The Gerace Project

An essay on the most amazing experience of my life so far

Julia de Paula
40360125
CNRS 335a
Dr. Roger Wilson
August 4, 2016

I turned twenty-two on January 16th of this year. I will admit I have always dreaded
growing old, and the realization that Im getting closer and closer to twenty-five, which
is half of fifty, which feels like the end of the world, hit me hard. It doesnt help that my
birthday is smackdab in the middle of winter gloominess and little daylight and
stifling double layers of sweaters but that I was actually born a summer baby in the
southern hemisphere, where, I have always thought, the seasons are set right. The year
begins with hot days and ends in ocean saltwater, with long mornings and short nights.
We lounge on the beach and say goodbye and then hello to an old and new year with
sand in between our toes.
The day after my twenty-second birthday, on my eighth year in Vancouver, I was
sitting at the library on campus when Nelly (yes, the same one from the trip!) took the
seat next to me and told me she wanted to go to Italy in the summer. She said, Theres a
field school in Sicily and Why dont you come, too? and I, a person who barely ever
takes risks and enjoys her quiet, boring routine, said, Okay. For some reason and it
might have been the rain outside Koerner, or how excited Nelly seemed, or the simple
fact that I love Italian food I said okay. And that is how it all started.
May 6th
Im sitting at the airport waiting for a plane that will take me from Vancouver to
Amsterdam, and then from Amsterdam to Rome, and then from Rome to Catania. I
browse the bookstore next to my gate in the hopes of finding a new book to read during
the flight when Nelly reminds me that my carry-on is already full of enough books to last
me two years abroad.
I have said goodbye to my parents, to my girlfriend, and to my cat. Im a ball of energy
and excitement, and I cant wait to get to Italy. I daydream about finding all sorts of
artifacts buried in the dirt and of somehow becoming a world-renowned archaeologist in
the process.
Nelly laughs at me but I tell her anything can happen.
May 7th
We arrive at Catania airport and meet up with Daniel. We manage to buy bus tickets
with whatever little Italian we know (and lots of hand gestures). Charlotte picks us up
from Enna Bassa and takes us to Il Mandorleto, which turns out to be a lot more remote
than I expected. Im greeted by pizza and Lucky the dog. Nelly and Is bedroom is so cold
we cant sleep at night (for some reason we didnt think to look in the closet drawer
where the duvets are).
May 8th
The last of us arrive today and we are told by Roger that work on the site starts
tomorrow. Kevin takes me to the stables and introduces me to Nicole Kidman the horse,
and I think what a great name that is. He points out the dirt road to the almond orchard
where digging will take place. Its nestled amidst rolling Sicilian hills and tall grass. Im

excited but slightly worried about the climb Im not that fit, after all. Thoughts of the
gym come to mind, and I think that maybe I should have started to prepare by working
out in advance. But then no, I think, I should have a little more faith in myself. I can do
this.
May 9th
We wake up bright and early, and I get to watch the sun rise slowly over the mountains
surround the Mandorleto. Charlotte says there has been more rain than expected this
past spring in Sicily, and so the hills will look green for a bit longer before rusting to a
copper yellow later in the season. The view from here is breathtaking.

(picture 1: the view from Il Mandorleto)

We walk to the site after breakfast and I am huffing and puffing my way up the hill to
the orchard. Roger shows us last years digging area (known as Trench A), which is the
Roman villa of Gerace that was accidentally discovered in 1994. The area that started it
all. The 2015 group of students who came to excavate dug an L-shaped trench and found
mosaics and tiles. Effectively, an entire corridor was excavated. Roger tells us that the
villa isnt earlier than the last quarter of the fourth century. Perhaps somewhere near
375AD?
Antonietta, one of the supervisors and a real life archaeologist, hands me a hoe and tells
me to hack away at a mound of dirt. Its my first time holding a hoe and my beginnings
are clumsy, but soon Im clearing up entire chunks of land at lightning speed. The
moment some of the dirt wall collapses after I hit it is the moment I begin thinking that
perhaps this is what I was meant to do.

