Take a moment to consider what archaeology might look like to you. Some might picture individuals carefully sweeping the dust off of a perfectly intact artifact such as a piece of ancient pottery; others might picture Indiana Jones doing whatever it is that he does. However, despite the fact that our experiences thus far have exposed us to our fair share of sweeping the dirt with little brushes, it is important to highlight the many nuances of working in an environment like Pollentia.

Work on the dig site in the mornings is often slow, meticulous, and mildly exhausting. It requires significant amounts of patience, and consists of stripping away the earth, one layer at a time, using tools such as pickaxes, shovels, brushes, and buckets. Afternoons following our group’s lunch break are typically spent cleaning and examining artifacts recovered from the dig site — mostly bone fragments and pieces of pottery — and preparing them for further processing.

However, it’s difficult to describe exactly what we are experiencing without useful visuals. Below, you will find a series of captioned images which attempt to depict moments from the field which highlight our experiences thus far.

Best wishes,

Reilly J. Smith