Update from the field

Hi everyone! This summer I am participating in my second season as a team member of the Bronze Age Körös Off-Tell Archaeology Project (BAKOTA). This archaeological research team aims to explore social organization, trade, and mobility during the Bronze Age in Eastern Hungary.  The team is led by Paul Duffy (University of Toronto), Györgyi Parditka (National Centre for Cultural Heritage, Hungary), Julia Giblin (Quinnipiac University) and Laci Paja (National Centre for Cultural Heritage), and they have brought together a range of specialists and students from all different places to explore a prehistoric cemetery called Békés 103.  The site is located on farmland in the small town of Békés right in between sunflower and cornfields.  It is split into about 5 zones spread out over what is believed to be a huge Bronze Age cemetery.  It is a veritably surreal experience to be able to touch artifacts that have been in the ground for about 3700 years.

Site map showing potential excavation areas.

We are now 4 weeks into the field season, and starting the process off was shovel tests, which serve as a testing process to see what is below the surface.  We dig a small hole about a spade’s length down to see if there is any cultural material below the surface (like ceramic), and it usually measures to about 10 liters. This was followed by then clearing out trenches to a depth of about 35-45 centimeters, which clears away the plough zone.  The plough zone is the layer of earth that gets mixed up by a plow, so we need to clear that away to get to the next layer.  At the bottom of the plough zone we found urns and clusters of bone, which is undoubtedly exciting.  During this time period and in this region a common burial custom was to cremate the dead and bury them inside large ceramic vessels. The next step to take during this season was to excavate these burials and then bring them to the lab for micrexcavation of the material inside the urns.  As we collect materials and record findings we take a lot of notes because this is where comparisons and identifications arise, so it is important to write down as many details as possible like position, color, quantity, and decorative details on pottery. 

A job that I have been entrusted with is being in charge of organizing and keeping track of all the artifacts that come into the lab at the end of the day, so I get to see everything!  This includes pottery, bone, stone, bronze, and anything else collected.  As material starts pouring in it is very beneficial to be surrounded by all the specialists because everyone brings something new to the table.  Together the pieces of this prehistoric puzzle can become clearer, as the identification and classification of materials are recognized.  For example, we have Dori, an artist and ceramic specialist who draws the maps, reconstructs vessels, and in turn draws them for publications.  She looks at the differences in pottery like the designs or the construction of the vessel, and can compare the results to regions of surrounding areas where it is common to find the same type.  We also have a biological anthropologist, Laci Paja, who can identify all the bone that is found either in an urn or scattered in the field, and trace the age or maybe even the sex of the individual. 

So far in the season we have had a lot of material come into the lab with about 13 burials uncovered.  The ceramic that we have been weighing and counting has had some amazing details still recognizable.  There is a common decoration of two raised edges in circles around the whole urn paired along with spirals, triangular points, and sometimes three little dots.   

  

Laci teaching students Micro excavation

Urn found at the bottom of the plough zone

So, after entering in all of the different artifacts into the database, which houses all of the field season’s information, next I have been organizing all of the materials.  Ceramic from the same burial will be grouped together along with the bone from that specific burial also with all other materials getting organized by name in general boxes.  There is a lot of organization and labeling that goes into the lab portion of the field season because keeping the record accurate and easily accessible is important. 

Throughout the season I really get to understand the process of excavations, the details noted, and the care taken in dealing with past humans.  I have learned that there is a lot to consider when uncovering past human behaviors and artifacts, and that we can never truly know everything.   Archaeologists try and explain as much as the possible can with accuracy, and I have gained an appreciation for taking the time to do things right, be ethically conscious, and giving 110 percent all the time for the things that you love.  I have been fortunate enough to get to spend six weeks doing what I love with professionals, and learning more and more everyday.

Me spraying down an Urn for documentation

-Justine

Can Anthropology Make the World Safe for Women?

