Week 4 was awesome! I learned so much in my classes and had a blast outside the classroom as well.
We only had Alex’s class on Tuesday because he had to go out of town, and we learned about the transition from and periods of the early bronze age and middle bronze age in Minoan (Crete) and Mycenaean (mainland) societies. Social complexity rose, and the invention of the sail in 2000 BCE led to a huge boom in industry and in Crete. Journeys that would have taken weeks can take hours or days, and far more cargo can be held. I imagine that these changes must have drastically improved the quality of life of merchants traveling between Crete and the Cyclades. I wonder how desirable it was as a trade, and if that changed after the sail’s introduction. Palaces remain important, with an emergence in central courtyards functioning as a societal center for commerce and social gathering. Tholos tombs – visible tombs covered in stone that act as landmarks – start to emerge. A large indicator of this period is conspicuous consumption; as the divide between the rich and the poor expands, the desire to demonstrate that wealth becomes commonplace. City-states began to form, increasing the complexity of society. Metalworking flourishes in Crete, with beautiful pieces coming out of Crete that predate similarly complex works by 1000 years. As someone with limited classics experience, it really blows me away how complex these ancient societies were. I mean, bee-keeping has been around since the neolithic period (7k-3k BCE)! How cool is that! What we learned makes me very excited for our trip to Crete later on. The same complexity that is seen developing in Crete occurs on the mainland as well, with complicated city-states with intricate customs around burial and trade. I wonder what it must have been like to experience those changes on a personal level. The lives of people must have changed drastically through the availability of goods through merchants and state membership – how did it change the lives of people in different jobs and economic classes?
In my anthropology class, we’ve been learning about modern Greece through observations about Athens, and it’s been incredibly interesting to have such a great source of knowledge in Amy, our professor. On Tuesday, we took a walk through Kaisariani, a neighborhood of Athens with a large immigrant population. It was a communist neighborhood during and after World War II, and the marks of resistance against the Nazis still show in bullet holes in the walls and memorials in public places. Then, on Thursday, we talked about the concept of hospitality, which has been very prevalent in my experiences. Hospitality is important in Greek culture, especially with Greece’s economic dependence on tourism, but there are small caveats like practices around gift-giving and the decreased importance of smiling. It can commonly take the form of giving tourists something that represents the Greece that they want to see. The importance of creating an “authentic” experience for tourists in Greece is far from new, though. Residents of Sparta would play-act battle training on the island for Roman visitors hundreds of years after the fall of the Spartans. All of our discussions are really interesting, and it is super cool to see them play out in interactions with the city.
Digital Archaeology has also been a blast. We’ve been learning about remote sensing methods, such as LiDAR (light detection and ranging), thermal imaging, satellite imaging, aerial photography, and near-infrared sensing, which take place aerially using drones or planes, and magnetometry, resistivity surveying, and GPR (ground penetrating radar). Each of these tools has its own useful applications for different scenarios. For example, thermal is best used in certain seasons where there is high temperature fluctuation, LiDAR can scan through dense jungle environments, and magnetometry can sense sites where fires would commonly happen. We had another professor who worked with Hüseyin on the Small Cycladic Islands project come in and tell us about his work with LiDAR, the emergence and uses of the technology, and the potential applications of it. While lecturing in class, Hüseyin has provided me with various instruments including a guitar, a glockenspiel, a bass, and a keyboard to soundtrack and accent the lecture. It has pushed me out of my comfort zone a bit in terms of being comfortable playing for a crowd, which has been nice. Hüseyin, Stella, and I jammed on Thursday while we were learning to fly the drone we are using (its rotors make a G#3). It was lovely.
Also this week, Henry and Will’s families came to visit them. Seeing the way that they experienced the city gave an outside perspective on the experience we just finished: being introduced to Athens. It was interesting to see which experiences resonated with them given their backgrounds and experience; for example, Henry’s father’s classics experience helped him have a larger frame of reference for what to expect, but Will’s brother had fewer expectations and was more surprised about not only things to do but also cultural expectations in the country. It was interesting to see how their experiences and interactions with the city reflected what we’ve learned about the tourist gaze in the sociology and anthropology class that I am taking. They often engaged in parts of Athens that are created for visitors like them, but their engagement reflected an interest in getting to know the city around them. We ate great meals together at a few tavernas, Elvis – a souvlaki (meat skewers) place (the best I’ve had so far), and, last but certainly not least, a barbecue restaurant called Fine Mess Smokehouse with a Michelin Bib Gourmand – a distinction one level below a Michelin star. It was incredible, truly some of the best food that I’ve had since my arrival, if not the best. I was blown away by the attention to detail in crafting the experience. The wait staff was fantastic, the seating and plating was incredibly intentional, and every detail of the food was crafted to work together in ways that I never could have expected. It was a wonderful experience, and it leaves me very excited to go to Soil, a restaurant near us with a star, soon.
We were up bright and early the next morning to take a ferry to Aegina on Friday. The port was beautiful; it was very interesting to see the fishing and tourist business operate. We arrived before 8 AM, so we went to a restaurant and picked up some breakfast (the worst avocado toast that I have ever had in my life and a pretty good coffee) before taking a taxi to Palaiochora, a beautiful site with over 30 byzantine churches lining the side of a mountain. It was gorgeous; the preservation of the buildings was astonishing, and the view from the top of the mountain was fantastic. Historically, these churches blended into the mountainside, hiding them from pirates and providing refuge from invaders. From there, we took another cab to the Temple of Aphaea, the oldest preserved temple in Greece! It was super cool to see the parallels and differences between this site and other temples that we’ve seen at the Agora and Acropolis. This site is super well preserved, and the museum gave a closer look at the building, usage, and excavation of temples like this. After this, we took another cab to get lunch at a seaside taverna that our driver recommended. The cab situation was very funny to me; there were about 10 drivers careening around the tiny roads in Mercedeses and honking at elderly people as the only transit for tourists. One driver that I had twice had his phone background set as a picture of his face that took up the whole screen. I don’t know how much sociology has been done on Aeginetan cab drivers, but I’d love to see some research. It seems like a very interesting way of life. Anyways, the restaurant was fantastic; I would have never known that I would eat this much octopus in a single month. After a delicious meal, we walked to a nearby beach. Henry and I braved the water, even though the conditions were harsh (68° F in the air, 72° in the water). The sea is a dangerous mistress, but we managed to survive. When it started raining, we went to get gelato, and I supported the local agricultural industry by purchasing some pistachio liqueur with my meal stipend. It turned my mouth green! What a wonderful cultural experience. We then boarded the ferry home at about 6, exhausted. And I mean EXHAUSTED. Like jammies on at 9. Lights out at 10; teeth already brushed. Dreaming by 10:45. It was wonderful.
Well, that’s all I’ve got. Week 4 was the best week yet. I am having a great time, and I am super excited for what’s to come!