Pyla-Koutsopetria Season Staff Blog

Sun sets on 2009 PKAP Fieldseason

Today I met with a representative from the Department of Antiquities and turned over our artifacts to them. Once that was complete the PKAP 2009 season officially came to an end. Over the next few weeks, as staff members return home and relax, it will be time to take stock of the season and assess how it went - what went right and what went wrong. I feel, right now, that things went well, and I am generally pleased with most aspects of the project. There are always ways to improve, and I feel that we have improved every year. The hard part is figuring out how to improve and make things work more smoothly. Anyway, PKAP is now wrapped up and so I had some time to go out to the Salt Lake and take pictures at sunset.

RSM

And then there was only one

PKAP started the day with 7 members and by midday I was the only one left. It is strange being here by myself. The Petrou Brothers Hotel seems very empty, especially compared to the end of May where between PKAP and the IUP World Tour we were renting half of the hotel's rooms. Anyway, I have some things to wrap up for the project. I got most of them done today, with the biggest (our artifact turnover to the Cyprus Department of Antiquities) scheduled for Tuesday. Once PKAP is complete, at least with this season's fieldwork, I am going to look at some pottery for 2 other projects before heading home in 10 days.

RSM

Pyla-Koutsopetria Blog Statistics

As we get ready to leave the island and shut down our empire of the new media for the season (although some new v-logs will appear on the PKAP YouTube channel), we thought we might report on some of the statistics for the blog.  This is largely in response to the most asked question: "do people actually read your postings?".  The answer is emphatically yes.  Here are the page views for the past month:

Archaeology of the Mediterranean World: 2061
Pyla-Koutsopetria Season Staff Blog: 1239
Pyla-Koutsopetria Graduate Student Perspectives: 1551
Pyla-Koutsopetria Undergraduate Perspectives: 1192

Total: 6043 page views

Thanks for reading!

Narrating Pyla-Koutsopetria

One of the simple pleasures of the end of fieldwork are the various papers that we write and the opportunity to present in narrative form the history of the site.  There is nothing particularly binding about the following narrative, nor is it even a working hypothesis, but a collection of potential interpretations in narrative form.  It sure beats the dry-as-bones digitalizing and number crunching that will be at the core of our more formal analysis!

By the later stages of the Late Bronze Age the various settlements in the area consolidated their population on the height of Pyla-Kokkinokremos.  Taking advantage of the imposing positions afforded by the coastal height of Kokkinokremos and the now-infilled harbor, this settlement must have controlled an impressive stretch of the coastline with views incorporating around the curving aspect of Larnaka bay.  This community comes to an abrupt end sometime around the year 1200 after existing for less than a century.  There is no real evidence of continuity between this community and later settlement in the area.  So, during the Archaic-Classical period it was probably a new population who established the small, fortified settlement on the height of Vigla surrounded by not insignificant shrines both inland and on the coastal zone.  By the Hellenistic period (4th-2nd century BC), it is possible that the small settlement on Vigla received a garrison perhaps of mercenaries funded by the Ptolemaic kings of Egypt who sought to hold fast to Cyprus and awarded the governors of the province the status of strategoi (or general) reflecting the military significance of their post.  The Roman conquest of the Eastern Mediterranean brought to an end the almost constant wars between the various successors of Alexander the Great and regional powers. This is likely revealed at our site by the gradual occupation of the coastal plain of Koutsopetria.  During Late Antiquity, or the Late Roman period, the coastal site of Koutsopetria reached its heyday. The substantial Early Christian basilica formed the western border of a prosperous coastal town. To the east of the church there appears to have been domestic space, but there are suggestions of another monumental building based on stray architectural fragments found during the survey. There is also evidence for what may have been modest harbor-side facilities.  Only recently have we discovered some faint traces of post-ancient occupation on the site. Our excavation has revealed a substantial post-ancient fill that preserved some pottery that we can tentatively date to the 10th-13th century. The fill was associated with a wall that seems to be a substantial, late refurbishment of the area near the basilica.  Later still, In the post-Medieval period there are only traces of activity across the site. There’s a rough wall that flanks the modern coastal road and the faint remains of a possible 19th century road running along a barely visible coastal ridge.

