My June 2019: A month of excavating in Russia

June was all about archaeology in Russia! I spent the entire month in the country, working on an excavation of a Late Bronze Age midden and exploring the small village of Stepnoye and its surroundings!

Everyday life on the forest steppe

Most of my waking hours were spent at our site Chernorech’ye 2, where we worked Monday-Saturday (+ one Sunday) from 8 AM to around 5.30-6.30 PM. We were always incredibly busy, and even had one very late day where we worked until 11.30 (15,5 hours!!!) to get everything done. That was definitely an experience! I was probably the luckiest person there in terms of finds as I found a horse skull, a bone arrowhead, a bone textile scraper and lots of beautiful ceramics.

Thankfully, the weather wasn’t quite as hot as I’d feared – we actually only had a few days of extreme heat (30+ degrees celcius). Most of the days were cooler and often extremely windy. The river by our site was a true godsend on the hot days though – I would often jump in with all of my clothes on so I would be cooled down for longer!

I had some amazing days at the excavation. I got to know the others very well by working so closely together for five weeks, and I made some wonderful friends for life. We also connected with a local couple from Chernorech’ye, Katya and Andrej, who came by twice with food for all of us. The craziest thing that happened was when Tolya found a baby venomous snake – Siberian pit viper – in the backfill! That was a little bit too close for my liking, although it was cool to see it!

My favourite day was our second last Saturday, where the Russians and Jim did the most unexpected awesome initiation for us! They dressed up as different spirits and gave us all small tasks according to our personalities. I was named “Lipstick Girl” and had to paint my face with charcoal! Afterwards, we sang a song that they had written for the project and then jumped in the river! That was a wonderful day. Afterwards, we all gathered at our house in Stepnoye for a party, and we also threw another party a few days before I left. Both were a lot of fun!

Every day after work, we would head to Mikhail’s café just outside Stepnoye, where we’d eat our dinner. I had buckwheat, pasta and vegetables literally every day, and while it did get quite repetitive, I was just happy that they had something I could eat! I really loved the employees at the café, they became fond of us and we became really fond of them. We ended up giving them all a gift to show our appreciation when our time there ended!

Our evenings were spent washing and cleaning ceramics and bones, and in our very limited free hours, I either wrote blog posts, wrote on my BA thesis or explored Stepnoye.

Sightseeing on the forest steppe

Although we didn’t have much free time, I really wanted to get to know Stepnoye, so I did explore a bit on my own and with some of the others. The village is tiny so it doesn’t take long to walk through it, but it’s beautiful and there’s a lot to see in the surrounding areas. Jim took us on a few roadtrips into the steppe to see the most famous archaeological sites in the area, and once to the village of Sanarka to see the famous wooden Church of Our Lady. We also went on a trip to the city of Plast, although that was just to visit the supermarket. Still, it was great to see something new.

We didn’t get to explore as much as I’d hoped as we were busy with the excavation, but nonetheless, I really enjoyed what we did see, and I cherished village life in Stepnoye. Especially the daily visits from cows and sheep was fantastic!

Hiking on the forest steppe

My two favourite adventures this month were hiking trips! Eva and Tolya became two of my closest friends during the excavation, and I was lucky to go on a hike with each of them. Tolya took me to a place that he really loves, where the view of the forest steppe was amazing, and Eva and I climbed a small mountain outsite Stepnoye for an incredible view of the village. Both hikes were adventurous and fun – on the one with Tolya, we interacted with a lizard and swam in the Uy River, and on the hike with Eva, we got our boots soaking wet as we stupidly decided to cross the river while wearing them. Oh, and then we had to climb the mountain in our socks!

Those were two incredible adventures that I will always cherish.

Destinations visited in June 2019

• Stepnoye, Chernorech’ye and Plast, Russia

Highlights

• Finding a horse skull and a bone arrowhead at the excavation!!
• Connecting with the other archaeologists and the locals of Chernorech’ye and Stepnoye
• Hiking on the forest steppe with Tolya
• The mountain/river hike with Eva

Challenges

• Big Brother effect. After two weeks, I was close to exploding as I felt like I was living in a prison. I wasn’t allowed to walk anywhere alone, and there was constantly people around, so I had no privacy at all. Thankfully, Jim let me walk alone in the village after seeing my frustration, and after that everything got much better!
• The Siberian pit viper… I feared for our lives just a little!

Most popular post

• A complete guide to the island of Nólsoy, Faroe Islands – I started my planned series of travel guides for the Faroe Islands with Nólsoy, my favourite island!

The other posts

• My first week on the Russian forest steppe – What I got up to during my first week in Russia
• In the footsteps of Tycho Brahe on the Swedish island of Ven – A wonderful summer day trip to idyllic Ven
• An afternoon hike deep into the Eurasian forest steppe – About the hike with Tolya near Stepnoye

Most popular Instagram picture

No picture describes June better!

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Found a horse skull. A good day at the office! 😍 #archaeologylife #archaeology #archlife #excavation #archaeologist #horse #skull #bronzeage #russia #chernorechye #foreststeppe #worldtraveller #exploremore #wanderlust #traveladdict #travelstoke #openmyworld #passionpassport #shetravels #womentravel #goexplore #globetrotter #letswander #liveoutdoors #makeadventure #mytinyatlas #travellife #gltlove #glt #politiken_rejser

Et opslag delt af Melissa Cherry Villumsen (@melissavillumsen) den 13. Jun, 2019 kl. 11.37 PDT

Coming up in July 2019

I’ve got a very exciting month ahead of me in terms of travel! I’ve arrived back from Russia and am now at home in East Jutland, but in just two days, I’m off to North Jutland for a week-long Stone Age festival!!

Afterwards, I’m flying to Italy for a journey through seven countries and three enclaves in Southern Europe and North Africa – a trip that also extends into August!