Archaeological Excavation: Samtavro, Georgia 2009

The first archaeological excavation I was part of was the excavation at the Roman - Medieval burial grounds at Samtavro, near the ancient capital of the Kingdom of Iberia, Mtskheta, in the Republic of Georgia in 2009.


The Picture I use on this blog as my profile picture, when you scroll down and look at the 'About me'  section on the main page is a water colour portrait done by the site artist Larry Pavlenishvili, who asked to paint me because I looked interesting...I guess because of my mixture of pale but sun burnt skin, light small blue eyes, long strawberry blonde hair with natural highlights from working in the sun at that time and ginger beard. The Georgians also loved my iconic "aussie" hat which is actually a leather broad rim hat that I got to go on a school trip to Central Australia, which got a bit heat warped out of shape. Every archaeologist needs an iconic hat right? Indiana Jones wouldn't be the same without one!  It was painted while I was sitting on the side wall of a high status  Roman tomb, resembling a terracotta house, where they found the gold ring a couple of days after I left, and the portrait was finished while I sat on the large capstone of a partially excavated Medieval stone lined cist tomb, both under the large shelter of what is today the Samtavro open air museum. You can read a little about the dig below:


http://archive.uninews.unimelb.edu.au/view-39918.html


And if you read the Article 'Unearthing New Mysteries in an Ancient Kingdom" in Articulation December 2009, you can see some good photos of the site and some of the tombs. I worked on many graves, but you can see one of them in the photo of  the inhumation burial you can see in this Roman period terracotta lined  cist tomb on the right, and you can see the large trench I worked in the right hand half of the trench in the photo above the photo of some of the treasures found: My trench partner Aleksandra Michalewicz and I excavated, bagged and recorded the bronze and silver bangle bracelets and a necklace with over 200 beads of semiprecious stones, including several interesting shaped ones such as a milk bottle that were once worn on a necklace. You can see those finds in the photo of the finds, below the trench photo. The photo to the left of this is that tomb where the 12-13 year old girl was buried with these adornments.


http://articulation.arts.unimelb.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/articulation-dec-09.pdf


The publication of the full excavation reports of the 3 year excavation at Samtavro were  published in 2010 and can be accessed here from www.academia.edu

http://www.academia.edu/3131677/Sagona_A_Nikolaishvili_V._Sagona_C._Ogleby_C._Pilbrow_V._Giunashvili_G._Manegaladze_G._Bridging_two_continents_renewed_investigations_at_Samtavro_Georgia

Were the Ancient Greeks and Romans Colour Blind?

A recent piece doing the rounds at the moment looks at famous phrases in Classical Literature, like 'the wine-dark sea' to describe the Mediterranean in the Iliad. Sea's are not red so what this points out is a difference in how ancient people compared to modern people viewed the world. One difference is probably not so much how they perceived colours they saw, but how they described them. It's quite common across ancient languages to describe things more generally and context fills in the layers of more specific meaning, and terms for colours often refer to a hue eg a modern dictionary will tell you a word means say 'red' but in another language that may refer not to a specific shade but a spectrum of shades bronze like orange, brown-reds to crimson to burgundy or purplish-red colours. There can also be a range of symbolism with a colour as well eg green with envy. It seems there is a tendency for modern languages, and especially in English to try and classify everything more specifically just think how many specific terms there are today for every form and sub genre of music or dance etc.

Another thing worth noteing is then, as now, metaphors, allusions, kennings and poetry may be employed for a powerful emotional and symbolic effect. You cannot assume everything was intended literally, especially when browsing snippets of colour descriptions from a range of ancient texts, and quoting them outside of their original and intended context.  

http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.be/2014/02/were-ancient-greeks-and-romans-colour.html

Rethinking the Role of Museums

We were also lucky to have visiting Director of the Georgian National Museum Professor David Lordkipanidze host a discussion on museums and museum management at the Archaeological Reading Group, held in the Classics Library. Georgia is going back to the future as it were, with it's thinking on what a museum is/can be/aught to be, and looking towards that more 19th century idea that a museum should be the prime place for bringing together science and culture, maintains collections but also keeping these available to and linked to the latest research.


So then that the museum holds exhibitions, maintains collections, provides space for art, theatre and cultural expression, is utilised for public and academic education (and careers) and outside but linked to universities and laboratories as a premiere research institution, this nationally and internationally, and horizontally and vertically creating networks of exchange and ideas! But the seeds have to be planted now, so that our museums can still stay relevant to modern times, and do not become an extinct institution.

