In the beginning of the summer, I spent five weeks in rural Russia, excavating a Bronze Age midden for the URVCP 2019 project. Our excavation site was Chernorech’ye 2, located near the village of Stepnoye in Chelyabinsk Oblast, where we stayed with local Mikhail and his family. Our team was made up of Jim, our project director, the American students Erin and Ken, Danish students Eva, Mikkel, Bri and I, and a team of Russian archaeologists; Natasha, Nadya, Mascha, Nikolai, Tolya, Vika, Sondra and Maxim. We worked Monday-Saturday from 8 AM to (usually) 6 PM and had Sundays off to explore and relax! For breakfast and dinner, we ate at Mikhail’s restaurant outside Stepnoye, and came to adore the ladies that work there!
During those five weeks in rural Russia, I had some incredible life-enriching experiences, made wonderful friendships and learned enormous amounts about Russian and American archaeological methods. I wrote an excavation diary every day after work and thought it would be fun to share here for those of you who are interested in what I was doing in Russia!
Day 1, Thursday May 30th 2019
Jim, Erin, Ken and I had travelled to Russia a few days before the others to dig and draw profiles before opening up the actual excavation, but we hadn’t had much luck getting out to our excavation site the day before as we didn’t have a van yet, so we had to wait it out. On our second full day in Stepnoye, we finally got a van and were able to set off to the site. But first we paid a visit to a Mesolithic site near Stepnoye, where we did a short survey, picking up a few flint flakes. The area was beautiful, surrounded by hills and sparse woodlands.
Afterwards, we headed to our site, Chernorech’ye II, which is beautifully situated in the Uy River Valley on the forest steppe near the village of Chernorech’ye, about 20 km from Stepnoye. The first thing that I saw when I started exploring the site was a snake skin! We had been told that there might be venomous Siberian Pit Vipers at the site, but I hadn’t actually expected to see any… We spent the first hour surveying the area to figure out the limits of the settlement, before realizing that we couldn’t start our work as we didn’t have any shovels. So back to Stepnoye we went, to see if we could possibly borrow some.
Luckily, Mikhail had some shovels that we could borrow, so after eating a good lunch, we set off again to the field.
We spent the next five hours digging profiles in the area that we’d surveyed. It was hard work, mostly because of the sun baking on us all day and the countless bugs eating us. By 5 PM, I was tired, hot and dirty and wanted nothing else but a shower. I’d never been so dusty in my entire life (but little did I know, it would get sooo much worse!).
Day 2, Friday May 31st 2019
We went back to the site early in the morning to finish up our profiles and extend them afterwards. I started the day by photographing and drawing my profile from the day before, before opening up a new profile. Luckily, there was more wind and the bugs weren’t quite as bad by the second profile as it wasn’t directly by the lake unlike the first one. I stayed on the second profile opening it up two meters wide until we left the site at 4.30 PM and drove to Steletsk, a Late Bronze Age Alakul Site, also by the Uy River. We wanted to do a survey there, but unfortunately, the area was too overgrown. I enjoyed the hike along the river though!
Day 3, Saturday June 1st 2019
This Saturday was only a half day of work, as the others would arrive in the afternoon and we wanted to be home for their arrival. We set off from the house at the usual time at 07.15 AM, went to the café to eat breakfast and then drove to the excavation site and finished up our profiles.
We were back home by 2 PM, but the others didn’t arrive until 4.30 PM. It was wonderful to see them and a strange experience to suddenly have the house full of people. Now the project could officially begin!
We spent the evening showing them around the house and the excavation site, before watching a movie and going to sleep.
Day 4, Monday, June 3rd 2019
The actual excavation began! On the Sunday, Jim, Natasha, Mascha and Nikolai shot in the units, and Monday we started digging in five units and screened all the soil as we went along. We first had to dig through the surface, cutting through roots which was really tough, but we did manage to get below that, so digging would be easier the next day. I spent most of the day screening and showing Mikkel and Eva – who were on their first ever excavation – how to tell the difference between bones, ceramics and stones.
At the end of the day, we went to the river to clean off the dirt from our bodies. It was so refreshing and such a wonderful moment, having the sun shine on us keeping us warm while cleaning ourselves up and having fun in the cool water.
Day 5, Tuesday June 4th 2019
We continued digging our units, and I started levelling out the unit that Ken had started the day before. Unfortunatey, I messed it up as I misunderstood the Russians with the totalstation and dug about 7 cm too deep. I was very angry with myself, but Jim took it so well and helped me clean it up, so I felt much better afterwards. I just have to remember that mistakes happen for everyone, and that’s okay! It’s just important to learn from your mistakes!
