Ancient History Ramblings

Another E-Reader

Having put off buying an e-reader longer than I ever expected (and still waiting), I was interested to learn about the new Barnes and Noble "Nook." Some bloggers are referring to it as a Kindle-killer, while others aren't so sure. I am still interested in finding a good e-reader to use in Cyprus. My goal is to be able to use it to read pdfs in the field. I guess a little more research is needed.

Back in the States

Well, I am finally back in the States - it has been a long summer. Even though the actual fieldwork is over, the summer's work for PKAP is not yet over. We still have several reports that need to be finished in the next few weeks. I have been uploading photos from this season to the PKAP server, but it has been slow going - we take lots of photos. After we get these items completed and take off a few weeks, we will have a discussion to figure out what worked and did not work this year. To me, this has always been one of the strong points of our project, the fact that we understand that we can always improve on the way we do things.

RSM

Leaving Cyprus

Today is my last day in Cyprus as I fly back to the States this afternoon. It will be a 2 day trip with a night in London since my BA flight leaves Cyprus late this afternoon. It has been a productive 47 days in Cyprus. In addition to a successful PKAP season I was bale to look at the pottery at two other current projects  and even do a little research at CAARI (the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute in Nicosia. It has been a long season, though, and I am ready to return home where I can hopefully relax a little bit before I start teaching again in the middle of July.

RSM

And then there was only one

PKAP started the day with 7 members and by midday I was the only one left. It is strange being here by myself. The Petrou Brothers Hotel seems very empty, especially compared to the end of May where between PKAP and the IUP World Tour we were renting half of the hotel's rooms. Anyway, I have some things to wrap up for the project. I got most of them done today, with the biggest (our artifact turnover to the Cyprus Department of Antiquities) scheduled for Tuesday. Once PKAP is complete, at least with this season's fieldwork, I am going to look at some pottery for 2 other projects before heading home in 10 days.

RSM

The Great Fruit Crate Adventure

For the last few days we have been meaning to buy fruit crates (large plastic boxes) so that we can put our artifacts into storage for the season. We have been buying fruit crates each year since 2004, and probably have purchased nearly 50 crates over the last few years. These crates are everywhere, mainly in minimarkets and fruit markets. It had always been easy to buy them, even though store owners have always looked at us like we were strange for wanting to buy these crates. The crates, which used to be 3 Cypriot pounds each are now 5 Euros and evidently there is some great shortage of these, despite the fact that the are everywhere and I mean everywhere. When we walk to the museum we pass 2 trucks with dozens of empty ones in the back and houses have them on the porch. So, a few days ago, when I was at the large fruit market we shop at, I asked if I could buy some fruit crates (we have bought crates there for the last few years and I expected no problems). I first had a lengthy conversation with three cashiers, who were clearly baffled by what I wanted to buy, and since I did not know the name for fruit crate in Greek I was reduced to pantomiming carrying a fruit crate and saying plastic in Greek. Finally, a cashier wandered up who understood what I wanted and took me back to the manager to ask buying them. She stopped about 40 feet away from him and proceeded to yell at him about the crates. He looked at me and sort of sneered and then said no about four times and turned away. The cashier turned to me and asked me what I needed them for and I said storage. Then she asked me if I was storing fish - why she asked that, I have no clue. She then said that if I could wait a day and then if I called this number (she wrote down a phone number) after 9, there might be crates down at the port. This seemed to me like I had managed to hook into the underground black market fruit crate scene. Unfortunately, the next two days were so busy that I did not get a chance to call the lady.