We clean up the mess left behind by last years filling up of the site and head back to the
Mandorleto for the day. Its only when I get to my room that I realized how incredibly
sore I am. I can feel bruises swelling where the hoe hit earlier, and I limp my way to the
dinner table later that night. My sleep is restless.
May 11th
I am officially a member of the Trench C family! Dan is our supervisor and he is
absolutely wonderful. We have begun the real work here. My trusty trowel and I scrape
away at the layers of soil and smooth all of it out after the boys have finished destroying
it with pickaxes. Maddie compliments me on my abilities with the trowel and it makes
my day.
May 11th is a special day because I find a stamped tile! The first of many our trench finds
throughout the dig. Roger praises me on my find and my chest swells with happiness.
The tile has Philippianuss seal on it. He was most likely the owner of the villa we are
excavating, a wealthy man who liked horses and dolphins. A massive earthquake in the
3rd century destroyed most of his villa and our trench is full of the remains.

(picture 2: the stamped tile I found in Trench C)

May 13th
Trench C has been hard at work at uncovering what we think is the inside of a building.
Most of our trench is made of rubble and giant slabs of stone that seem to have tumbled
down from walls during the earthquake. Dan says we need to remove the stones to try
and reach the floor, and soon we are all covered in sweat from loosening stones with
shovels and pushing wheelbarrows filled with dirt.

(picture 3: the rubble in Trench C)

May 14th
More progress! We can see the outline of what we think were the room walls now.

(picture 4: progress in Trench C/picture 5: Maddie and Kevin resting)

May 17th
Today we find three tiles in our trench! All of them have Philippianuss name or stamp.
Our trench is looking amazing we have a well-defined wall and what seems to be a
staircase. We arent too sure if this was the inside of a building anymore. At this point,
its looking more and more like the outside.
It seems we are reaching the floor now. We can see big slabs poking through the dirt.

(picture 6: defined walls and what seems to be paving stones in Trench C/picture 7: tile piece with
Philippianuss stamp on it)

May 23rd
It seems that the earthquake from centuries ago left us a pile of roof tiles to dig up. Dan
assigns Marco and I to clear it up, so we spend the day troweling in search of special tiles
with stamps. We also find some Byzantine tiles in the midst Roger is intrigued, since
that means these tiles are older than the original Philippianus ones. He speculates that
perhaps the later settlement in the area used tiles from the previous one (so, reused
Philippianuss tiles) in order to build. This means that our trench has layers of history
hiding within it, and we are all very excited to dig it all up.
May 25th
Our trench is officially a courtyard. We have uncovered paving stones along with walls
and the staircase it seems that Trench C is the outside of a building, or the courtyard
between rooms. There is a stone near the tile fall that Dan thinks might indicate a
doorway due to the way its placed, but we arent sure yet.
More findings in our trench: Daniel has found a lamp (that he unfortunately hacked at
and split in half), and we have come across ancient chunks of glass.

(picture 8: glass found in Trench C)

May 28th
Trench D has found pieces of mosaic! Today is also the day we spend pot-washing our
findings. The puppy from the nearby house follows us to the shed and distracts us from
work with his cuteness.

(picture 9: mosaic found in Trench D/picture 10: puppy distracting us from pot-washing)

May 31st
Daniel sends Constantin and I to Area A in order to uncover mosaics. We spend the day
scraping at tesserae and cleaning up the dirt from in between them. Most of the mosaic
was found in 2015, but smaller parts of it are still covered by mounds of dirt. We trowel
at them until they poke through the brown, flaky dirt, and soon we have a complete
mosaic floor.

(picture 11: Constantin hard at work/picture 12: progress with the mosaic in Area A)

(picture 13: close-up of the mosaic in Area A)

June 3rd
We spend the day cleaning Trench C for the pictures that will be taken tomorrow. I cant
believe the progress we made our trench looks absolutely wonderful. I would never
have guessed that underneath the dirt a courtyard would be hiding. We have uncovered
so much history in this small area, found Byzantine tiles, lamps, glass, pottery What
an amazing experience.