Greeting Nerds!
The members of the anthropology program are busy this summer conducting various research projects all over the place. Dr. Giblin is currently in Hungary, and Dr. Ullinger will be back shortly from her time working on collections in the Midwest of the USA.  My work this summer has been mostly at home, conducted at my kitchen table in Fairfield, CT.  I took a short break from my table to bring three wonderful students with me to Morocco (see Lauren and Emily's posts for details of the trip), but I've spent most of my time thinking about the way anthropological theory and practice can be used to end human suffering.  My particular focus here is on the suffering women experience at the hands of others—either by loved ones, strangers, or even institutions. Since violence against women is a problem of epidemic proportions, there are numerous projects to work on this summer. One project came from my dear friend Annabel Taylor in Christchurch. We are currently working together as part of a larger team on a project to identify best practices in the field of violence prevention.  Lucy Freeman, one of our AN students, has been helping me dig up the relevant literature so we can provide the best evidence for what works in helping victims move away from violence, and if there is evidence for ending violence full stop.

Another project came about due to evidence collected by a team of biological anthropologists who identified high rates of sexual harassment and sexual assault against women (and some men) in fieldsite settings [you can read the study here: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0102172 ]  Since the majority of the respondents to the study were anthropologists, the American Anthropological Association decided it was time to find out what was going on amongst the membership, and take stock of the scope and scale of sexual violence and sexual harassment (sv/sh) experienced by AAA members, both in the field, as the aforementioned study identified, and in labs, classrooms, and other settings.  I was lucky enough to be included on the research team for the AAA project.  Our current goal is to determine how extensive the problems of sv/sh are for members, and then, based on the findings, decide what educational module would be most beneficial for the membership.   Both projects are exciting for me because they are explicitly applied, meaning the goal is to use the findings from both studies to make the world safer for women. 

One of the main reasons anthropologists are now being incorporated into projects addressing some of the world’s most pressing issues (violence, economic inequality, environmental sustainability, etc.) is because for too long policy and programmatic responses to an issue assumed that the way “Westerners” did things was the best, yet to ill effect.  After three-quarters of a century of hiccups and outright project failures across the world, major NGOs and development entities are starting to realize what anthropologists have known all along—you have to listen and learn from others, and to discover what local solutions are available to solve local problems.  Sometimes people can be impatient, or arrogant, and don’t want to listen; other times projects are operating on inadequate budgets in order to allow the project team the time they need to learn what the perspectives are in the local context, and what obstacles and opportunities might arise; lastly, and detrimentally, there is often no money available to hire and train local experts themselves, so that local people can address local problems. Thus there are still many barriers in place that make it so projects cannot do the deep learning that leads to thick description of a place and its people, but at the very least project directors and organizational leaders are starting to realize that the anthropological worldview can be a positive way forward.

This is not to claim that anthropologists are going to solve the global problem of violence against women alone. However, bringing our perspectives and our methodological toolkit to bear on the problem, in collaboration with other scholars and activists might present the challenge before us in a new light, and offer new solutions that were hidden from view previously.

This is my daughter Lula, at my kitchen table. I'm trying to make the world safer for her and all girls.

Breaking Ground: The start of the BAKOTA 2014 field season

Hello fellow anthro nerds! 

This is Julia reporting from the BAKOTA 2014 archaeological field season 

in southeastern Hungary. 

Dori, Adam and Justine working on Burial 45.

We have had a great first week…

• Our international team of researchers and students have been arriving from throughout Hungary, Canada, the US and the Middle East.
• We have re-established our grid from last season and have started to open up new "blocks" (excavation areas) to continue exploring a Middle Bronze Age cemetery called Bekes 103. 

Here are a few shots of our research team from the field and lab!

Kalyan mastering the Total Station.

Enikő and Anna screening dirt from an EU (excavation unit) - amidst the growing corn field.

Russell, Monique and Enikő excavating in Block 39, where we have identified several burials already! 

Paul giving an introductory lecture about the BAKOTA Project.

Laci and Monique reconstructing a crania.

Justine setting up field notebooks for the documentation of special samples (like soil chemistry) collected while excavating.

Stay tuned for more updates from me and Justine as the season progresses.

______________________


Also, check out the TEDx talk produced by the students of Anthro 300 (Ancient Food for Thought) on eating insects! It just went live (hehehe…pun intended).

Link: Don't Bug Out: Challenging Food Taboos