It was a very windy day, which was also a challenge as dust was blowing in our faces and getting in our eyes, and papers and bags were flying away. But we did manage to complete the level before finishing for the day and heading to the café to eat dinner.
That evening, we began the second part of our job in Russia – cleaning ceramics and bones for analysis, which is a slow but kind of meditative job.
Day 6, Wednesday June 5th 2019
Jim had warned us that it may rain this day so we would get a day off, but when we got up, it was only windy and cold. It had literally dropped from 30 to 11 degrees, so we all put on all of our layers before we set off for the day.
It was even windier than the day before, so we all got a whole lot of dust in our eyes, especially while screening. The weather kept dry until lunch time at 12 AM, when the heavens opened. We ate our lunch in the van, waiting out the rain, but it didn’t stop and didn’t seem like it would that day, so we called it a day and got half a day off.
Day 7, Thursday June 6th 2019
We got in almost a full day as the rain didn’t come until 5 PM. I spent the day finishing up my 10 cm level and drawing the unit plan. Ken found a piece of metal in the screen from my level, the first metal find, and we were celebrated by the Russians with a gift; a can of condensened milk, a traditional gift for metal finds on Russian excavations!
Day 8, Friday June 7th 2019
Friday was a loooong day, but also a good day. We actually worked from 8 AM to 11.30 PM, 15,5 hours!! That was because Ken, Eva and I dug out two units with hundreds of large bones and ceramics that all had to be pedestalled. It took forever to excavate, so the others helped us by the end of the afternoon, but when evening came, we still weren’t done. Jim didn’t want to leave the artifacts exposed as he was afraid they’d get stolen by herders, so we had to continue. So we went to eat at the café while the Russians stayed to look after the equipment, and then returned to the excavation site to draw and take levels on our many finds. This took many hours and had us working way past sunset with only the headlights from the car and our phones. Not the most fun evening as we were all cold and tired, but definitely something we will never forget! As a compensation, Jim gave us the entire weekend off, which was really nice.
As we were driving home from the site, two policemen pulled us over to check if Jim was drunk. Of course he wasn’t, but we were too many people in the van so it was a good job that they didn’t check the back! For this reason, Jim decided that we wouldn’t work till midnight again, which I was happy to hear. I mean, I love digging, but I also love sleep!
Day 9, Monday June 10th 2019
Another long day, although not anywhere near the length of Friday. We worked from 8 AM to 6.30 PM, first finishing up the 10 cm level from Friday and after lunch digging into a new level. This was where the fun really began for me. The first thing I found was a horse skull!!! It was the best find of the excavation so far apart from a few metal finds, so I was very happy. I also found several other bones and many ceramics, including two rim sherds and several pieces with decoration and talc. Even though Erin helped me dig, I had not finished by the end of the day, but neither had any of the others. Thankfully, this didn’t mean another day of work till late as we left it for the next morning despite the risk of theft.
Day 10, Tuesday June 11th 2019
This Tuesday was not my day. A lack of sleep, too long work hours and having zero privacy had made me a bit grumpy. But I wasn’t the only one. Everybody seemed to be moody that day.
I worked hard to get my level down but kept finding artifacts which slowed down the process. By the end of the day, I had trowelled so much that my right hand was very overstrained and it felt like I had pulled a muscle or two in my middle finger. And I still hadn’t finished my unit as I’d found a lot of artifacts, including the largest ceramic piece so far!
Day 11, Wednesday June 12th 2019
Jim had noticed that we were all burned out, so he started the day by telling us that we would start at 10 AM instead of 8 AM on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and that ceramic and bone cleaning would only be until 8 PM each evening, giving us the rest of the evening off. I was so happy to hear that, as it meant we would get some free time – and be able to sleep in twice a week! It immediately lifted everybodys mood!
My right hand was still in pain, so I tried to trowel as little as possible. Luckily, I had lots of paperwork to do, and the horse skull also had to be excavated, which Jim did while I helped the others with various small tasks.
That day, locals Andrej, Katya and their daughter came by to see us. They were very excited to hear that we were all from different exotic countries (USA, Denmark, England, Austria, Germany and Australia). And believe it or not, a few hours later they came by again with home-cooked food for us!!! The locals there are seriously the loveliest. We spent a good long while with them, eating and communicating through the Russian archaeologists.
Day 12, Thursday June 13th 2019
This Thursday was a short day as we got to sleep in a bit, and then Eva and I went with Jim to the nearby city of Plast to do some grocery shopping while the others washed ceramics and cleaned bones. We were out at the site at 11.30 AM and left again at 5.45 PM. I worked with Mikkel to get the unit down a level, but didn’t manage to finish it.
