Lycoming College
digs at
Idalion, Cyprus

    This past summer, Lycoming College sent six students and a professor to the Republic of Cyprus to be members of archaeological field school excavations. Six of the seven lived in the village of Dhali and participated in the Archaeological Field School in Cyprus: University of Arizona Expedition to Idalion, Cyprus. Here are a few of the pictures we took to record our experience. Brief commentary is provided for your edification and enjoyment. Have fun! (We sure did!)

His name is Baines - Rob Baines - and he's a student volunteer from the U. of Toronto inviting you into the dig house. It is a traditional Mediterranean house, located on Archbishop Makarios III Street in beautiful uptown Dhali. By the way, Rob likes his dirt sifted, not just stirred.

Week One: With some hay and a hoe and a hey and a ho, Lycoming College field school student Kristen Skvorak (l) and Bucknell U. student volunteer Bonnie Wright (r) clear the dig site.

The crew had to clear three years of shrubbery and growth from the dig site. Here's Lycoming field school student Jesse Thompson getting down to the nitty-gritty: digging weeds and cleaning mold off of the foundation stones from 2,500 year-old buildings.

We mostly worked in the residential/industrial part of ancient Idalion, but we also worked a little in the sanctuary of Adonis. Here's Harvard College student volunteer Bobbye Tigerman clearing the area with supervisor Daniel Roschnotti of New York City. (photo is courtesy of Bobbye T.)

Every respectable dig needs a bone expert to interpret faunal remains. How lucky we were to have Elliott Lax of the U. of Arizona and Pima Community College, who also doubled as a square supervisor when needed. Indeed, not only were we lucky to find him, but as you can see, we found him intact and in situ!

Part of the Idalion dig team, at the end of week one. The archaeologist and director of the dig, Dr. Pamela Gaber, is on the left, looking over the crew. (Check out her body posture: "Pretty shoddy group I've got here. But I'll whip 'em into shape yet!")

The Lyco Seven at the CAARI Workshop, where we got to hear updates on many of the other digs taking place on the island of Cyprus. Colin Casler, the sweaty guy in the middle, dug at nearby Athienou on a full-ride NSF scholarship. Way to go, Colin!

Damian Greenwell, a U. of Arizona student volunteer, has been bugging me to put a picture of him on the web. Well, Damian? Damian? Hello Damian! Wake up, Damian! To be fair to poor Damian, it is siesta time in Dhali and he's only doing what everyone else does between one and four in the afternoon - they just don't do it with his style and flair.

Week Two: Time for some serious digging. This is yours truly, Lyco professor Steve Johnson, with trowel and dustpan, working on a newly-opened dig square and looking forward to many bountiful weeks of baulk trimming.

On Fridays, the Idalion crew toured other archaeological sites. At the end of week two, we got to meet up with Colin Casler again at his site, Athienou, where their work is revealing an ancient sanctuary. His dig is led by Dr. Michael Toumazou of Davidson College. By the way, is that a better picture of Colin, or what?

Week Three: As far as I can tell, Lyco field school student Allison Harding is either   a. shaving her legs with a petiche (ouch!);   b. playing Dig Twister (left hand in red bucket, Ally); or   c. teaching us a new hatha yoga position.             You be the judge!

Every afternoon, after siesta, students and volunteers gathered at The Mills for pottery reading. Here, Lyco field school student Shannon Wilson confidently shows off her wares, so to speak, with Dan Roschnotti checking it out and Brown U. student volunteer Virginia Rimmer hard at work in the background. I might add that, for some fine, evening dining in central Cyprus, OI MYLOI is the place to go!

One of the perks of working in Adonis' home town is having British film crews stopping by to film you at work. Tucson neurosurgeon Nadia Akhtar is showing the world how to sift dirt. If you want to see us in our element, tune in to the Learning Channel next year for the Adonis episode of "Sex Lives of the Ancients." (You think I'm kidding, don't you?)

Every cloud has a silver lining. When she got sick and had to stay at the house, we discovered that Shannon Wilson - possibly a future museum curator - was a natural at artifact registration. Here she is, Regina Registrar in her realm (that being the vestibule of the dig house).

Necessity breeds creativity, and there was only so much room for pottery and clothes washing at the dig house. That's my underwear, hanging between someone's shirt and someone else's jeans. By the way, look at how much fun Ally Harding (left), Virginia Rimmer, and Bonnie Wright are having. And how about 39 year-old Tucson volunteer Grace Evans (right)? I wish you could see the smile on her face.

