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Zagora dig blog

2013 Zagora team members (weeks 4-6)

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As you probably know, we have a six-week excavation season this year for the Zagora Archaeological Project. Many of us stay for the entire season but some stay for shorter periods. Most of the archaeological volunteers who aren’t here for the whole six weeks are here either for the first three weeks, or the second three weeks. I posted a photograph earlier about the team of the first three weeks. We’re now in the fifth week of the season, and following is a photograph of our current Zagora team. Beneath this photo is another one with the team members numbered and named so you know who they all are.

The week 4-6 Zagora Team
The weeks 4-6 Zagora Team. See below for photo with names in the caption. © PHM; photo by Irma Havlicek

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Tasha Nassenstein – Zagora 2013 volunteer

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by Irma Havlicek Powerhouse Museum Web Producer

Trowel tales and true – Tasha Nassenstein

Tasha Nassenstein
Tasha Nassenstein © PHM; photo by Irma Havlicek

I sent a list of questions to our Zagora 2013 participants to get an idea of why they participated in Zagora 2013. Here is the reply from Tasha Nassenstein, a 2013 Zagora volunteer: Why did you want to work on Zagora? I wanted to work on Zagora because the opportunity was there so I signed up for it as soon as I heard about it. It has always been a dream of mine to work on an archaeological dig. Now I can tick that off the list!

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Excavation Area 3

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by Irma Havlicek
Powerhouse Museum Web Producer

Dr Hugh Thomas, Trench Supervisor of Excavation Area 3
Dr Hugh Thomas, Trench Supervisor of Excavation Area 3. © PHM; photo by Irma Havlicek

Excavation Area 3 (EA3), of which Hugh Thomas is site supervisor, had a test trench dug in that location last year (supervised by Ivana Vetta). So the process for this year began with removing the backfilling (soil and stones) that was put in place to protect the area that was previously excavated.

I observed and worked at times with the very hopeful and enthusiastic team working here under Ivana last year, which included Hugh Thomas, Jane McMahon, Paul Donnelly and Stephanie Snedden. They kept their spirits up by dreaming of great finds in the trench. They had high ambitions – they were looking for temples or burial sites (in their dreams). They examined each stone in the hope that it would be an artefact – but no, they were all stones.

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1970s Zagora photographer, Raymond de Berquelle – a surprising link

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Raymond de Berquelle taking a photograph of a trench in 1971 from the top of a ladder
Raymond de Berquelle taking a photograph of a trench in 1971 from the top of a ladder. Other team members are holding the ladder to ensure Raymond doesn’t topple off the cliff. The lengths (heights) some artists will go to for their art! Photo and © Raymond de Berquelle

One of the volunteers at Zagora this year was Sue Jorgenson, who participated in the first three weeks of the project. Sue Jorgenson had trained as an archaeologist but decided upon a career in the Department of Foreign Affairs in Canberra. She satisfies her archaeological passion by volunteering on archaeological projects every few years – this year, at Zagora. Imagine our surprise when we learned that she is the sister-in-law of Raymond de Berquelle, the official photographer of the Zagora project during the 1970s! (Sue’s sister, Valerie, is married to Raymond.) Scroll to the bottom of this post for links to some of Raymond’s 1970s Zagora photos in AAIA flickr sets. On learning this, Sue provided me with Raymond’s contact details, and I had an email exchange with him. Raymond kindly provided information about those days – which prompted me to go with some of our team to the Menites Pork Festival on Sunday 6 October 2013 to take some photos of Menites because that is where the team stayed during the 1970s archaeological seasons. Raymond kindly provided information about the photos I took, which forms the basis of this post – without which this post would have been possible. Many thanks, Raymond.

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Keen interest of Andriote locals in Zagora

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by Irma Havlicek
Powerhouse Museum web producer

A strong turnout of locals at the cinema in Chora to hear about the Zagora Archaeological Project
Despite a cold and rainy night, there was a strong turnout of locals at the cinema/theatre in Chora to hear about the Zagora Archaeological Project. © PHM; photo by Irma Havlicek

Despite blustery conditions and intermittent rain, there was a heartening turnout of Andriote locals last night for the presentation by Zagora Directors, Dr Stavros Paspalas and Dr Lesley Beaumont, about the work being done at Zagora.