Yesterday, the lack of fruit crates reached a critical juncture since we have started to store our artifacts for the season. At lunch I went out and stopped at 4 different places and all 4 proprietors told me "no" in various ways. One even just laughed several times and only said no when he noticed that I was still standing there. I finally found an older fruit market where the elderly man who was running it spoke less English than I speak Greek. I was desperate by this time so I, even though the crates have printed on their side that they cost 5 Euros, I offered him 6 Euros each for 6 crates. After a strange haggling session, I somehow wound up with 4 crates for 4 Euros each. I was so tired that I went back to the museum hoping that the 4 would be enough...and of course they weren't. After getting back to the hotel in the afternoon after the museum closed, I wandered through Larnaka looking for fruit crates. After several more "no" responses, I found a store with several empty ones sitting outside. I went inside and tried to employ my former haggling technique of offering more than they are worth as my opening offer. The young man in the store said that he could not sell them to me, so I said "Even if I paid 8 Euros each?" He then said he could not sell them to me because he did not have enough in his register. I thought he meant that he did not have change, so I said I had the right amount of money. He said no, he could not give me a receipt for the crates. I replied that I did not need a receipt. He then said that no, I had to have a receipt otherwise people would think that I had stolen the crates if I did not have a receipt for them. He then pointed out that the store's name was on them. I noticed, though, that the store's name was on only about 20% of the crates. I just looked at the guy and sort of shrugged, so he said to wait here and he then left the store for five minutes. A few minutes later, he came back with 4 crates I needed and showed me that they cost 5 Euros, which is what he charged me for each AND then gave me a receipt. Strange day.

RSM

Last full week

Things are moving right along. If anything, the pace has picked up at PKAP. We have a long list of things we need to get done and Friday is the deadline. Friday is wrap-up and pack day. There will be several things done early next week, such as a turnover of our artifacts, but Friday is the day we would like to have it all wrapped up by. So, we are still doing work in the field, at the museum, writing reports, preparing talks for the British Base and CAARI, etc. Everyone is starting to look a little ragged and worn down. I did not feel like cooking tonite, our cook has left, so I ordered pizza. It will be interesting to see if we can accomplish everything or not.

RSM

Sunset

I was up on Vigla last night. Dr. Maria Hadjicosti came out to visit our site and look at our work for the season. After we were done, I noticed the sunset - it was gorgeous. The view from Vigla is always spectacular, but I was really struck by the view. I took several photos (none great unfortunately), only to learn later that there was a sunset option on my new camera, so I guess I will have to go back and try again. I was also struck by the fact that the sun is setting on this season's work. The majority of the students leave tomorrow morning and staff members will be here for only 1 more week. Time flies.

RSM

Work, work, and more work

It has been a busy few days. It always gets hectic when we approach the end of the season. Yesterday I did some GPS work and some GPR work. This gave me the great idea (at least I thought so) to refer to my group by a nickname. So I came up GPR + GPS + RSMoore = Team GPRSMoore. I thought that was great, nobody else seemed to appreciate the play on letters that this was - I can only assume the heat was affecting their sense of humor. Today I worked at the museum reading pottery. In the afternoon, I even washed pottery - something I have not don in a while.Pottery washing is a non-stop, perpetually ongoing process for the project. It involves sitting by a bucket of water and gently cleaning pottery sherds with a toothbrush - not a task most people enjoy doing. Anyway, my Zune batteries had died, so I sat there by myself in the silence washing pottery. It was a Zen-like experience, allowing me to relax and focus only on cleaning up the sherds. I was abl to relax and enjoy the afternoon.....Then, after only about 15 minutes, my back started hurting from bending over the bucket and I remembered why I don't usually wash pottery. I quickly finished up my bucket and went back to reading pottery.

RSM

Strange Reversal

Today was a holiday (the official celebration of Kataklysmos) on the island and everything was closed, except for a few souvenir shops, restaurants, and peripteros (mini-markets). It was really strange driving through Larnaka towards our site and noticing how empty the streets were - nobody was stirring in the city. At least the streets were empty until you left Larnaka and hit the beach stretch where it was packed. It looked like everyone on the island had come down to the beaches with cars parked everywhere, legally and illegally. It was a madhouse. But then in the evening when we returned from the site, the beaches were empty and everyone was trying to get into Larnaka for the big concert and fireworks. The police were closing down streets and rerouting traffic. Strange day.

RSM

Some time off today

I have some time off today - half a day before we take the students on the project to Kourion. I am trying to rest up a bit since I am really tired today. We had a long day in the field yesterday and the IUP World Tour left Cyprus late last night. We took the group to the airport at 12:30 AM so I was up really late. Then this morning I took Nick Karatjas to the airport for his early morning flight to the States. Nick is a colleague in the economics department at IUP who came over to Cyprus to help with the study tour, and his help was greatly appreciated. Nick's family is from Cyprus and his great outlook on life and enthusiasm were a great addition to the study tour. Plus, he has a great sense of humor....for an economist. We are hoping that he will come back next summer to contribute to PKAP. Thanks Nick.

RSM