The Great Fruit Crate Adventure

For the last few days we have been meaning to buy fruit crates (large plastic boxes) so that we can put our artifacts into storage for the season. We have been buying fruit crates each year since 2004, and probably have purchased nearly 50 crates over the last few years. These crates are everywhere, mainly in minimarkets and fruit markets. It had always been easy to buy them, even though store owners have always looked at us like we were strange for wanting to buy these crates. The crates, which used to be 3 Cypriot pounds each are now 5 Euros and evidently there is some great shortage of these, despite the fact that the are everywhere and I mean everywhere. When we walk to the museum we pass 2 trucks with dozens of empty ones in the back and houses have them on the porch. So, a few days ago, when I was at the large fruit market we shop at, I asked if I could buy some fruit crates (we have bought crates there for the last few years and I expected no problems). I first had a lengthy conversation with three cashiers, who were clearly baffled by what I wanted to buy, and since I did not know the name for fruit crate in Greek I was reduced to pantomiming carrying a fruit crate and saying plastic in Greek. Finally, a cashier wandered up who understood what I wanted and took me back to the manager to ask buying them. She stopped about 40 feet away from him and proceeded to yell at him about the crates. He looked at me and sort of sneered and then said no about four times and turned away. The cashier turned to me and asked me what I needed them for and I said storage. Then she asked me if I was storing fish - why she asked that, I have no clue. She then said that if I could wait a day and then if I called this number (she wrote down a phone number) after 9, there might be crates down at the port. This seemed to me like I had managed to hook into the underground black market fruit crate scene. Unfortunately, the next two days were so busy that I did not get a chance to call the lady.

Yesterday, the lack of fruit crates reached a critical juncture since we have started to store our artifacts for the season. At lunch I went out and stopped at 4 different places and all 4 proprietors told me "no" in various ways. One even just laughed several times and only said no when he noticed that I was still standing there. I finally found an older fruit market where the elderly man who was running it spoke less English than I speak Greek. I was desperate by this time so I, even though the crates have printed on their side that they cost 5 Euros, I offered him 6 Euros each for 6 crates. After a strange haggling session, I somehow wound up with 4 crates for 4 Euros each. I was so tired that I went back to the museum hoping that the 4 would be enough...and of course they weren't. After getting back to the hotel in the afternoon after the museum closed, I wandered through Larnaka looking for fruit crates. After several more "no" responses, I found a store with several empty ones sitting outside. I went inside and tried to employ my former haggling technique of offering more than they are worth as my opening offer. The young man in the store said that he could not sell them to me, so I said "Even if I paid 8 Euros each?" He then said he could not sell them to me because he did not have enough in his register. I thought he meant that he did not have change, so I said I had the right amount of money. He said no, he could not give me a receipt for the crates. I replied that I did not need a receipt. He then said that no, I had to have a receipt otherwise people would think that I had stolen the crates if I did not have a receipt for them. He then pointed out that the store's name was on them. I noticed, though, that the store's name was on only about 20% of the crates. I just looked at the guy and sort of shrugged, so he said to wait here and he then left the store for five minutes. A few minutes later, he came back with 4 crates I needed and showed me that they cost 5 Euros, which is what he charged me for each AND then gave me a receipt. Strange day.

RSM

Last full week

Things are moving right along. If anything, the pace has picked up at PKAP. We have a long list of things we need to get done and Friday is the deadline. Friday is wrap-up and pack day. There will be several things done early next week, such as a turnover of our artifacts, but Friday is the day we would like to have it all wrapped up by. So, we are still doing work in the field, at the museum, writing reports, preparing talks for the British Base and CAARI, etc. Everyone is starting to look a little ragged and worn down. I did not feel like cooking tonite, our cook has left, so I ordered pizza. It will be interesting to see if we can accomplish everything or not.

RSM

More PKAP Video on YouTube

Here are some more PKAP Video from our YouTube channel.  Check out the interview with our filmmaker Ian Ragsdale here.

