I am a bad blogger...

So, after months of silence, two posts in one day! The pictures say a lot, so I'll try not to repeat too much, but just put them in context.

Russia is amazing. I have met so many wonderful and generous people here. We're staying at the guest apartments of a man named Misha. We also eat at his cafe, drive his car, and bathe in his баня (banya). His son Misha (Mikhail Mikhailovich) helped us this summer with survey and excavation. Yet another summer where (for the most part) I lived in the lap of luxury. We have hot water, a shower, a washing machine (!), clotheslines, and brand new beds and sheets.

Since this is very irregular (from what I've been told by other archaeologists), and I wanted to be able to say I had lived like a "real" archaeologist, I moved to the camp where the Russian archaeologists and students were staying (not far from the archaeological site of Stepnoye). I had SO much fun! We bathed in the Ui River, stayed up late around the campfire, singing Russian songs (I now know the chorus to 3!), and waited rain out in the storage yurt. Catherine and Jim promised that I would get over my romantic ideas about camp life... but so far, I just loved it! Dima and Lena Zdanovich lead the Russian expedition--a beautiful team! Natasha Batanina was my life-saver in the camp--as the best English-language speaker, she was always willing to translate for me or the Russians--even when I'm sure she got really sick of it. She and her sister, Masha, provided most of the campfire songs. Masha let me stay in her tent (with her adorable dog, Alyssa), when I discovered that my tent, in a strong rainstorm, does indeed leak. I can't describe everyone, or I will run out of time (and space!) in the blog, but I was so glad to meet everyone I did at the camp--and I miss them already!

Unfortunately... I had to leave the camp. A week before it was going to leave anyway (and 3 weeks before the end of the project!), I spilled boiling hot coffee on my legs. So, for the last week and a half, I've been confined largely to the house, doing lab work. I don't need painkillers anymore, and it's starting to be itchy (meaning it's healing), so that's good--but I still walk strangely! The doctor at the hospital in Plast said that I couldn't get the injured area wet for 3 months, so at this point I'm feeling worst for my roommates who have to live with me being stinky! :-) Though I think I've mastered the art of upside-down showering... At least my hair gets clean.

This may have been the most unlucky summer of my life, since earlier this season, I sprained my ankle. That's mostly feeling better, though I've still got a lump on my foot... I'm looking forward to my first stop at Cornell being to the medical center for a full exam! :-) At least I was able to tough it out through the survey--I only needed a couple of days off before I was walking on it again (and the burn happened 3 days before the survey was done). The other Catherine here (there's always another Kathryn!) also sprained her ankle--the day after I did!--and she had to stop survey altogether after it re-sprained.

Many people have asked about the weather. It does, in fact, swing between high 30s/low 40s and 90s (Fahrenheit), though the majority of days have been in the 70s/80s and nights in the 50s. In May it was colder and much windier, but we never spent the night outside in May. July has had some pretty warm days, though from what I've read on Facebook, I'll take warm in the steppe over warm in Chicago! We also had a lot more rainy days in July than we had before.

As for work, we've found a lot of cool stuff--including a least a couple very large scatters of ceramic sherds, which is great news. We also had luck in some of the test pits we've done already. The survey wrapped up last week, and the team is working only on test pits now. I'm recording photos and artifacts in my last week.

I've only got 4 more days living in Stepnoye, then off to Chelyabinsk for one night, before returning home!

Photos from Russia

Stepnoye

Here are some photos with captions from the first two months in the field!