茄子直播

(Shown left to right) Charlotte Scott, Kaitlyn Smid, Cristina Savulov and Hannah Danielson with (foreground) PhD candidate Paula Gheorghiade (photo courtesy of Kaitlyn Smid)

Archaeology students dig opportunity to get their hands dirty

Island of Crete provides fruitful ground for research excursion

The trenches of an archaeological site on the Mediterranean island of Crete are a long way from the classrooms of the University of Toronto. But for a lucky group of students, those trenches provided an opportunity to learn things in a way that no textbook or lecture could.

The four students were searching for a Minoan palace, alongside 茄子直播 archaeologist Carl Knappett. An Aegean prehistorian specializing in Bronze Age Crete, Knappett directs an international team excavating at the site. This past July, he took the students along on a three week dig as part of the Faculty of Arts & Science .

鈥淓verything I learned about doing archeology prior to this was theoretical,鈥 said Kaitlyn Smid, a St. Michael鈥檚 College student studying archaeology and classical civilization. 鈥淚t was helpful to use the tools I learned during my studies in a true excavation. I learned much more than I had expected.鈥

Crete was once the home of the earliest Bronze Age civilization in Europe and one of its most important settlements is , a large harbour town dating to this 鈥楳inoan鈥 period (c. 3000 鈥 1100 BC). Past excavations unearthed an extensive town but what has never been found is a central building, often called a 鈥減alace鈥 in Minoan archeology. Considering that all Bronze Age towns on the island had such a building, Knappett is trying to determine if Palaikastro was different, or if they simply still have to find it.

鈥淭he students were able to see how the excavation informs our understanding of the site, and experience the excitement of how new finds are processed, analyzed, discussed and interpreted,鈥 said Knappett.

The students worked as assistants, supporting trench supervisors with a range of tasks that included labelling and bagging 鈥渇inds鈥 as well as cleaning them for analysis.

鈥淲e spent a lot of time shovelling soil and taking it to the soil heap, to uncover the layers of soil from the time period we were looking for,鈥 said Charlotte Scott, a St. Michael鈥檚 College student studying anthropology, archaeology and Aboriginal studies.

鈥淵ou need to be able to notice changes in the soil, the texture, the colour and even the density when you鈥檙e excavating,鈥 added Smid. 鈥淲e really learned how to understand and engage with our surroundings to make sense of what we were seeing in the trench.鈥

Scott had just completed an introductory course on archaeology before leaving for Crete, and with everything still fresh in her mind, she enjoyed comparing the classroom version with observations of real archaeologists at work. 鈥淚 found that the two lined up quite well.鈥

Knappett was compelled to participate in the Research Excursions Program for the entry point it provides to students. 鈥淓xcavations almost always involve student training. Apprenticeship is a key part of the dig because digs do not happen all that often, and there鈥檚 no way you can acquire in the classroom the field skills needed to be an archeologist.鈥

And for Smid, the experience confirmed that. 鈥淎rcheology and field research is something I really want to pursue in the future.鈥

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