Pyla-Koutsopetria Filmmaker Ian Ragsdale

Things are getting hectic here as PKAP heads into its final phases, so I'll let our resident documentary filmmaker provide some content.  Below is a short email interview with Ian Ragsdale.  I've asked him the same questions that I asked to Joe Patrow, our last documentary filmmaker, two years ago.  For that interview click here. 

What were your goals in shooting a documentary with the Pyla-Koutsopetria Archaeological Project?

As an aspiring archaeologist as well as a professional videographer, I arrived in Cyprus with a variety of goals.  My most basic goals are to provide PKAP with videos to increase the exposure of the project, its mission, and its directors.  It is my hope that these videos will assist PKAP to educate students as well as retain and attract new sources of funding.  Before I arrived, I honestly did not have clear concepts about what form such videos would take, but my goal now is to create short video posts covering the personal and archaeological experiences of members of the field team (already available online) and additionally make a 30 to 60 minute documentary about the archaeology of the project.  On a professional and academic level, this video project is a great way for me to show a diversity of filmmaking skills in a new environment and gain real archaeology field work experience.    This experience should also prove critical in my applications to graduate school.  On a personal level, the trip to Cyprus has been a refreshing break from a strenuous and chaotic freelance videography career.  I haven't been to Europe to shoot movies since 2003 and 2004, and it's been a wonderful and challenging opportunity.  As expecting parents, my wife, who is also here in Cyprus, and I are also happy that we've already taken our child on an international trip.  It sets a good precedent for the future!

How is your work different from PKAP’s earlier documentary work, namely Joe Patrow’s award-winning Survey on Cyprus and Emerging Cypriot, his series of shorts?
My work is different from Joe's in a few ways.  Most fundamentally, Joe worked with PKAP before the project undertook any excavations, so the work going on at the PKAP site has been incredibly different from what he captured on camera.  While artifact collection and processing has been similar, the simple fact that PKAP is now digging into the ground has given me a whole new category of field methods to cover. I've been able to build on Joe's work by covering a variety of field methods and other scenes non-existent at the PKAP site when Joe was last here.  As an aspiring archaeologist, I also have a different perspective on the work that PKAP is doing.  Although I am working on videos for the general public, I'm also trying to specifically reach the aspiring-archaeologist undergrad set with interviews and videos that address the questions and interests of someone curious about archaeology as a profession.  Since I am in that same place in my life, it's a great perspective for me to try and give others watching my videos.

Can you describe your relationship to the Project?

Although I have been brought to PKAP as a professional videographer, I feel like much more than a hired hand sent out to capture video of Mediterranean archaeology.  I'm living, eating, and riding bumper cars with field team members and sweating in the trenches excavating whenever I get the chance.  I've unearthed artifacts, measured ancient walls, and earned my blisters just like everyone else.  About the only thing that is different is every evening I go into my room and edit video, and occasionally I appear randomly with a camera and demand an interview.  Because I have four weeks here - three weeks of excavations and one week for interviews - I have been able to get all the footage I need while also getting some experience digging.  I must also say that the closeness that I feel to PKAP is not only because of my interest in the work going on here, but truly because of the warm reception I have received from the staff and the field team.  I can only hope that the PKAP directors don't mind me being chummy...

Did anything surprise you about working closely and being a member of the PKAP team?

It's a fairly stock response, but I didn't have too many preconceptions.  I've been on many group trips with close quarters, shared meals, and long hours, so I experienced no hardship in that sense.  One thing that has been interesting is that, as a filmmaker, I have been afforded the opportunity to constantly step back and "people-watch" at the PKAP site.  There are a great many wonderful individuals on the trip here, and together they have formed many strange and unique alliances and small-group cultures without developing cliques.  Moving from trench to trench across the site, I have been able to interact with all the workgroups and see their quirks and listen to their conversations.  I have been surprised and pleased at how much fun folks can have in 105 degree heat, no wind, engulfed in dust, and with no relief in site but a handful of pizza-flavored bagel chips at 5:00.