Day 13, Friday June 14th 2019
Erin helped me get the level finished and continue on the next level, which we got very far with. We didn’t find anything interesting, but Mikkel found a big piece of vessel base and Bri found a bone awl!
Day 14, Saturday June 15th 2019
This was the shortest day in the history of days. We literally had a one hour day! It was Saturday so we had slept in, and got out to the site at 10 AM, and at 11 AM it started raining heavily so we packed up and went home for the weekend.
Day 15, Monday June 17th 2019
Not the most exciting day. Erin and I got down one level and almost finished the next one, without finding much else than an unknown feature which we then had to profile.
Day 16, Tuesday June 18th 2019
A really cold and windy day, and we kept getting dirt in our eyes.
Erin and I finished two levels on our unit and thereby finished our work on the unit B3. We then moved on to unit B6, where the tough topsoil first had to be removed. Luckily, the two Russian guys Nikolai and Tolya had already removed the surface grass, which is by far the worst part to dig through, but the topsoil was also pretty tough, so we were very tired by the end of the day.
Day 17, Wednesday June 19th 2019
It was a really hot day and there was no wind, literally the opposite of the day before. Erin and I finished the topsoil level and only just started digging the next level when the work day was over. We found some really cool stuff; Erin found a textile-imprinted ceramic and I found a worked bone, which might be a tool for textile scraping.
It was a very hard work day, and I had blisters on my hands at the end of the day. But it was really nice to end the day washing our dirty selves in the cool river.
By now, the ladies at the café had come to know me and my food requests, so one lady immediately said “гречка и овощи” (“buckwheat and vegetables”) with a huge smile on her face when she saw me in the queue 😂 I love those ladies so much, they made me smile daily!
Day 18, Thursday June 20th 2019
Another extremely warm day at the excavation with up to 34 degrees. I was feeling quite sick in the morning, Eva and Erin were sore, and Bri stayed home with a backache, so it was not our best day. We were all very slow because of the heat, so none of us managed to finish our levels.
The best find of the day was a decorated bone fragment, found by Mikkel! That was my favourite find of the excavation so far!
In the afternoon, Natasha’s 4-year-old son Yuri and Nadya’s 12-year-old son Lonja came by and had fun with us at the excavation. We had several butterflies come by and sit on us (I had two on my toes at one point!), which Yuri loved. He kept saying “бабочка”, the Russian word for butterfly, and batting his arms like wings, hehe!
We ended the day with a swim in the river, where Yuri splashed me and got all of my clothes soaked. I was feeling very overheated, so it was wonderful to get cooled down, and it was a lot of fun to play with him in the water! If I ever have children, I want a Yuri!
Day 19, Friday June 21st 2019
This Friday was a great day. Everybody was in a good mood, and we got our two Russian guys, Tolya and Nikolai, back! They had been working at another excavation for 10 days, and were greatly missed. The sun was hot, but it was windy at the same time, and a few dips in the river made it bearable.
Erin and I finished our level and continued onto the next level, where we had a lot more finds, including some really beautifully decorated ceramics.
Day 20, Saturday June 22nd 2019
This was an awesome day! We had a relatively short day, starting at 8 AM and ending at 4 PM. I didn’t find much exciting stuff, but Eva found a lot in her unit, including a rodent nest which had messed up part of the context in her unit (not good archaeologically, but otherwise quite interesting!).
The best part of the day started after work ended. Jim, Natasha, Nadya, Tolya, Yuri, Lonja, Sondra and Maxim had planned an amazing initiation event for us! An hour full of fun stories and activities and a title for each of us based on our personalities, way of digging or funny things we’d done. I got “Queen of Lipstick”, because I often apply coloured lip balm even though my face is full of dirt, and my challenge was to paint makeup on my face with coal, given to me by the Spirit of Fire, Tolya. In the end, we all sang a song written by the Russians, Jim had us repeat a fun declaration, and then we all jumped in the water, where I got splashed fully clothed by Yuri, Tolya and Lonya. The initiation was absolutely brilliant!
Day 21, Monday June 24th 2019
The heat was intense from the early morning. It was our hottest day yet, but thankfully the wind did pick up later in the day. I took the opportunity to jump in the river – fully clothed – four times just to cool myself down. I loved that we had the river by our excavation site, and I miss being able to jump in it every day!
It was a long day with lots of digging and almost no screening as Tolya took on that job all day. Erin and I finished our level and continued further into the cultural layer, though surprisingly without many finds.
Towards the end of the day, Andrej and Katya came by again to see how we were doing. It was lovely to see them again!
Day 22, Tuesday June 25th 2019
Another hot and long day. Erin and I found absolutely nothing, but towards the end of the day, I was in Eva’s unit to help her with all her many ceramics and bones.
