By Lee Garcia, Florida State University
In the time between our first post and this one I’ve departed for Italy and am in the midst of excavations at Cetamura del Chianti. Though the site is ancient, it’s a couple thousand years post-Akkadian empire and in a different part of the world. Still, this is a huge step forward for my professional and academic development and I’m extremely excited to be here. I’ve been able to do real, hands-on experience with fieldwork through Florida State University!
This experience has also given me some insight into how I want to move forward in my academic career. As a student, I feel that it’s very important to gain experience and explore options that will further your professional growth. In my time here I’ve been able to try fieldwork, lab analysis, and research. I feel that developing these skills and knowing I can apply them to work outside of my chosen area of interest is so important for the future. I now know that if I do want to pursue archaeology I’ll be happy with whatever form that may take. And that I can adapt to an experience like this without prior training!
Many of the resources I plan to make use of for this project (such as my textbooks and Dr. Levenson’s linguistic expertise) are unavailable here in Italy, so I’m getting creative with Akkadian. So far, my focus during my time here is to do preliminary research into the texts I’d like to translate and to get things in motion for my Honors in the Major project. I’ve been spending my free time hunting for more relevant scholarship on the goddess Ishtar and identifying texts that I’d like to work on when I get back. I already have a solid base of background knowledge concerning the focus of my research (Ishtar and gender), which means that this is largely an expansion into the linguistic side of things. I’m prioritizing texts which analyze the Akkadian linguistic choices so that I may understand how other scholars approach this type of analysis.
While I think this is a great start, there’s still plenty of work to be done. I’m running up against a few technological issues–traveling sans a laptop–and this would be much faster back home. Time management has also been an issue. We’re usually at the site from 8 a.m to 5 p.m and it’s tiring! By the time we get back and have dinner the day is just about over. I’ve been doing my best to find time to work (and we’ve had time off!), but it’s been a challenge.
I also foresee one big problem: scope. So much of linguistic analysis is predicated on being really good at the language and really familiar with other texts. That kind of expertise and ability takes time. When I return to the United States and begin work on the language in earnest, I’ll have to figure out how to effectively learn the parts of Akkadian that matter for this project and what my future work with the language and Honors in the Major will work within this context.
In spite of any potential hurdles I’m beyond thrilled to be here and–don’t tell IP–almost more excited to get back to town. I’ve dreamt of learning Akkadian for a long time and I’m so happy to get the chance to do so! I hope to return to Tallahassee with even more drive to learn.
Radda (our home base in Italy)
A piece of Etruscan pottery. The design seems to have been made with a cylindrical seal. I’d never seen this outside of Mesopotamian art!
HSF House Blogs 