The Accidental Archaeologist

The Devil’s Own Pan-pipes

I’m afraid this trip has not been as blog-tastic as my last couple. I can only sincerely apologize for this and assure y’all that this has not been due to overwork, merely over-socializing. Let me see if I can sum up the boring parts of the last week-and-a-bit as briefly as possible…drawing. Lots and lots of drawing. I’ve drawn potsherds, I’ve drawn rusty bits of metal, I’ve drawn unidentifiable bits of crap. I can’t begin to describe how much fun this is (notice the sarcasm dripping from the screen at this point). The thing that has made the long eye-crossing days bearable has been the much more enjoyable evenings of hanging out with the rest of the crew. The crew this time around being much smaller has not in any way hindered our ability to be quite silly, giggly, and generally like a typical field crew after a long day of work. The French have provided us with a seemingly never-ending supply of beer for post-work downtime, and one crewmember with a guitar and a particularly good voice has made for pleasant spells in between the almost ceaseless stream of field stories we have been swapping for days now. That being said, I suppose I can mention a couple of events and such which have stood out in the last eight or nine days as particularly memorable:

Saturday was the first day the prof and I were in Delme, so we spent a lot of time running around meeting & greeting and generally getting settled. We also picked up the other three that evening when we went to Nancy with Monsieur K and his wife. The evening included an excellent dinner (actually, all of our dinners here have been excellent!) including raw oysters in town and then a sightseeing stroll around the old part of the city. Sunday through Friday were all pretty much just work days with most of our time spent inside the school. The weather has been gorgeous but extremely hot (for this part of Europe, at least) with temperatures nudging up towards 40C (100+F) and not a cloud in the sky. Thursday saw a good opportunity for us to have a barbeque up on the hill near the dig site, which was great, but pushed our combined fire-making and grilling skills to the extreme. Let’s just say tools were limited and obstacles to successfully cooking meat were numerous. We succeeded in the end, but darkness had already fallen by the time we got anything to eat. It must be noted, though, that looking out over the landscape toward Germany under a clear sky packed with stars is not one of the worst ways to spend an evening.

Friday was a big day, as that evening’s event was a lecture given by the prof to the local bigwigs and friends about the project so far. Naturally, the lecture was entirely in French, but skipping it would have been rude, so, when the time came, we set up our little “English-speaking” row in the very back corner and tried not to whisper too loud when we started getting restless. The lecture itself was about 45 min., but then there was a lengthy question time afterwards that seemed to stretch on for ages. When it was finally over, we dashed headlong out of the hot, stuffy lecture hall to the welcome breeze and sunshine outside and hoped it wouldn’t be too long before we headed across the street to our usual restaurant. It was already way past our usual dinner time. In the end, we made it there along with four extra French locals, including the loveable but absolutely insane digger driver from last year, Monsieur C and his wife. Sadly, my French had not progressed much more than the last time he saw me, so I was stuck with mainly smiling, nodding, and reminding him that not only was he a pilot but also “je suis une pilot.” He gets a kick out of this. Maybe someday I’ll actually make it up in his plane, but, given the way he drives a digger, that might be a frightening prospect.

On the subject of the restaurant, I should explain this post’s title. We eat at a great local restaurant every night. Every night we get a four-course meal. Every night it’s a different variety of excellent food…and every night we listen to the same horrifying soundtrack of easy-listening pan-pipe music. I could probably recite the whole song list for y’all at this point, but I’ll stick with a sample selection: The Sound of Silence, Hey Jude, Let It Be, and that Titanic song that’s been played so often it makes you want to jump off a bridge. All played in a slow, sappy way. All done on pan-pipes. It’s nightmare-inducing. In fact, we’ve heard this playlist so often, we now know that when “Shalom” comes on we must leave the restaurant. Our time is up. On Friday night, we were so long sitting chatting after dessert that we stayed past “Shalom,” and I was actually really worried about this. I was actually frightened to hear what might come next. As it was, there was an endless supply of more teeth-grinding songs to follow. It appears the torture is limitless.

One of our crew left on Saturday, which has reduced us to four, and Saturday also meant my second excursion to the grocery store in nearby Chateau Salins. Grocery store trips have been interesting, but not nearly as frightening as I imagined they would be. I go in armed with cash and our one crewmember who is fluent in French (always a handy combination for this trip). I considered myself a master of this errand, though, when I managed to get through the checkout process without the additional translation help. This is how I did it: I start with the usual “Bonjour” which is responded to. I then stand quietly and try to look like I know what the hell is going on. The cashier scans my items and then proceeds to babble something in French which includes a number. I sneak a quick glance at the till to figure out the amount and then confidently hand over roughly the right amount. She hands me change, I give a smile and a “Merci beaucoup!” and march out the door. I am a French-speaking ace at this point. I have also found driving here to be a cinch because all the little French cars dive out of the way on the narrow roads as I come growling along with “la bête de Anglais” (the English beast AKA Landrover).

Speaking of la bête, that brings me to the adventures of the last couple of days…unfortunately, it is getting late and I should try to be a little social while it’s cool and gorgeous outside and I can watch the sunset with a German beer in hand. I will finish my tale soon…tomorrow if I can possibly manage it. Until then, I’m afraid this remains to be continued…