He also sees arts/humanities/social sciences and the natural and hard sciences as naturally complementing one another, and perhaps they should overlap and communicate more in their work and institutional settings, especially museums. Archaeology is taught here as an arts subjects however overseas and even interstate within my own country, it can be studied as a science. I have always felt Archaeology straddles the borders between the natural sciences and the purer humanities. After all if archaeologists fail to take into account scientific data then something is seriously lacking in their methods, but likewise scientific data lacking a cultural context (and archaeology is all about context!) of the people who have left the material culture behind that is being studied, then the data itself becomes meaningless figures if not applied in light of that humanities understanding. Eg Understanding and chemically analysing why a pottery vessel is found in a context, when it was deposited, what chemical residue it contained, and if possible, why this was done. I personally agree and fully appreciate a view that can embraces both sciences and the arts, but then perhaps this is more akin to the minds of the ancients, and more easily embraced by those today who study them.


Amazingly thoughtful and inspiring stuff from a little reading group chat!! Time to plant some intellectual seeds.

The First Humans Out of Africa: Hominin Dispersal in the Old World.

In the past few weeks I've had my uni orientation for commencing my Ph.D  in Archaeology and finding my feet as a postgraduate researcher. So far I've met lots of interesting people, taken lots of nice photos, got some pretty good resources and have been made to to feel very welcome by the staff, fellow Classics and Archaeology postgrads and lecturers! We also had Professor David Lordkipanidze, the head of the Republic of Georgia's National Museums come out to Melbourne and give a talk on both his archaeological, or rather paleoanthropological and neuroscience work on the Dmanisi homonid, which raises a few interesting questions about human evolution, the postgrads were fortunate enough to get the chance to show him a little bit around Melbourne and get to ask him a couple of questions, which was a great opportunity both in terms of answers to questions but also in terms of that more vocational advice you can only get from someone who has built up a respected and well established international career as a leader in their field.

http://events.unimelb.edu.au/events/3733-the-first-humans-out-of-africa-hominin-dispersal-in-theYou can watch the recorded public lecture here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcQMs0_vXBA

Volunteering and the Environment

This Sunday is Clean Up Australia Day, why not establish (formally or informally) your own local site to clean up litter and pollution from a local waterway, woods, park, public space. It's easy! And beneficial for not only yourself, but your whole community and the local environment.   According to the Australian Bureau of Statistcs(http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by+Subject/4125.0~Jan+2012~Main+Features~Volunteering+rates~4410) and Volunteering Australia (http://www.volunteeringaustralia.org/research-and-advocacy/the-latest-picture-of-volunteering-in-australia/) just over a third of Australians volunteer.

Since helping to co-found the Friends of Frog Hollow Inc, a community volunteer non-for-profit environmental organisation in late 2002, I have helped revegitate over 90,000 native trees, shrubs and grasses back into the upper and mid lengths of the Eummemering Creek and helped protect, preserve and enhance both the quality of this important faunal and floral link, as well as the access for people to enjoy the area via bridges, boardwalks, walking and cycling trails. If all goes well, a link to Lysterfield Lake Park will be established, effectively allowing people (and wildlife!) to travel From the Mountains to the Sea or in other words from the Dandenongs to Port Phillip Bay!

Volunteer like the fine people in this video featuring a familiar Dean talking about the importance of grassroots environmentalism, conserving, re-establishing and linking 'green corridors' of wildlife habitat http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHjx8JqEkwo

Or locate a site near you! http://www.cleanupaustraliaday.org.au/join/

The Friends of Frog Hollow does not have an official website as our small group of members all work closely with one another, however we facilitate broader events in conjunction with other events and bodies such as the City of Casey Council, Melbourne Water, Clean Up Australia Day, National Plant A Tree Day and Arbour Week (and their websites and events). You can keep updated by joining our facebook group at: https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/163354060407176/?fref=ts

An Ancient Greek Symposium

I quite enjoy going to cultural festivals and events. With Melbourne's diverse and vibrant multiculturalism there are many such free events throughout the year where you can experience the sights of various cultural performances, the sounds of various kinds of folk music and dance, and the smell and taste of foreign cuisine in the heart of your own city. Over the past couple of months I was able to enjoy the Scandinavian Christmas Bazaar, a Mexican Festival, Chinese New Year celebrations, Maslenitsa Slavic Pancake Festival and the (modern) Antipodes Greek festival. And the turning of the wheel of the year will I'm sure bring many more such enjoyable events.