Do you feel that your presence and work on the project contributed to the project's overall goals?

It's been great to see the openness, on the part of the project's directors, to so-called "new media" interacting with archaeology. Only since the invention of YouTube is free bandwidth for video available to anyone to present their videos to the world, and PKAP is all about taking advantage of such tools.  I think that the final word about my impact on the project's goals will come several years down the road, as funding and other attention is directed towards the project via the videos.

What did you have to teach the archaeologists in order to make your work there successful?
I'm an extremely flexible filmmaker and I like to shoot with minimal impact on my subjects, so I didn't really have to fight anyone to conform to some Kubrick-esque demands in order to get a critical interview about a trowel.  I think the most important thing that a filmmaker can do is to instill confidence in his or her subjects so that they can feel comfortable letting the filmmaker, for instance, crawl over their newly-discovered antiquities trying to pull off a neat shot.  My work in the trenches really showed that I was serious about archaeology and would present both the work and the people faithfully.\

How much footage have you accumulated during your three weeks of shooting?
So far I've shot twelve hours, but I anticipate on shooting 18-20 hours total once I've completed the formal interviews next week.

How was the footage shot -- can you give us some technical specifications without being too technical?
I'm shooting with a Panasonic DVX100 miniDV camera, editing with Final Cut Pro, producing special effects using Motion, and creating original background music for the YouTube clips using Garage Band.  I always shoot with a polarizing filter on my camera, which is a filter that reduces glare from the sky, sea and other reflecting surfaces so that I can get nice shots of the blue sky over Cyprus.  This filter also protects my lens from dust and grit, which is a reality on an archaeological dig.  Whenever practical, I shoot with the camera on a tripod.  Shooting handheld makes it must faster to switch from shot to shot, and it is sometimes easier to pull off pans with just the hands, but having the camera on a tripod is extra insurance that my shot will be steady enough to use in the final product.

What will happen to the footage? Does it have archival value?
PKAP has already purchased an external hard drive that will hold this year's footage in a totally digital, versatile form, and which PKAP will keep for future use.  I believe that the interviews may hold some archival value, as they capture, in a nutshell, the perspectives of PKAP staff in 2009.  If the PKAP site ever undergoes full-scale excavation or even conversion to a tourist attraction, then the interviews could be an interesting feature of a visitor's center or excavation archives.

What are your future goals with the project?
As I begin graduate education in anthropology and archaeology, it would be wonderful to continue my association with the project as both a member of the field team and a filmmaker.  Right now though I'm really living in the moment, still trying to figure out what I'm going to shoot in the fifteen minutes following completion of this questionnaire.

What other projects are you working on now and how can we follow them?
In the past year I've shot documentaries on slow food, family farms, and Olympic gymnasts and have traveled to Tuscon, Philadelphia, and all over Texas for my work.  I'm based in Houston and my production company, Big Ape Productions has a website: www.bigapefilms.com.  The site is new, but we are updating it with content as fast as we can.

Sunset

I was up on Vigla last night. Dr. Maria Hadjicosti came out to visit our site and look at our work for the season. After we were done, I noticed the sunset - it was gorgeous. The view from Vigla is always spectacular, but I was really struck by the view. I took several photos (none great unfortunately), only to learn later that there was a sunset option on my new camera, so I guess I will have to go back and try again. I was also struck by the fact that the sun is setting on this season's work. The majority of the students leave tomorrow morning and staff members will be here for only 1 more week. Time flies.

RSM

More Pyla-Koutsopetria on YouTube

Our resident filmmaker, Ian Ragsdale, has produced three more video log (vlog) shorts on YouTube for your viewing pleasure.  As the students prepare to return to the US leaving the trench supervisors and senior staff a hectic week of processing finds and rapping up final documentation, it seems fitting to begin with a video dedicated to the hard work and fun that our volunteers contributed to the project over the last month.

 

Dallas Deforest provides a nice insight into the background of a trench supervisor... we'll head out this morning to continue work on his trench which is now over 2 m below the surface!

Another perspective on life in a trench...

More to come soon!