings in Mirbat.



Zach looking out to sea at Mirbat.


Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Al-Baleed 2015

Welcome to the new season at Al-Baleed.  Things are the same yet very different.  The most noticeable change is our dig house, Bayt Al-Baleed, is no more.  They tore down all the houses along the street that face the ocean, including our house.  At first we thought they would leave our house and tear everything else down but, no, it is now just a pile of rubble.
The rubble that was Bayt Al-Baleed.
We have a smaller crew this year, only three students.  We have Susanne Crouch who was here last year (she just can’t get enough of us) and two new University of Arkansas, Little Rock recent grads: Brett Sullivan & Zach Burt.  As for senior staff, this year it is just Krista, Brian, & I.
Sue, Zach, Brett on top of the Citadel.
















The site is pretty much the way we left it, a little more sand and dirt but overall it looks good.  We started out slow, documenting where we left off last year and getting Brett & Zach up to speed on procedures.  We have uncovered quite a bit of building 1 now.  Brett is expanding an area that Krista, Rebecca H., and I started last year.  Sue is continuing to expand where she left off last year & Zach gets to open a new area, designated a CC.  We hope to find the outside walls of the building this season on at least three, if not four, sides.  
Krista in Unit EE.

Blue=2013
Green=2014
Yellow=2015
Tan=possible 2015



















Today was the first day we got in and got our hands dirty.  We have about 10 workers right now and the greatest invention of all… pop up tents!  We actually have some shade and we can move them around as the sun moves.  We have five total, one over our screening area, one over our tables (where we input notes & have our breaks) and the other three can be moved to cover the actual areas where we are working—it is brilliant!  It’s really hot & really, really humid so shade makes all the difference in the world.
The new shade tents!

Since Zach is opening a new area he & his workers are busy clearing rocks and the top layer of debris… not very exciting yet, but it does go quickly.  Sue is trying to find the end of some stairs and the other side of a wall (that joins another area) so she is mostly finding small rocks and a few items of shell & bone.  Brett is the lucky one, he is adjacent to an area that had a lot of things in it last season & he is already producing a lot of artifacts.  Just today he found a lot of shell, bone, a variety of pottery pieces, and a fragment of a glass bracelet.

Last year, when we were done for the day, most of us would walk back to the house, drop everything off, then head to the ocean to cool down.  This year because we have to drive to the site we’ve started a ritual where we drive to the ocean (its just a few yards from the road) and jump in for a few minutes before coming home.  It’s a little hard on the car but we don’t call it the Beast for nothing! ;-)
Zach, Brett, & Krista enjoying the ocean, after a hard days work.


Kristy waving from the driver's seat of the Beast.