Shelley Hartman

Shelley Hartman, entering her fourth year in Greek and Roman Studies was not to be deterred from participating on an archeological dig in the Arctic. Not even the requirement of a firearms permit hindered her.

This summer, Dr. Pat Sutherland, the Canadian Museum of Civilization’s curator for the Eastern Arctic led a team of seven on two sites in Cape Tanfield in the Hudson Strait.

“The area shows occupation by Dorset, Thule and Norse, dating from roughly the same time as the Greenland homesteads and L’Anse Aux Meadows, AD 900-1000,” said Hartman of the site which is thought to have been a trading centre for the region.  “The artifacts include native tools made of chert, slate and quartz crystal, skins and hair, and Norse artifacts.” Among the latter were a variety of tools used for counting, weaving, sharpening and weighing.

In addition to toiling in trenches illuminated by near 24 hour daylight, Hartman spent five weeks eating freeze-dried food and clothed in the same outfit. 

“We slept in tents surrounded by a bear fence, had a latrine, no showers  – just an arctic pond,” said Hartman.

So great was the risk of attacks by polar bears, it was necessary for each participant to have a gun permit, and for a bear monitor to be employed to keep watch over the group.

Left to Right: Moses, Shelley, Ikkid

When warned by Dr. Sutherland that the dig would be grueling work, Hartman said she replied “this sounds like the scariest thing I have ever thought of doing… I’m in!” It turned out to be a once in a life time opportunity.

When it came time to hand in his final assignment for his seminar course, Historical Representations, Joel Bandy decided to sing its praises – quite literally.

Bandy, a student of classics, religion and history, wrote and recorded a song that encapsulated the Cold War era. They Call me the Fat Man interweaves imagery the proliferating atomic weaponry and the impact of the Gouzenko affair on the Canadian psyche with the then nascent rock and roll.

“One song by Fats Domino which was popular in 1949 was a song called The Fat Man, and it was the same year the Soviet Union detonated its first nuclear bomb,” said Bandy. “The “Fat Man” was the nickname for the Atomic bomb which fell on Nagasaki, so it was really a coincidence which inspired me.”

Bandy took a week and a half to write the five-stanza song, in his determination to capture the complexity of mass cultural and societal change brought about by the Cold War.  He and a friend spent another five hours recording and mixing the final recording
A class visit to the Diefenbunker – a fall-out shelter for government officials built at the height of the Cold War over fears of a nuclear attack, was pivotal for Bandy’s inspiration. The site houses a life-sized replica of the bomb, code-named Fat Man that was dropped on the Japanese village of Nagasaki in 1945.

“I wanted to criticize the record. Canada and the United States were very close during World War II and the Cold War; we supplied them with some of the components for the atomic bomb,” said Bandy.  Yet, historical record reinforces the narrative of good and evil without examining the motives of those presenting the story, Bandy contends.

“The course really forced me to confront the blurred line between ‘bias’ and ‘perspective. It also forced me to consider alternative perspectives for interpretation, and take other sources for historical knowledge more seriously, such as art and music.”

When she was a child, Shelley Hartman dreamed of becoming an archeologist.  Her father had other ideas. Women got sensible jobs as secretaries and teachers. So, she shelved her aspirations and became a disk jockey for Chez 106.

It would be forty-five years before Hartman was able to pursue her first career choice.

detail of Hartman's sketchbook

Now a third-year Greek and Roman Studies student, she was one of a group of 20 who traveled to Greece last summer as part of a course trip organized by Susan Downie, professor in the College of the Humanities.

Participants were given the choice of writing an essay or giving an on-site lecture in Greece.

The decision to opt for a lecture was almost made for Hartman with the serendipitous discovery of marzipan pigs at a local mall.

For her presentation at Eleusis, Hartman decided to explore  the three thousand year old Eleusinian mysteries, the secret rituals for Demeter and Persephone.

“I wanted us to try and recapture the amazement and awe the people must have felt when they went through this initiation twenty-five hundred years ago,” said Hartman.

She decided to crack the books to piece together what had been recorded about the cult of Demeter and especially the sacred drink, Kykeon. One source was Homer’s The Iliad.

Little is known about the secret cult and its ritual, other than it was one of the few in that ancient world that was egalitarian. Slaves, women, senior citizens and craftsmen could participate provided they speak Greek. To enter the cult, each of the participants had to buy and sacrifice a piglet.

sketch of the acropolis museum

They also consumed the beer-like drink made from pennyroyal, barley and water, Kykeon. All other aspects of the ritual have been lost to time as participants were forbidden to reveal its secrets on the pain of death.

