Re: Traveling to Greece
Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2022 9:04 am
Now I am back in the US. The drive to the airport was full of serious talk about the future of the project. A recurring theme of the talk of the leadership of the excavation was its sustainability. Not in the environmental sense, but in respect to the cost-benefit analysis.
It takes so many thousands of dollars to get a team of excavators, conservators, and other experts together to dig a site, but the Greek authorities are also understandably cautious about allowing them to dig, unless they are a Greek team. There are all kinds of permits to excavate that are given out, and we were on a Greek permit. It turned out that the bad part of this was that Greek authorities exerted their authority to tell us to stop when they were uncomfortable about something. And that discomfort might manifest all along the hierarchy, from the minder on site to the head of the Ephoreia.
As a result, in the twelve days I was in Greece, I was able to dig only a handful of days. Now, this was billed as a planning season, but there were things that the team wanted to finish up from last year, and it remains to be seen whether they will be allowed to do so. The big problem this time is that the Greek co-director of the dig had to go to a conference in Salzburg last week, and he is the person the Greek authorities really trust. The entire project would not be happening without his clout. We were not expecting him to leave for a conference in the middle of the “season” (as summer excavation time is called), but he did, arranging for us to excavate without him present, but with the practical result that Greek anxiety kept us under tight control. Too tight, really, to get a lot done.
So on the drive I talked with the American director of the excavation about whether this situation was sustainable or not. He thinks, rightly, in my opinion, that the tens of thousands of dollars spent to get a team there must realize some scientific benefit of some kind, meaning enough new data to help the project progress and show those funding it that their money is yielding something. I hope that when the Greek director returns the team is able to dig more freely, meaning that they will fulfill their agenda that had been approved by the Ephoreia in advance. So far it looks really promising, and they might make some significant discoveries. I am hoping for good news next week.
My flight back to the US was nearly 11 hours because I was returning through Chicago to another destination out West to meet my family, who are themselves traveling. Customs in Chicago was kind of a nightmare. They are photographing everyone entering the US through Chicago. Funny thing is they had little advertising-style signs up heralding the new, improved, faster customs, which was, in my experience, dead slow with an extremely long line. For some reason they were not dividing US passport holders from non-US passport holders, which, in my view, is a stupid, time-wasting mistake. Tonight I am in the O’Hare Hilton, right next to the airport, practically a part of it. It was a little more expensive, but my flight to meet the family is not until later this morning. Because my sleeping schedule is so out of order, I am writing this at 4 am in Chicago.
Thanks for reading! If I make it back to Greece next summer—and that is the plan—I will write about that experience too. That trip should be a little longer and have more excavation activity.
It takes so many thousands of dollars to get a team of excavators, conservators, and other experts together to dig a site, but the Greek authorities are also understandably cautious about allowing them to dig, unless they are a Greek team. There are all kinds of permits to excavate that are given out, and we were on a Greek permit. It turned out that the bad part of this was that Greek authorities exerted their authority to tell us to stop when they were uncomfortable about something. And that discomfort might manifest all along the hierarchy, from the minder on site to the head of the Ephoreia.
As a result, in the twelve days I was in Greece, I was able to dig only a handful of days. Now, this was billed as a planning season, but there were things that the team wanted to finish up from last year, and it remains to be seen whether they will be allowed to do so. The big problem this time is that the Greek co-director of the dig had to go to a conference in Salzburg last week, and he is the person the Greek authorities really trust. The entire project would not be happening without his clout. We were not expecting him to leave for a conference in the middle of the “season” (as summer excavation time is called), but he did, arranging for us to excavate without him present, but with the practical result that Greek anxiety kept us under tight control. Too tight, really, to get a lot done.
So on the drive I talked with the American director of the excavation about whether this situation was sustainable or not. He thinks, rightly, in my opinion, that the tens of thousands of dollars spent to get a team there must realize some scientific benefit of some kind, meaning enough new data to help the project progress and show those funding it that their money is yielding something. I hope that when the Greek director returns the team is able to dig more freely, meaning that they will fulfill their agenda that had been approved by the Ephoreia in advance. So far it looks really promising, and they might make some significant discoveries. I am hoping for good news next week.
My flight back to the US was nearly 11 hours because I was returning through Chicago to another destination out West to meet my family, who are themselves traveling. Customs in Chicago was kind of a nightmare. They are photographing everyone entering the US through Chicago. Funny thing is they had little advertising-style signs up heralding the new, improved, faster customs, which was, in my experience, dead slow with an extremely long line. For some reason they were not dividing US passport holders from non-US passport holders, which, in my view, is a stupid, time-wasting mistake. Tonight I am in the O’Hare Hilton, right next to the airport, practically a part of it. It was a little more expensive, but my flight to meet the family is not until later this morning. Because my sleeping schedule is so out of order, I am writing this at 4 am in Chicago.
Thanks for reading! If I make it back to Greece next summer—and that is the plan—I will write about that experience too. That trip should be a little longer and have more excavation activity.