Adventures on Site

This Summer I had the pleasure of working as a student volunteer for the Agora Valley Project at Morgantina. This project was my first experience in the field, and I couldn’t have asked for a better first dig. Beginning in June, I got used to early morning bus rides and late-night dinners. Since many of us were new to the site, project director Alex Walthall spent our first full day taking us around site and reiterating its ancient and modern context. We got to try out one of the old grain mills and ate cookies while under the shade of one of the ancient houses, chatting and asking questions. While in town, we had an introduction to Aidone with a scavenger hunt where we got to know the area, attempting to make our way around with the very little Italian from our group combined. We also got to know all the supervisors, especially those who worked in the schoolhouse who we didn’t get to see daily. Particularly, I got to bond with Martha, the supervisor from our environmental team, over our mutual love of dogs.  

The Legendary Captain Morgan Hat, the Highly Sought-After Scavenger Hunt Prize

 I was also lucky enough to be paired with the best roommates, Owen and Miller, in the nicest apartment with easily the best view. From there the daily schedule consisted of waking up, getting ready, waking up Miller (by far the most challenging task of the summer), heading to breakfast by hiking up one the biggest hills known to man. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until about halfway through the dig that Alex (aka Alex the Younger) let us know that there was a much easier and more scenic route to take every morning. We then decided that the hill wasn’t worth the trouble and started taking the scenic route from that day on. Even though we were all in different trenches, during cookie break Owen would always share his snacks, jalapeño pistachios (the best flavor of course) and paprika pringles (also the best flavor and apparently a uniquely European option) and whenever I opened my sunscreen to reapply you bet Miller was there ready to steal it. Once the dig day was over, it became customary for us to have balcony granitas while we took turns playing music on Millers speaker before showering. One of the funniest days was when Miller and I decided to both take naps, and I woke up to find out that Owen spent the entire time fighting a wasp in our kitchen. It made several reappearances and became Owen’s mortal enemy.  

Happy Days on Site

Every day on site was a new adventure, from getting to use big pickaxes and making big passes to doing detailed scarping work.  One of my favorite things to do on site was taking total station points with the device known as Roameo, since he had to roam around to capture important data points from either finds or for space measurements. Sadly, he was quite temperamental and would have to take time out of the sun frequently so if you needed to use him, you have to be fast. It was also exciting when you finished a context and were able to finally photograph the section and send all the finds up to the school. Every student also was able to spend a day in town to shadow the different supervisors in the schoolhouse, where I helped Martha set up the flotation system for soil buckets for the season. After the workday, my apartment mates and I were known for making both gnocchi and Mr. Noodles in our apartment before dinner. So, if you ever want to know how to make the best after-site noodles, just stop by the Fazbear household.  

Trapped in the Trench

During the season, a group of us visited Palermo over the first weekend. The highlight of the week was easily the puppet museum. The first floor was filled with mostly paper puppets, but up the stairs held the main attraction. The whole floor was filled with several rooms with specific displays of puppets from around the world. One of the rooms was also strangely clown themed and all the puppets were playing instruments. Regardless of religious affiliation, we all prayed that none of the spirits of those clown puppets followed us back to Aidone. While it was hard to narrow down the coolest rooms, there was one floor to ceiling filled with puppets that came close but the best room we visited was with the stage. This room was also covered in puppets, but they were all based around famous romantic stories performed in Sicily with a full stage and piano included. Sadly, there was a performance scheduled for five pm, but we had planned to go to the beach, so we decided another trip to Palermo would be necessary to get the full puppet museum experience. However, we all did stop by the gift shop on our way out and each left with a tote bag as well as various bookmarks and pins.  

Because of prior scheduling, I had to leave a couple days before the rest of the group. Luckily, I got to have a great send off, with German Bar making pistachio pasta (truly the best meal ever and then only one that was ever repeated) and the group went out for one last granita before I got on a plane. My apartment mates also decided that they would move their beds into my room so we could all spend the last night together. They even told me to wake them up before I had to leave at around 4:30 even though they had to wake up around 5:00. It's safe to say that on my bus ride back to the airport I was already nostalgic for Aidone and all the friends I had made. Overall, both on and off site, I couldn’t have imagined a better dig opportunity for the summer with truly the best crew possible and I can’t wait for the 2025 season!