Another event I attended to was not only a cultural but also living-historical experience. Athanasios of the Ancient Hoplitikon of Melbourne Inc invited me to the Ancient Greek (and Roman) re-enactment group's annual symposium. All of the attendees were clad in Classical costume, myself in a white a knee-length Ancient Greek chiton, with a black swirling trim (which always reminds of the waves on the Aegean Sea at night), Grecian sandals, a pair of metal cuffs and my gold snake ring, a replica from Pompeii.

Upon arrival and a warm welcome we were taken for a tour around the group's grand new palatial white canvas tent. Everything was handmade to period pieces made with lavish detail, skill, patience and a passion for the past. Within the tent was a sumptuous feast for both the stomach and the eyes, with a plethora of traditional Greek foods. One end was open at the sides to catch the summer breeze, while the other was enclosed with several replica wooden Ancient Greek klinoi lounges. From the wooden support columns hung olive oil burning lamps, spears, a standard and a Hermes' caduceus staff were near the entrance, and arms, bronze armour, the accutraments of an ancient Olympic athlete and pottery. Outside club members moved about a the artillery of a Roman scorpion.

After that we held a re-enactment of an Ancient Greek holocaust style sacrifice and libation , our gracious host conducting the ritual in Ancient Greek. Naturally, the only thing sacrificed in this re-enactment was some of the finest red wine present. Then the guests grabbed small votive objects from a table and left them on the altar. In historical re-enactment, as a hobby there is often a trade off between safety and modern sensibilities vs period practises, either because ancient practises are only partly understood or obviously in combat, for safety of the participants and public. But one aspect that is often overlooked is the actual culture, ritual and lifestyle of people in the past. So it was great to see and experience this part of the re-enactment which is sadly all to often overlooked by other groups. Then we drank a small portion of a sweet wine to wet the appetite and continued on to enjoy our feast, watered down wine from a krater, our fine company and exquisite surrounds.

A modern symposium is an academic conference for presenting papers, while an ancient symposium was a sort of house party with food, music, entertainment and  plenty of wine, but it would have had other aspects to it other than just a party. It would have had some kind of ritual element to it, as well as being sociable, holding serious debates and discussing philosophy and making important political contacts and making business deals all rolled into the one kind of function.

 I must say I had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed sipping my wine from a metal kylix, a replica of one thought to date back to 300 BC, while reclining on a kline. A kline might at first appear unusual, it is not quite a couch or a bed, and is quite high. Yet, when you actually use one you can fully appreciate what you have seen on vase paintings, it is the perfect height to let you socialise while another person standing can talk to you face to face, not to mention the comfort of a posture that allows for digestion and rest while still being upright and active enough to engage with those around you and your surroundings. Even the simple oil lamp lighting, when placed appropriately and reflecting off the white canvas, with the glint of bronze in the background, created a warmly lit environment as if near a campfire.

It was the unexpected ingenuity and simplicity of carefully considered things like this, both in terms of designs from Antiquity and their re-creation in the present by Athanasios and the Ancient Hoplitikon that reveals the civilised art of holding a symposium.   

http://www.ancienthoplitikon.com/media_recognition_and_events.html

From MUCAAS to MUCLASS

A snapshot of relatively recent Classics, Archaeology and Ancient World Studies orientated student groups at the University of Melbourne.

This is by no means and exhaustive history of all the classics orientated student club activities at the University of Melbourne, but rather in Herodotian style, a combination of the things I witnessed, read, gossiped about or participated in during my time here. I’m sure there are others out there with other pieces to add to the story as well. Given the natural fascination we all have for the ancient past, it is fitting that some of the forerunners of the  Melbourne University Classics and Archaeology Students Society (MUCLASS) are recorded briefly for our present bemusement and for posterity.

MUCAAS was the Melbourne Uni Classics And Archaeology Society. I like to think that its origins, now lost in the mists of time, may extend back to some long forgotten mystery cult of antiquity. In reality, the oldest reference to MUCAAS (or perhaps some proto-MUCAASian club?) I have come across goes back to 2001. A newsletter of the Australian Society of Classical Studies from September 2004 notes that the undergraduate Classics society at the University of Melbourne has finally settled on the name of MUCAAS. By 2006 I had started at Melbourne and in O-Week promptly joined two of the clubs with unintendedly funny sounding acronyms: MUCAAS and PIS (political interest society). After joining, my first challenge was to find the legendary MUCAAS rooms. This involved entering the impressive fortifications of Old Quad, scaleing the great staircases, navigating the Labyrinth while avoiding the minotaur, before arriving at a descrete and occasionally locked door to a seemingly empty tiny storeroom in the upper west wing of Old Quad. This kind of feat is something postgrads and lecturers do daily, but to someone in their first week of university life it was just a little epic.

