August 12th – 15th
In a quick recap, the last few days have seen steady, methodical progress on the site. The twelfth was again spent in camp due to high waves. Drawing, cataloguing and storing ceramic finds from the last few weeks was the order of the day, as well as continuing minor maintenance and repairs. The break was, incidentally, a blessing for me as I woke up at daybreak (circa 4:50 A.M.) violently ill. I made my way as quietly as I could to the edge of camp, and en route saw this glorious sunrise – a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, as one of my heroes would say:D
I felt much better when the evening rolled around, and dug into a special surprise dinner with gusto!
The thirteenth, in addition to its interesting find, saw the completion of my gridding efforts. Not knowing the full extent of the timber, we covered it again to continue work the next day.
Though simple due to the requirements of the site and others working there, my system of cordoning the 10 x 12m quadrant and running a single line lengthwise at the 4 m mark proved more than sufficient for accurate mapping. On the fourteenth, we did just that as my dive buddy Kostya and I fully excavated the timber. While it proved to be not much larger than what we had originally seen, seeing it lying pristinely on the seabed was a great moment!
Today, the fifteenth of August, we completed a series of recon dives north-east of our site. Our objective was to determine, if we could, a terminus for the artifact spread, and in this we were successful. We locked in the GPS coordinates and headed back to base to compile our data so far!
Thinking back on today’s efforts I am reminded, as I sit here in my field office, just how fragile our field is; sites like the Novy Svet Wreck especially.
We are in a way conducting rescue archeology here, for to the the threats of time and tide are added those of looters, pollution and unintentional human disturbance, like fishing. That fragility is matched by the hard work, courage and ingenuity of our membership, people willing to go the extra mile every day and every night simply because they believe that the job needs to be done and done right. These high standards set by Dr. George Bass and all the dedicated people at INA, NAP and CMAC are matched by our global colleagues like CUA’s Dr. Sergey Zelenko here in Ukraine, and I find myself thinking daily how honored I feel to study under and work with such academic heroes.
Without their dedication, priceless history like that lying below the Bay of Novy Svet and modern understanding would pass each other by like ships in the night…