The Directors of the project, Stavros, Lesley and also Professor Meg Miller, are keen to develop and strengthen links with the local community, and to share their enthusiasm for Zagora and Andros with the locals who have so generously welcomed us into their midst.

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Nicola Harrington – Egyptologist and Zagora 2013 volunteer

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by Irma Havlicek
Powerhouse Museum Web Producer

Trowel tales and true – Nicola Harrington

Nicola Harrington during lunch time outside the dig hut
Nicola Harrington during lunch time outside the dig hut. As we all do after working on the site, her hair, face and clothes are covered in dust. © PHM; photo by Irma Havlicek

I sent a list of questions to our Zagora 2013 participants to get an idea of why they participated in Zagora 2013.
Here is the reply from Dr Nicola Harrington, Research Fellow, Department of Archaeology, University of Sydney:

Why did you want to work on Zagora?
I am a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Sydney and am working with one of the Zagora directors, Dr Lesley Beaumont, on children and childhood in antiquity (with special reference to ancient Greece and Egypt). I wanted to work at Zagora in order to further familiarise myself with the archaeology of Greece as background to my research project, and to return to fieldwork after a decade’s hiatus. I also have the opportunity to visit local museums and those in Athens with collections that are directly relevant to my work.

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Excavation Area 2

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by Irma Havlicek
Powerhouse Museum Web Producer

Mel Melnyczek
Mel Melnyczek, trench supervisor of excavation area 2, with a rainbow over his shoulder. A good omen from the gods? © PHM; photo by Irma Havlicek

Excavation Area 2, with Mel Melnyczek as trench supervisor, is a return to a place that is in the middle of what was excavated in the 1960s and 70s but most of this particular area was not excavated then. The aim of excavating here is to provide a control between what was found in 1960s and 70s and what is found this year – to determine how our approach and methods generate similar or different results from those of the 60s and 70s.

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Excavation Area 1

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by Irma Havlicek
Powerhouse Museum web producer

Ivana Vetta, trench supervisor of Excavation Area 1,
Ivana Vetta, trench supervisor of Excavation Area 1, considers the work ahead of her during the first week of work at Zagora in 2013. © PHM; photo by Irma Havlicek

The site reconnaissance undertaken at Zagora in 2012 indicated there are a lot of architectural remains as well as a high concentration of industrial debris in the form of slag and also obsidian (relative to the rest of the site) at the northern end of the settlement, within and adjacent to the areas of the 1960s and 70s D-H excavation. This confirmed observations reported during the work of the 1960s and 70s.

The slag and obsidian finds indicate the possibility of industrial production having been done in the area. There were also pottery remains found nearby which may have washed down and away from this area.

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Directors’ plans for finds processing of 2013 Zagora material – an overview

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Stavros Paspalas working in Excavation Area 2 in 2013
Dr Stavros Paspalas working in Excavation Area 2 in 2013. © PHM; photo by Irma Havlicek

This year, 2013, is the first full excavation season at Zagora since the 1960s and 70s. This post describes the directors’ plans for processing finds from the Zagora excavation season in 2013, and what it is hoped the finds may reveal about the settlement at Zagora.

The overview of the directors’ approach to the excavations this year is here (part 1) and here (part 2).

The following is a lightly edited version of what Dr Stavros Paspalas* told Irma Havlicek in an interview conducted on 4 October 2013.

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2013 Zagora team members (weeks 1-3)

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by Irma Havlicek
Powerhouse Museum Web Producer

Around Saturday 12 October 2013, we sadly farewell some Zagora team members. The whole team has worked incredibly hard in often challenging conditions, and has done so with great spirit, humour and gusto. We are sure those who are leaving us are a hard act to match – yet we expect those who are arriving this weekend to do so, and look forward to welcoming them. The photo below shows those team members who were on site on Thursday 10 October 2013.

This is the team photo taken in the third week of the 2013 Zagora excavation
This is the team photo taken in the third week of the 2013 Zagora excavation. Photo by Irma Havlicek and Lesley Beaumont*.

I have numbered and named them in the following photograph so you can tell who everyone is.

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