(picture 14: the finished Trench C)

June 4th
The last day on site is spent at the kiln with Constantin. By simply scraping away the top
layer, we find stamped tiles with unusual and unseen stamps. While some contained
Philippianuss symbol, most were a new and exciting discovery. Roger says he will
excavate the kiln the following year, as he believes more can be found deep within the
kiln.

(picture 15: a box of our findings in the kiln/picture 16: close-up of a stamped tile)

Today is also when Area A is ready to be photographed. The mosaic is beautiful, if

slightly faded from centuries of heavy soil weighing down on it. Im proud of our work
here.

(picture 17: the finished Area A)

I was asked by Roger to summarize in what way I felt that I learned from this entire
experience. I sat at my desk, pen in hand, and came to the conclusion that if I were to
write about every single way in which my life was changed by this dig I would need
much more than five thousand words. As clich as it sounds, the person who boarded
that plane back to Vancouver was very, very different from the one who first left for
Italy. Is it even possible to do years of growing up in one month? I feel as if I might be
living proof that, yes, it actually is.
I had travelled abroad by myself before, but never to such wild lands like the
Sicilian countryside. Il Mandorleto was surrounded by nature, green and yellow hills,
hundreds of ladybugs and aphids, and the warmest, most inviting atmosphere I have
ever known. To be able to experience such a place for an entire month was, in all
honesty, life-changing. The trek to the site every morning, breathing in cold, crisp air,
reminded me of my childhood and reignited a passion within me I did not know still
existed. It has been a very long time since I felt passionate about something, but after
this summer I can say for certain that archaeology is the newfound love of my life.
I hope to be able to go on many more digs in the future, but I will surely never
forget my first. Being isolated from urban life at the Mandorleto taught be to be at peace
with myself and with nature, to not rely so much on technology and to appreciate small
things like the smell of rain and the cricketing of bugs outside my window at night. Also,
the physical labour of excavating made my body stronger I never expected to feel so fit
by the end of this trip! It showed me that I can do anything I set my mind to, and that I
have enough potential to make the possibilities endless. It made me believe in myself
again.
This dig sparked my interest in archaeology and Roman history, which I hope to
pursue in the future, either by double-majoring in it at UBC or applying for a Masters
program later on. I have taken a few classes on ancient history at university, but none of
them have taught me half as much as this trip to Sicily has. Being able to hold an artifact
that is many centuries of years old was absolutely incredible. Each and every tile I
encountered in Trench C had history flowing through it it told of the Byzantine
occupation in the area, and of Philippianus and his love for horses. It told of a world
long gone, but that has not yet been lost or forgotten thanks to Roger and other
academics and archaeologists who work hard to preserve it.
On the technical side of things, supervisor Dan (or Lieutenant Dan, as we called
him) was immense help in learning the ropes of planning and plotting. I had never done
levels before, but he showed me that even the most repetitive tasks can be fun. Taking
measurements and sketching graphs was enjoyable because of him and the rest of my
group in Trench C. I am forever grateful I was granted this opportunity, and I will hold it
dear to my heart for the rest of my life.

(picture 18: Supervisor Dan pretending one of the rooms in Trench C is a grave/picture 19: rivalry
between Trench C and D: a tile carved by Trench D, which reads Trench C Smells