The biggest event of the day was when Tolya found a snake in the screen, and screamed “Melissa, snake!!”. I didn’t believe him at first, but sure enough – there was a baby Siberian Pit Viper in the soil!! It was quite scary especially since we walked barefoot at the excavation, but thankfully, we didn’t see any more after that one, and Natasha took this baby far away from the site and set it free.
The best part of the day was at lunch. Andrej and Katya came by with food for everyone and gifts for Jim, Ken and I. I had no idea that I’d made an impression on them, so I was very grateful to receive a gift. They gave me a heart-shaped pillow with the word “Love” on it and Andrejs old military card from the Soviet times, which apparently is very rare. We also exchanged adresses as they want to be penpals with me! I’m excited to receive the first letter from them.
It was Tolya’s birthday, so we had cakes and champagne and sung songs for him in Russian, English, Danish and German. It was really a wonderful and eventful lunch!
Day 23, Wednesday June 26th 2019
This was the last day for Nadya and also Yuri and Lonya who all went back to Chelyabinsk. It was very sad to say goodbye to them, but we did have a very nice farewell.
The day was another boring one for Erin and I in terms of finds, but we did almost finish our entire unit, way ahead of time.
Luckily, it had cooled down quite a bit so we could work faster and not melt. Towards the end of the day, rain clouds came over us, forcing us to pack up quickly and leave the site.
Day 24, Thursday June 27th 2019
This Thursday was a strange day. The weather had forecast rain all day but it never came, instead dark clouds just hovered above us. I was moved to Mikkel’s unit as Erin and I were almost done with ours, and there were more finds, including a rounded ceramic fragment which might have been part of a spindle whorl.
A TV crew came by later in the day to film our excavation. They filmed us all shovelling, Mikkel screening, some artifacts close up and – the funniest part – me sweeping up ants eggs 😂 The TV guy obviously thought I’d found something interesting, but actually I was just trying my hardest to save the ants and their babies!
Day 25, Friday June 28th 2019
This was a day of only 30 minutes as it started raining hard. Instead, we went to the small museum in Stepnoye where we got an interesting tour of about an hour or so from a lovely, knowledgeable lady.
We spent the rest of the day cleaning ceramics and bones.
Day 26, Saturday June 29th 2019
This day was supposed to be our last at the site, but it turned out not to be as we were nowhere near done with our units. We did our best to get as much done as possible but things always take longer than expected, so when we left the site at 6 PM, we still had four unfinished units plus the bulks between the units plus backfilling to do.
Another TV crew came by to film our excavation – apparently word had gotten out about our many finds!
The absolute best part of the day happened just after the TV crew had left – when I found a complete bone arrowhead that is possibly Mesolithic!! Literally no one had seen that coming in a Bronze Age midden! I saw it and shouted “no freaking way”, jumped up and down and screamed in excitement. I hugged Natasha who was working in the unit with me and then rushed around to show everyone! I’d been so lucky on this excavation with finds, but this one beat everything – even the horse skull!
Day 27, Sunday June 30th 2019
That morning, we said our goodbyes to the café ladies and gave them a bag full of sweets to thank them for being so lovely. I miss seeing their smiles every day!
Sunday was supposed to be our weekly day off, but since we had nowhere near finished the excavation and three of us were leaving the next day, Jim asked that we volunteered for work that day. I wanted to see the excavation finished so I decided to join even though I was very tired and still hadn’t even started packing my bag yet. Finding that bone arrowhead had me thirsty to find more (possibly) Mesolithic stuff!
I finished an entire level with Natasha and Nikolai in just four hours, not bad going! However, there were not many impressive finds, so no Mesolithic joy for me.
Day 28, Monday July 1st 2019
The excavation still wasn’t finished, so I headed to the site for a few hours on my last day in Stepnoye. I worked with Ken to finish the unit and we found a rounded ceramic and a bone awl. A great way to end the excavation!
At 11.30 AM, it was time to say goodbye to the others as Bri, Mikkel and I were leaving. The others were staying another two weeks to catalog, photograph and analyze all the finds. It was very sad to say goodbye to the wonderful team. I’ve had so much fun with them, and I really hope I’ll see them all again. Who knows, maybe I’ll be back on the forest steppe next year!
Excavating in Russia was a wonderful experience. It was interesting to be part of the whole process of the excavation – opening it up and (almost) finishing it. It’s the first time I’ve tried that as usually the excavations are ongoing so I’ve just jumped in and started working in a unit, but this time I was part of the whole process. I’m forever grateful to Jim for bringing me on this excavation, and to our wonderful team and my new friends. Я люблю тебя и скучаю по тебе всем.
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