The Site of Sanisera: An Overview

As usual with my first posts, I have been struggling to write the introduction post to the class portion of this blog. If I were to jump into all the thoughts and events without a background, I feel as though no one would be able to understand what the heck I am referring to, as it is impossible to have at least a similar framework without being in the same environment. This is probably why I give lengthy renditions of stories complete with full background and why the introduction to my thesis is about the length of a thesis itself. So before I can jump into the specifics of the class, I need to give an introduction so we are all on the same page.

Twenty-five Colorado College students representing all grades and a variety of majors are currently residing in Menorca, Spain and working daily on the active excavation of Sanisera. Occupied from the 1^st to 9^th centuries CE, Sanisera has seen Roman garrisons, basilicas and dormitories, Vandal occupation, Byzantine domination, a period of no occupation at all, and then British and Spanish control. The naturally still bay of Sanitja is a strategic port in the military and trade control of the island itself and the Mediterranean Sea. In this bay, Romans established the town of Sanisera in the 4^th century CE which was occupied by several other cultural groups until the 9^th century CE.

Phew! Now the fun part. We are excavating between two buildings, a basilica and a dormitory type building, in the hopes of uncovering exactly how/if the two buildings connect. We were split into 4 different groups on the first day and divided between two units on the ground. Excavating is kind of like peeling an onion: you go one layer at a time, slowly and with a ton of effort, and you try not to cry when there is very little visible progress. In two days I have cleared a 1 X 2 X .05 meter plot, sifting continuously to recover any material artifacts. 98% of all artifacts at the site are pottery sherds (and yes, I did spell that correctly) so, needless to say I have encountered a little pottery.

Brief overview, but now I feel more comfortable jumping in on the middle of one of my thought processes knowing that there now is a semi-comprehensive framework for reference along the way.