A summer of archeology

I returned from Europe and Greece and had one more year of college. I chose anthropology as my major. I was especially intrigued with archeology. So, the next summer I decided to go on an archeological dig. But where should I go? There were so many possibilities. Until that time in my life, I was a total city girl never venturing out into any wilderness areas. I looked at Cahokia in southern Illinois, somewhere in Idaho where I was supposed to construct my own living accomodations (me a city girl doing that? Really?), New Mexico where there were watermelon breaks in the middle of the day. There was also Arizona. I discussed my possibilities with a guy I knew and he said go to Arizona where there is all that cool pottery. Sounded like as good a reason as any other. So off to Arizona I went. I lived in a tent for the summer, dug up artifacts and skeletons and yes cool pottery. On weekends, I and my friends traveled all over the southwest. Til today, that is one of my absolute favorite places in the United States. Monument Valley is really one of my favorite places in all the world. And yes, I was no longer a city girl.

The experience of doing archeology was wonderful. Holding a piece of pottery in your hands, feeling the connection to that woman who had fashioned it over 800 years ago, was truly fabulous. No matter where I travel, if there are ruins to see, I am compelled to see them. From Pompeii to the Cliff  Dwellings of the United States, to the Greek ruins of Ephesus in Turkey, I am totally captivated.

In writing my novel Echoes in the Mist, I used this knowledge as I created the conflict between Julia, who thinks it is wonderful to bring Greek treasure to Western museums so everyone can see them and Stephano who fervently believes Western archeologists are plundering the treasures of his country which should remain in Greece.