After taking Latin in High School, it was such an amazing experience to connect the cultural aspects of the language to such unique examples of Roman influence in Minorca. From amphora remains at the bottom of the Mediterranean to stone quarries left behind by the Romans,, the island was filled with archeological remains of many ancient European empires that had once conquered the Balearic Island.
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Going to Minorca not only marked the first leg of my journey, but my first time in Europe alone. The experiences I had in Minorca are some of the most memorable of my time in Europe. From learning to dive in the Mediterranean among ancient Roman archeological remains to relaxing on white sand beaches and swimming in turquoise water, Minorca was paradise.
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UNDERWATER ARCHEOLOGY
I had never gone scuba diving before going to Minorca. Therefore, my first few days on the island were spent studying the PADI Open Water material and learning how to dive safely and properly. Then, with the help of the phenomenal dive instructors and archeologists in the program, I gained the practical experience of diving from a shore entry. In the water I learned emergancy procedures, such as how to share air in case you or your dive buddy runs out of air at the bottom of the ocean. Finally, I was able to join the archeological dive team.
Diving from the surface to a depth of 16 meters (about 50 feet), we scanned the sloping surface of the posidonia covered Mediterranean floor for remains of amphora. Roman amphora were the "shipping container" of the ancient world. They were used exclusively to transport liquid goods on ships from one part of the Roman Empire to another. They connected lands and expanded trade across the Mediterranean. However, the vessels that carried the amphora were made of wood, so if the ship sank en route, after two millennia, the only archeological remain that would indicate that there had been a ship wreck would be the amphora (or any metal component of the ship, such as the stock to the anchor). Therefore, our job was to survey the discovered remains of the amphora so that we could determine possible shipwrecks in the area. What is uniquely special about Roman Amphora is that they differed in size, shape, and material based on the time period that they were made. Therefore, they can be used to indicate the period the shipwreck is from. Most of the amphora that I encountered were Dressel 1A amphora from the 2nd century, though there were a few of Roman African origin from the 3rd century AD. Such an experience was one that I will never forget. Being able to discover history first hand and handle such artifacts that will one day end up in a museum is something that I never thought that I would ever be able to do. It made going to the Museo de Menorca in Mahon that much more special, as I could see artifacts that previous volunteers had found and that were now in the museum. Being able to literally dive into history is an experience that will shape my college education to come and has changed how I view learning about history. |
NECROPOLIS ARCHEOLOGY
After the first week and a half of the underwater archeology and diving, I moved to the Necropolis. A necropolis is where a people of an ancient city were buried. The one I was digging in belonged to an ancient Roman port city, and the grave I worked to excavate dates to the 5th century AD. My grave was a mass burial, with many different people buried in the same grave on top of each other. As each new person was buried, the previous person's bones were pushed to the side to make room, leaving a mound of bones at one end of the grave. To make it worse, after the necropolis was lost to antiquity, a wall was built on top of the hidden grave. All these implications caused one end of the grave to have bones practically fused together and crushed, while the other had intact bone structures and position.
This experience was both fascinating and unique. Working with dental tools and a wooden scalpel, a scraped away dirt and rock in a very slow and painstaking process to unearth different layers of bone. For 6 hours a day in the hot sun we worked laying on our stomachs on uneven terrain in the same 1 meter by 2 meter space. However, it was such a cool opportunity. I learned about bone structures and skeletal anatomy in the lab, then would proceed to find the same bones in the grave at the site. I excavated patella, a femur, parts of a pelvis, and several finger bones. I also helped to remove a skull and several vertebrae. From there, we would clean the dirt off the bone using water and a toothbrush, then catalog the remains with the type of bone and the site in which it was found.
Such an experience was like being Indiana Jones in real life. I was working with real bones in a real archeological site on an island in the Mediterranean. If you asked me even a month before if I would be doing something like this, I would never have thought it would be possible. But it was, and the experience I gained from the opportunity will carry with me for my entire life.
This experience was both fascinating and unique. Working with dental tools and a wooden scalpel, a scraped away dirt and rock in a very slow and painstaking process to unearth different layers of bone. For 6 hours a day in the hot sun we worked laying on our stomachs on uneven terrain in the same 1 meter by 2 meter space. However, it was such a cool opportunity. I learned about bone structures and skeletal anatomy in the lab, then would proceed to find the same bones in the grave at the site. I excavated patella, a femur, parts of a pelvis, and several finger bones. I also helped to remove a skull and several vertebrae. From there, we would clean the dirt off the bone using water and a toothbrush, then catalog the remains with the type of bone and the site in which it was found.
Such an experience was like being Indiana Jones in real life. I was working with real bones in a real archeological site on an island in the Mediterranean. If you asked me even a month before if I would be doing something like this, I would never have thought it would be possible. But it was, and the experience I gained from the opportunity will carry with me for my entire life.
BEACHES
Since Siesta is a big component of the culture in Spain, my daily work at the dig site would end at 3pm. Therefore, I would have the entire afternoon and evening to explore the culture and sights of the island. Minorca is made of very porous stone, so the Mediterranean has eroded the coast to form many different inlets all along the island. These inlets form the beaches of the island, with a small, secluded white sand beach that opens up to the crystal clear water of the Mediterranean. I arrived in Minorca at the end of the peak season, which meant that the island was not crowded, nor were the beaches swarming with people. This allowed the experience in Spain to be authentic and idyllic.
Of all the beaches on the island, my favorite were Cala Macarelleta, Cala Mitjana, and Cala Terqueta. All three of these beaches were situated on the south coast, so they had unobstructed views of the Mediterranean. |