Mellisa Mance - student team member
Coming to Cyprus to participate in my third archaeological dig was very exciting! I had dug in Pompeii, Italy and in New South Wales before, so I thought I knew what to expect, but the archaeological site of Paphos is a bit different to the rest. It was the ancient capital of Cyprus and only a tiny portion of it has been excavated.
With up to 60 people digging on one site you have to divide the site up into trenches. I was allocated to a trench which was part of the ancient entrance to the theatre (the parodos). We spend about 6 hours digging each day using tools such as trowels, picks, shovels, scale rods, cameras, soil charts and even spoons for those tight spaces!
The afternoons are spend cleaning and sorting the many artefacts that we find, and then once all of the hard work is done we can visit the local sites and go to the beach, etc.
Life on a dig is hard work, but a very rewarding experience!
Coming to Cyprus to participate in my third archaeological dig was very exciting! I had dug in Pompeii, Italy and in New South Wales before, so I thought I knew what to expect, but the archaeological site of Paphos is a bit different to the rest. It was the ancient capital of Cyprus and only a tiny portion of it has been excavated.
With up to 60 people digging on one site you have to divide the site up into trenches. I was allocated to a trench which was part of the ancient entrance to the theatre (the parodos). We spend about 6 hours digging each day using tools such as trowels, picks, shovels, scale rods, cameras, soil charts and even spoons for those tight spaces!
The afternoons are spend cleaning and sorting the many artefacts that we find, and then once all of the hard work is done we can visit the local sites and go to the beach, etc.
Life on a dig is hard work, but a very rewarding experience!
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