Page 32 - Luce 2022

S tudent Voice

JCH Arts student, Lily Hillary (2021), shares with us
her passion for archaeology and her adventures
in Sardinia.

In early April 2022, one of my professors emailed me about an
archaeology opportunity in Sardinia over the Italian summer.
As an aspiring archaeologist, the opportunity to analyse and
study in the field a civilisation I had only heard of briefly
excited my interest, to say the least! I promptly applied and
was delighted to hear back only a week later that I had been
offered a position over the July-August period.

Although this meant juggling seven weeks of semester work
online and in a different time period (getting up at all ungodly
hours of the night/morning for tutorials), in addition to doing
field and lab work, it was certainly worth it.

The subject of the archaeological analysis was the Nuragic
civilisation (1900-730 BCE) in Sardinia, and we were based in
Narbolia, a small atmospheric town and home to PhD student
Laura Pisanu, who was running the project. Each day began
with a sugar-laden homemade breakfast from my charming
landlady, after which we worked during the morning and later After spending the mornings usually doing field analyses, Lily
afternoon (so as to avoid the blistering midday heat). Still, (left) and the team would spend the afternoons sketching
from 0700 to lunchtime, long sleeves, a wide-brimmed hat, at any fragments and sherds that are particularly well preserved,
least a litre of water and copious amounts of sunscreen were attempting to construct an image of what the whole ceramic
a must as we paced up and down scorched fields, analysing may have looked like.
areas near partially or totally collapsed nuraghes (dry stone
round megalithic towers) searching for pottery sherds. themselves outside their doors on plastic white chairs from 8
pm, cigarette and fernet in hand, giving me a nod, a wink and
Seemingly insignificant, these sherds tell us a lot about the occasionally a ‘ciao bella’ as I went on my evening runs, while
area. They reveal different materials used, techniques, cooking the rest of the locals gathered each night at the local bar-
and use of pottery over different ages during occupations restaurant. For me, Sardinia will remain unforgettable.
of the area. We would go through a process of recording
the sherds and tools we found, GPS locating them, and One particularly large Nuraghe, which is under the protection
‘reconstructing’ what the total vessel would have looked like. of UNESCO.
After lunch, a cold shower, and a touch of study (or a siesta),
we would begin afternoon work, which involved either further
field analysis or lab work, which was a process of further
reconstruction (to publishing and printing standard) and data
recording.

On weekends we would often visit some UNESCO Nuraghe
sites, more than ten times the size of the ones we worked
around. These structures are sensational engineering feats,
with multiple floors accessible by steep spiralling rock steps,
some even reaching 20-30 meters in height when fully
constructed. These looming towers, often with small housing
structures spreading from their base, are built with mammoth
basalt stones (or occasionally limestone), which have been
shaped and cut to fit perfectly on top and next to one another
without the use of cement. I particularly relished the higher
terraces which provide sensational views of the Sardinian
landscape, or the more hidden ‘chambers’ in the large
nuraghe which we would often access by commando crawling
through a small opening to reach a delightfully cool reprieve
from the heat.

It was a truly unique experience: settling into a small village
where the local church bells would sound on the hour; where
the woman living across from me would keep a watchful
eye on her environs, standing in her frilly apron, holding a
wooden spoon and pearl spectacles, inspecting the street,
up and down; where the older men would always seat

32 LUCE Number 21 2022