Philly Blog Part II

Saturday started with the “Greek Ritual and Sacred Objects” session and I camped out there for the morning. This group of talks began with a very interesting and new interpretation on an age old discussion of the cult image of Artemis of Ephesus – rather than the traditional “multi-breasted” interpretation it was instead suggested that these hanging protrusions were capra figs and the previously interpreted “bees” were actually wasps.

For an early lunch I met with my Ph.D. advisor, Dr. William R. Biers. It was his Greek Archaeology book that was the text for my first class on the subject as an undergraduate. Serendipitous it was that he would become my advisor and ultimately my life-long mentor. Both he and his wife, Dr. Jane Biers – Curator of Ancient Art at the University of Missouri - contributed to my academic success.

The afternoon session “The House of Ill Repute: The Archaeology of Brothels Houses, and Taverns in the Greek World” had an intriguing title and some of my colleagues and prior classmates were involved with the session as well – always a bonus to reconnect. One of the odd things about archaeology and especially the study of the ancient past is that in many cases we ask more fascinating questions that we can actually answer with a good degree of certainty – and this session proved that distinctly. In other words – how many drinking vessels does it take to define a house from a tavern? What about a tavern from a brothel? How about the buildings’ construction – how many rooms or what evidence would be left in the rooms to distinguish a tavern from a brothel – in some cases one structure would serve both purposes. What is preserved in the remaining archaeological record is in itself a question of how deposition occurs – when and were.  All of these are very intriguing questions and great for pondering.

I spent the latter part of the afternoon reviewing the books once again then met up with Tracey Marks and her travel mate and friend for a beverage. We also had the opportunity to see Dr. Mary Voyatzis of the Univ. of Arizona and co-director for the Mt. Lykaion excavation and Survey project. We also happened into Knut Ødegård a colleague from the Tegea excavation project and Director of the Norwegian Institute at Athens as well as Anastasia Panagiotopoulou one of our Mt. Lykaion project colleagues and the Director of the Archaeological Institute of Peloponnesian Studies.

Sunday morning I crammed in a few of papers from the morning session “Pottery Production and Trade” before I had to ship out. Pottery topics included the earliest evidence for lead glaze (late 5th c. B.C.); what a western Mediterranean ship wreck tells us about the ceramic trade and how they were transported within the ship – drinking cups nested together within a wide-rimmed amphora; to reconsidering the traditional date (530/525 B.C.) at which Greek red-figure pottery first appears – evidence from the Athenian Agora suggests a later date of 490 B.C.

I leave with a great fix of intellectual intensity, reconnecting with friends and colleagues, and great reminders of living in Philly. I definitely do NOT miss the cold.
Ciao for now~