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What is
it like to be an archaeological volunteer? What will you need to know and what
will you learn? While words cannot replicate the real experience, this page
may help to get an idea of what to expect when you visit us at the USCAP
site.
Timetable
The weather is warm and sunny. In early September it may be a bit hot on some
days but the temperature is usually in the mid to high 20's with a light
breeze. Later in September there may be one or two overcast days and possibly
one day with some light rain.
We are working at two sites and you may get the chance to spend some time on
both, but this varies from year to year. Our house is next to Kazal'i-yatkan. The team walks to site, a distance of
about a kilometre through the sand dunes. If you work at Tash-k'irman-tepe,
you will be taken to the site by truck.
After a breakfast of eggs or rice porridge, bread, tea and fruit we
start work at 7.00 am and work until 11.00. We then return to the house for a
light cooked lunch with salad and fruit and rest until we start work again at
4.00 pm, finishing at 7.00. Later in September as it gets darker and cooler,
we change to an afternoon shift of 3-6.00 pm. Supper is served when we have
cleaned up after work. There is no compulsory attendance and volunteers
occasionally decide to take a little time off to rest or do other things.
The working day
Volunteers work alongside the professional excavators. We have a large
team of local labourers who take on the hard job of clearing large areas and
removing the soil under the direction of the archaeologists. Then the field
team and the volunteers start to clean up and examine the walls and floors
exposed after clearance. All features need to be cleaned, measured, drawn and
photographed. All finds need to be recorded and placed in labelled bags. All
these are jobs which are shared between the volunteers and the field team.
With a little training, volunteers working in small teams can learn to draw
sections and plans, clean features for photography and assist the surveyor to
map the site. Currently, the main work
of the volunteers is to uncover the wall paintings we are finding at the Kazakl’i-yatkan temple. This is the most exciting work we
have undertaken to date as the wall paintings are unique and so far we have
no idea of what they will tell us. Back at the house there are other jobs
such as washing the finds and entering the site records on the computer
database. As we work, the site opens up before our eyes. Kazakl'i-yatkan
is buried under sand, but the walls still stand two storeys high. The remains
of the 'temple' hides painted plaster, gilded stucco and possibly other
exciting discoveries.
Other
activities
The dig house is
in a rural landscape backed by farmhouses and fields and fronted by sand
dunes. Some visitors like to spend time walking around, taking photographs,
drawing or meeting the locals. The lady in the house next door, Gulshad, runs a small shop where you can buy drinks,
sweets, shampoo and other bits and pieces. If an item can be found in the
bazaar she will buy it in for you. At the weekends, we take day trips to
nearby sites. The first weekend is a visit to the Kushan
capital of Toprak-kala, and on the second we take
you to the spectacular hilltop fortress of Ayaz-kala.
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