My persistence paid off, because I had reached the first of the three rooms of MUCASSia, and beyond the first lay a further two rooms adorned with walls covered in pictures of sites and artifacts from the ancient world, a couple of desks, bean bags, cushions and copious amounts of theatre backdrops and props. It was quite common to find Classics tutors typing, translating, working on theatre pieces and doing the Latin crossword. It was from this crenalated acropolis that MUCASS produced a periodic newsletter called (SIC) which contained submissions from its members such as: essay extracts, poetry travel stories, reviews of ancient themed movies and video games and fake advertisements for things like second-hand chariots. MUCASS also ran trivia nights, movie nights and dramatic reading nights, which simply involved people getting together to read aloud bits of ancient literature in either the original text or a translation, but to add their own rendition of the text. This was simple and yet extremely comical and captivating.   

There was always a passion in MUCASS for Classical theatre. Members translated Greek and Roman plays, wrote and practiced scripts, produced backdrops, costumes and props all by themselves. There was usually one play every semester or two. By 2003 the theatre element of MUCAAS had become a small but sophisticated theatre company in its own right, known as Omiprop Productions. Some of their plays included Aristophanes’ Lysistrata (2001), Aristophanes’ Frogs (2003), Euripides’ Helen (2005), Senecca’s Phaedra (2006), Euripides’s The Bacchae (2007), Aristophanes’ Lysistrata again in 2008 at the Melbourne Trades Hall as part of the Fringe Festival. This was followed by Plautius’ Mosteilaria (2009) and The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus (2009) based on Sophocles’ fragmentary Satyr play Ichneutae.

MUCASS was gradually superseded by Omniprop, although granted there was a lot of overlap, until MUCASS ceased its other activities. Omniprop found that eventually many of its core members were studying and teaching Classics abroad, especially at Oxford, or had become successful actors and artists and so it became increasingly hard to keep up producing productions here at the University of Melbourne. By 2010 there was no regular campus-based signs of either group and the MUCASS rooms needed to be cleared out for more post grad work spaces. It was the end of an era. Omniprop still exists to this day but lies dormant, at least for the time being.

 I had enjoyed a number of Omniprop’s performances between 2006-2009, but I had another interest, re-enacting and living history. This involves trying to replicate as closely but safely as possible aspects of life in the Ancient world, be that costume, food, armour or combat etc. In late 2008 a fellow student Allan, and myself set about thinking how this could be done at Uni, and in 2009 the Melbourne Ancient Re-enactment Society (MARS) was underway. Though not an affiliated club with the student union MARS focussed mainly on costume making and replicating the equipment and fighting of Thracian  peltasts, all be it with wooden short ‘waster’ swords and rubber tipped javelins. MARS held a number of DVD nights, 3 themed trivia nights (Greek, Roman and Egyptian), an attempt at mullum making and a visit to the Pompeii exhibition at the Melbourne Museum. In 2009 the club was also asked to dress  up in costume and armour for the unveiling of a bronze bust to King Leonidas in Brunswick, because, as it turned out Brunswick is sister cities with Sparta! All these events happened in 2009, by 2010 the club became less active except for weekly training. Ultametly MARS needed too much space, cost and time to run on campus and this was exasaserbated by differing ideas on whether the club should focus more on Classical culture and history aimed at University of Melbourne students or on a more generic martial arts style model outside of the University. By 2011 MARS wound down as a club.

And there you have it. All of this helped set the stage, so that completely independent of these clubs and events a new club could emerge. That is however another story. As a new member to MUCLASS, I leave the task of its origins and early history to someone better suited to the task. What will they say about MUCLASS  in the future? Only time will tell. So no pressure, but this could be the best Classics, Archaeology and Ancient World Studies student club to emerge at the University of Melbourne in our day.

* A variation of this article (plus pictures!) was published in the first edition of the re-launched perodicle of the Melbourne University Classics and Archaeology Student's Society, Orpheus in September 2013.

http://muclass.wordpress.com/