Excavating trench B

Monday 5.9.2016

Fieldschool is over and I am now just volunteer diver here. This means that my breakfasts and other room supplies are not covered any more. No big deal, even though we were sold a different package. I can easily get my groceries in the little "supermarket" close to the tavern after each dinner. But the the rest of the "accommodation and food" are still covered, I hope.

We departed the High View Gardens at 06:15, and it was surprisingly cool. First time ever I went back to my room and put on my raincoat for wind breaker! Once we reached M/S Queen Zenobia, it was warm again. I am really surprised at this. I never though that I would actually use that raincoat for anything else than having more stuff on my person when flying back to home... just in case I would have too much luggage otherwise.

Waiting for the RIB in Alaminos harbor at 06:30.

Today we had only 11 divers and two archaeologists to go to the work site. We did not raise any amphorae, and so the conservator was not needed. Or, maybe it was the other way around... The archaeologists went through the airlift filter buckets, cleaned and documented sherd finds, and took care of other documentation.

Panagiotis and me were excavating trench B amphorae, each with our own airlift. Trench B is fun to excavate, at least for now! You can actually see what you are doing. In the bow area we were first excavating the powdery sand, and then new seabed layers that also made for bad visibility. Excavating alone with an airlift is hard work, and you need keep an eye on you gas consumption.

I spent my time excavating one amphora with wooden paddle, and trying to see what is underneath. If there is not another layer of amphorae, then there might be the hull and you might find wood. In that case we should not go further (yet). We are extra careful because old wet wood is very fragile. However, if there is another layer of amphora, then we want to excavate, document and move the amphorae on top, and then continue excavating that new layer of amphorae below.

Today we started to replace the bad batch of sandbags. The sand in them was much finer-grain that was asked for, and it can not be used. Some 15 bags we loaded into the RIB, brought back to the shore, loaded into a MPV trunk, and then taken somewhere to be replaced with better ones. We could not use the truck, because it was transporting 10 amphorae from High View Gardens field lab to the permanent desalination lab in Larnaca. Each amphora will now get its own bathtub. We got two new sandbags to try out tomorrow. Maybe they work better! However, the sandbags with very fine-grained sand on the seabed in 45m depth will stay. Lifting them back up would take too much of our resources.

Heavy load for our RIB: 13 people, gear, and sandbags.

The way back to the Alaminos harbor with 13 people and sandbags was slow. It was hot, and I did not put on my raincoat. The waves were not that big, but the wind sprayed water on all of us sitting on the wind side. I was completely drenched already at half way. Luckily the water was warm.