By Lori Tarbett
Anna Avdeeva and Magali Desjardins Potvin rolled up their sleeves this summer and received some hands-on training on how to dig up the past.
The two students each spent four weeks participating in archeological digs overseas. Desjardins Potvin, a fourth year classical studies and humanities student, spent the entire time in Argilos, an ancient Greek colony in Northern Greece, located on the coast. While Avdeeva, a third year Greek and Roman studies student, left Argilos for Ust’-Sheksna, Russia part way through the trip.
The pair pursued the digs on the advice of their archeology professor, Elizabeth Klaassen. They searched for a dig through the Archaeological Institute of America and because there were so many volunteer opportunities there were many destinations to choose from. Assistant professor Susan Downie, agreed to supervise a directed study summer course for the students which allowed them to receive credit for their dig journals.
“I had been dreaming of doing archaeology since I was in high school, so this summer I have finally arrived at my long-dreamt-of goal,” says Avdeeva.
The Argilos site served as a field school where inexperienced volunteers like Avdeeva and Desjardins Potvin were taught basic archaeological methods and techniques. They spent the first couple of days removing weeds and brushing off dust from areas excavated over the past 10 years, but according to Avdeeva, they soon got to the “meat and potatoes of archaeology,” including taking measurements, documenting the details of their progress along with cleaning, classifying and cataloguing artifacts.
Desjardins Potvin’s team followed walls discovered in a previous year in an attempt to find the rest of the structure and determine what it was. Avdeeva’s team also attempted to unearth an ancient wall to find out if it was part of a building or a terrace wall. The small pickaxes and trowels they carefully used helped them discover ancient potsherds and roof tiles, bones and pieces of corroded metal.
Desjardins Potvin says she most enjoyed the “thrill of discovery” every time she found an interesting artifact. “I don’t know if that feeling’s supposed to wear off once it’s no longer your first experience, I hope not,” she adds.
Avdeeva describes removing well-preserved potsherds from the Argilos soil with her own hands as her most exciting moment. “. . . These very bits of painted clay had been in the ground for more than 2,000 years and had been manufactured in the times of Alexander the Great,” says Avdeeva. “I loved to think of people who made and used the pot, a fragment of which was now in my hands for collecting, washing and classifying: an amazing feeling of being linked to the ancient history. This was like shaking hands with my most dear but long dead Ancient Greece.”
Both students agree that they would join another dig without hesitation