Well, I made it to Corinth, Greece! After a very long plane ride (and a shift from an aisle to a middle seat…not ideal, ha ha), I made it into Athens where I met up with a group of fellow excavators. We traveled by train to Corinth, and from the train station to the place we will call home for the next month. While this class, Introduction to Mediterranean Archaeology, is a Pitt course, there are a number of other schools that are part of the Lechaion Harbor and Settlement Land Project. We will be surveying, excavating, and studying the harbor of Corinth. This is an exciting project that will hopefully serve as the foundation for further excavations and projects in the area.
After spending the first day getting settled in our apartments and a good night’s sleep to ward off jet lag, we were up early the next morning to take a tour around Ancient Corinth and visit the Temple of Apollo. While we can expect hot, sunny days for the next few weeks, we had some nice cloud cover for this day (sunglasses were still needed, though). The temple ruins are amazing. I’m sure that pretty much everyone has learned (at some point) of the three types of Greek columns: Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. This temple has (remaining) seven standing Doric columns (which is funny, because you probably would have thought they should have Corinthian). It was built in the 6th Century B.C., which for those of you who don’t math, is about 2500 years ago. Coming from a country that is only 248 years old, it can be a bit overwhelming to stand in front of architecture that has been standing for 10 United States lifetimes. It also goes to show you that the Greeks had some pretty skilled engineers!
I’m looking forward to starting my part of the dig- this experience will be one of a kind, for sure! I’ve made a lot of great, new friends (shout out to California State University Long Beach) and am not looking forward to leaving them in a month. I know that this program is the perfect, hands-on opportunity to immerse myself in archaeology. Real world experience will trump textbooks any day of the week. What I learn here in Corinth will stick with me long after the program ends.