| Entry: | Had what I considered a major breakdown recently which has been resolved to some extent now but is part of an underlying problem. It started with Roddy saaying he coudnt take this type of digging. He felt marginalised and frustrated at being at the beck and call of the 'specialists'. We had a meeting of all the 'diggers' who expressed a general level of frustration. We decided that goals should be set so that they could make their own logistic decisions about whether they should respond to EVERY demand, however, reasonable, from the specialists. So we have set a goal in the Mell area that we uncover a building this season. In the North area the goals were already clear (to get through the present building 1). We then had a meeting of everyone but since I had already talked to the specialists (now to be called lab people) this didnt amount to much. For me the major worry was that the whole idea of feedback and interaction seemed threatened. But in the end the various parties do seem to accept the value of that. It was more that the emphasis had shifted too much in favour of the lab people and their endless questions and specialisms. This overload is part of modern archaeology, especially felt in a research excavation. I realised that it is an error to talk about this as a research excavation. We have a duty to present the site to a wider world and that involves more than phosphate maps. I think we should see that as an aim and a duty - which means that we have to set goals of digging for more than research reasons. Another event was that we had a 'story-telling' evening which went well - went through ideas about the causes and iterpretation of burning and midden, and more general ideas about Building 1 and about the ritual/secular opposition. In terms of excavation, things are going extremely well. Building 1 looks wonderful now its being planned etc, and in the Mell area walls are coming down apace and Roddy amd Mary in Space 105 have started on the midden layers above any building that may exist in that space. We have also cleared off a new area called Summit to the edge and east of the Mell area. This is for the Kostas team if they make it given all the Greek-Turkish tension at the moment. The area is designed to come down on a well preserved building in the old Mell sections - I justify this largely in terms of the public goals above. It looks like an excellent chance to have a building with 2m high walls which will could be a major focus for visits to the site. Another major development is that the Penn conservationists seem to have finally come up with a mix that will allow conservation and stabilisation of the wall plasters. They are proceeding with the lifting gear. And they have come up with a wonderful drill that can be used to count and study plaster sequences in the field.Entered By: Ian Hodder |
