Hello, once again!
As part of my project for the Gilman Scholarship I will be writing once a week about the work, the food, the fun, and the people of Alcúdia. Let’s dive in!
Week One
Can Fanals’ graves
Work has begun! On Monday, we finally arrived at the dig site, Can Fanals, where we began clearing the area to start digging. Under the direction of archeologist Paqui and technician Carol we began chopping weeds and sweeping dirt off important dirt. The heat and the sun were intense so ice-cold water and lots of sunscreen were an absolute necessity. It took us two days to clean up the area, but now we are making great progress.
Andrew and I were assigned a grave to dig on Wednesday. We first documented the grave we were digging. This involved taking a picture of the grave that included an arrow pointing North, a marked meter stick as a size reference, and a small chalkboard with identifying information. Once documented we began removing the rocks that were covering the grave, and made progress towards the bottom of the grave. Along the way we found many pieces of ancient pottery including the bottom part of a wine vase. We also found some animal bones towards the top part of the grave. Eventually, after digging for 2 days, we found human bones towards the bottom of the grave. This work was much more exciting than all the sweeping we did during the first two days. We finished digging the grave on Friday afternoon, and now we await our next assignment.
Food
Pa amb oli. Bread with olive oil, tomato, cheese, jamon, and olives.
During the past week, we’ve had the pleasure of eating some great food here in Alcúdia. We’ve had tapas, which are the Spanish equivalent of an appetizer. Tapas include things like albondigas, patatas bravas, choricitos, vegetables, fried squid rings, cheese sticks, and many more. We’ve also had a lot of paella, jamon serrano, gelato, and sangria. The food is delicious!
We’ve also had some delicious homemade meals this past week. Andrea cooked some amazing green beans and red bell peppers stuffed with cheese, beans, and meat. A day later Julio prepared an amazing dinner at the Sant Jaume house. He cooked chicken things with an orange juice, lime juice, tomato, cilantro, onions, and garlic salsa. He also cooked side dishes, which included potatoes, salad, and fennel. He finished the meal by making a fruit salad with honey. Everything was delicious, and all ingredients, except for the chicken, were bought at the local market.