After finding the marzipan pigs, Hartman set about tracking down pennyroyal to make an approximation of the ancient beverage.  Once she’d found all the ingredients she sewed them into tea bags for easy transport to Greece.

On reaching the temple precinct in Eleusis, she and her fellow travelers re-enacted the ancient ritual – feasting on candy pigs and made up mead.

“Two students were priestesses,” said Hartman. “They mixed up the drink, and passed around the pigs on the exact spot where the first house of Demeter is thought to have been.”

Hartman's notebook sketch of a chariot

The trip has solidified Hartman’s conviction to learn more about the ancients. She plans to pursue graduate studies in archaeology. Perhaps years from now another intrepid student will re-enact the Eleusinian mysteries with new evidence people like Hartman will have uncovered.

After a month spent digging up the past in Cassleman, Ontario, Jonathan Ouellet shifted gears to sift through the sands of Macedonia.

Roman oil lamp

The second-year student of Greek and Roman Studies spent his summer on two archaeological digs. Ouellett first uncovered ancient Aboriginal tools in Canada and then travelled to an ancient Roman client city in Macedonia.

He found the Macedonian dig through a search of the American Institute of Archaeology’s website.

Belt Buckle

Located at the periphery of the Roman Empire, Heraclea Lyncestis was founded by Philip II of Macedon before it was conquered and subjugated by the Romans.

Although the site excavations began in the 1930′s, only 10 percent has been unearthed to date.

The international team, of which Ouellet was a part, comprised Canadians, Americans, British, Australian, Macedonian and Bulgarian team members. Together they excavated an acropolis and theatre.

“My favourite finds were part of a roman oil lamp,” said Ouellet of his Macedonian discovery. “Someone else found an early Slavic belt buckle that I thought was really cool.”

His experiences on the two digs have confirmed his interest in pursuing graduate studies in archaeology or history.

Die

In the interim, he might brush up on his artistic ability. “There were a few areas where we had to do drawings of walls and floor plans, and to say the least, drawing is not one of my better skills.”

Digging holes in the dirt is not how most envision spending a summer holiday. But, for four Carleton students, sifting through Ontario’s past was a dream come true.

Kelly Berckmans, an anthropology major, Patrick MacIntyre, BAHons/10, Jonathan Ouellet, a Greek and Roman Studies major, and Adam Fraser, a student of in the Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies, participated in a seven week archaeological field school located just outside Ottawa.

Marianne Goodfellow, College of the Humanities, helped the budding archaeologists in their quest to participate on a local dig.  The pre-contract Aboriginal site is located in Casselman.

Paul Thibaudeau, professional archaeologist, Intermesh Enterprises and a cross-appointed adjunct research professor of Sociology and Anthropology and the School of Industrial Design, led the team. Slated for residential development, an archaeological evaluation of the property had to be conducted to fulfill the requirements of the Ontario Heritage Act.  

The property “is along the South Nation River which is a well-known trade route for Aboriginal peoples, and has likely been used for thousands of years,” said Thibaudeau.  The discovery of pre-contact artifacts was an exciting surprise for the crew.

As proof, the earth offered up glimmering clear and milky white quartz tools.  MacIntyre also found 20th century farm equipment buried in the strata.

For MacIntyre, the discovery of the differences between Canadian and international archaeological processes proved just as fascinating as unearthing of the detritus of previous cultures.�

Vast and mostly uninhabited much of Canada’s land has not been “artificially disturbed.”  To find prospective sites, foot-deep holes are dug at regular distances to find deposit-rich land. “Discovering a site is sometimes just luck,” MacIntyre said.

The dig began with test-pitting in a grid format to determine where the team would be most likely to hit the archaeological motherlode.

“The team lines up five metres apart from each other, and a hole is dug at each five metre point,” Fraser explained. “We also lined up and walked through a plowed field to look for disruptions in the land.”

Any area boosting significant deposits was then roped off for more exhaustive investigation through excavations of one metre squares following the same interval pattern.  As of result of the students’ work, two archaeological sites were uncovered on the property. They are believed to date to back 4,500 to 2,000 years ago.
Work continues at the site through this Fall to completely excavate the two sites so that the land can be cleared for development next spring.

One precious discovery was made above ground. Berckmans’ realized that the vision her six-year old self conjured as a future archaeologist was confirmed into a passion.  “It is exactly what I want to do for a profession. Once I am done my BA, I am planning on going on to complete a Masters in archaeology.”