Four weeks of excavating under the sweltering Sicilian sun to answer the following
question: how far have we advanced knowledge about the archaeological site of Gerace?
The answer is simple: very considerably.
During the site tour, Roger took us to all of the trenches that had been dug up by
not only us but the hired workers as well. On the first day, the workmen found a corner
on the southeast side of the orchard in Trenches B7, B8 and B9. The previously found
eastern wall was twice as wide as the southern one, measuring at 1.3 metres in width.
Now that it has been confirmed that this wall extends all the way down to the southeast
corner, we are able to tell that the entire building was built in one phase. Also, because
the south wall was not preserved as high as the eastern one, we can also speculate that
the was a robbery in the south that did not affect the east.
On the geophysics plan of previous excavations, there was no sign of a south wall
whatsoever. After the workmen placed a trench in the middle of it, a continuous spread
of rubble was found to be covering the wall, hence why geophysics did not detect it.
There is a possibility that the south wall was the remains of a work in progress, and that
it was not finished before the building collapsed in the earthquake. With all the tiles
found in the north side of the orchard, it can also be assumed that the north side was
used before the south was finished.
At the top of the hill there is a trench with kilns perhaps, even the kiln of
Philippianus, where his self-stamped tiles were cast. Part of the circular structure was
uncovered by the workmen, as well as part of the wall. They found part of a collapsed
amphora made of overcooked clay.
Our work began and ended on Trench A, the Roman villa of Gerace discovered in 1994.
An L-shaped trench was dug by students from past years, and a preserved mosaic floor
was found. The entire corridor has effectively been excavated at this point. This Roman
villa is not younger than the last quarter of the fourth century, perhaps somewhere near
375 AD. While it is later than the granary, it was probably built by Philippianus himself,
with part of it resting over remains of the old granary. Now, the granary was most likely
destroyed in the middle of the fourth century by the earthquake of 361-63 during the
reign of Emperor Julian.
Roger posed interesting questions about the granary: was the owner an absentee
landlord? The granary, while earlier than Villa A, was well-built by someone wealthy.
Did he live in an estate somewhere else, or did he live by the granary?
I am sure much speculation could be made, and a story of his life could be
concocted from what little evidence remains, but it would be nothing more than a piece
of fiction. Archaeology works by piecing fragments together in order to restore the
bigger picture, and filling in the gaps with previous cemented knowledge of the area and
time period. Unfortunately, the pieces of the granary are too scattered to come together
as something cohesive, and they will not become anything solid until more digging is
done in Gerace.
When it comes to the two trenches we actually worked on, I will be the first to
admit that there was some jealousy involving Trench D. While we did find an interesting
structure in Trench C, we did not uncover anything as spectacular (or dug as deep) as
our neighbouring trench. Nonetheless, I am proud of what my trench and team have
accomplished in just four short weeks.

Trench D contains walls from two periods, with a lower wall and an upper wall.
The former comes from the fourth century and late Roman period, and the latter was
created after the destruction of the former. A semicircular structure, which is
rectangular on the outside, was initially thought to be an architectural feature meant for
decoration. A window was also found next to it, allowing guests to enjoy the view.
Later, it was discovered that Trench D actually held a bath, with pools and heated
rooms with hypocaust entrances within the arch. The flooring in this area was most
likely mosaic as fragments were found there. This discovery showed that the trench was
part of a high status bath building for the wealthy, and also provided major advance in
knowledge of the site. While before it was believed that the Roman villa was contained
to the small Site A, now it is clear that Trench D is a part of the villa, which probably
stretches to the east and the north.
Additionally, remains from the Byzantine period are shown in walls towards the
end and in the direction of Trench C, discussed below.

(picture 20: Trench D)

Now, Trench C is where I spent most of my time during the dig. The paving stones and
crooked, half-collapsed walls became my second home while in Sicily. The entire trench
differs greatly from the other trenches in that it is a Byzantine structure and belongs to
post-Roman activity on the site. There is a paved yard bound on two sides by a wall, as
well as the mysterious staircase that shows this was probably a two-story building from

around the sixth century. Trench C, while not as deep or mosaic-y, provides a great
contribution to the knowledge of Byzantine history in the area.
The building in Trench C is parallel with the edges of the trench, meaning it has a
different orientation from the apse hall. Unfortunately, it is impossible to know the
relationship between this structure and the Roman bath without further geophysics
work.
Interestingly, while many combed Byzantine tiles were found in the courtyard,
only Roman tiles were found in the room to the left, where most of the extensive tile fall
was located. This means there might have been a Roman structure underneath, or that
tiles were recycled during the Byzantine period as shown by the tiles with Philippianuss
seal on them. At the same time, fragments of another remaining villa on the site were
found this time, from a villa older than the Roman one but younger than the
Byzantine.
The tiles at the tile fall went underneath the wall, indicating that the wall was
built of the fallen remains at a later date. The orientation of the walls is in late Roman
style. Much burning occurred in the area, probably due to metalworking, and a brick of
lead was found. The structure in Trench C is not contemporary with the rest of the villa,
which only adds to the mystery of Gerace.