My word! The resemblance is amazing! Could Jesse Thompson truly be the descendent of an Idalionite warrior? Okay, maybe Jesse's just showin' off a little after unearthing this nifty painted, terra-cotta figurine.

Did I mention how luxurious the facilities were on this dig? This is the dining hall where we ate late (8:30am) breakfast. These olive trees also happened to be the only shade in the vicinity! "Okay, break's over! Back on your heads!"

Here's Elliott Lax and Ally Harding articulating some bones and pottery. Working in this square, Ally became a master of the dental pick. Ask about her rates for root canals!

I'd like to take a moment and tell you a little about the people of Cyprus. No, they're not all as hunky or good-looking as Nikos here. But his kindness is something we often experienced on the island. What did he do? He found four of us stranded on a dirt road in what was to us the middle of nowhere (10-15 km N. of  Paphos), with a shredded tire and a flat spare. So, he took our spare, sent us on to our destination, the "Baths of Adonis," where he insisted we relax and enjoy ourselves while he took our tire back to Paphos and had it repaired. Then he picked us up at the Baths, drove us to our car, and insisted on changing the tire himself. By the way, Nikos' uncle owns the Baths of Adonis, and Nikos introduced us to several other members of his wonderful family. Later that afternoon, at his dad's restaurant, we had the best meze dinner of our seven weeks on the island (a meal rivaled only by our banquet at The Mills in Dhali).

Several times on weekends we stopped for a swim at Petra tou Romiou - the Rocks of Aphrodite - where, according to legend, the goddess rose out of the sea foam and brought her gifts to humanity. Dig illustrator (and professional belly-dancer!) Valerie Woefel, Dan Roschnotti, and volunteer Sylvia Kindermann of Boston view the rocks just before sunset.

Kristen Skvorak, aren't you digging yourself into a hole? Thank goodness Kristen has fellow Lyco field school student Tressa Nolan nearby to assist! Now, what was your first clue that this shot was staged?

Our Friday tours covered a lot of ground in Cyprus. Here's Shannon Wilson enjoying the comforts of a finely-crafted burial shaft at the Tombs of the Kings just outside of Paphos. Since it is well over 100° Fahrenheit in the sun - right on the coast - I'd say she's picked a pretty cozy spot to take a break.

Hey, supervisor and Michigander Susan Morris, what are you smiling about? You're standing in the baking, hot sun, in an underground mausoleum! That's no laughing matter. Maybe Susan is just overwhelmed by the impressive architecture. Or, maybe she's imagining a dig where one never has to work with mud brick! Now that would be something to smile about, huh, Susan?

One gets pretty thirsty on a dig. I mean, it gets miiiiighty hot under that stark, Mediterranean sun. Thank goodness Shannon Wilson and local volunteer Anna Stavrides were on the job, digging a well for us on-site. Okay, maybe someone had already dug it and lined it 2,500 years ago - but maybe it's still got water! Keep on diggin',  Shannon!

Experiences like a field school can sometimes uncover hidden talents - even with musical instruments! For example, who would have guessed that Hannah Gaber Saletan, field school student and assistant dig photographer, could play the derrière with such skill? A little encouragement and a chance to shine in the Dhali Follies, and Hannah is on her way to stardom.

Alas, all good things must come to an end. Here, Jesse Thompson and Hannah Gaber Saletan are taking final elevations at the Adonis temenos. Actually, Jesse is teaching 11 year-old Zebulun "Z-man" Dever, son of proud Pamela Gaber (on the right, taking his picture), how to use the transit.

When all was said and done, we had accomplished quite a lot in seven weeks. This is a cherry-picker shot of one of the squares we worked on this summer, with Bonnie Wright placing the meter stick. Hey, I dug that wall on her left!

This collection would not be complete without a picture of the two most important individuals on the dig: Pamela Gaber on the left, and Odysseus ("Odie!") the dig dog on the right. We found Odie in an earthen den next to the site - just weaned and the only surviving member of a three-puppy litter. So we took him under our collective wings (and unwittingly fed him our collected shoes) until Pam found him a home - the home of our fabulous Cypriot cooks!

Did our Lyco students really have a good time? Does this smile on the face of Kristen Skvorak not say it all? We hope to come back to Idalion next summer, so stay tuned!

To turn or return to the Idalion Expedition 2006 page, click here.
To turn or return to the Previous Digs page, click here.
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To turn or return to the Archaeology and Culture of the ANE home page, click here.