More Retro Signs: Canada & North Dakota

PKAP article in UND Newsletter

Below is another short article from University Relations about the PKAP project.

UND historian puts archeology on high-tech fast track in Cyprus research project

University of North Dakota historian William “Bill” Caraher returned recently from another successful season of archeology on the island nation of Cyprus.

“We finished our seventh season of fieldwork in the coastal zone of Pyla Village near Larnaka,” said Caraher, the multidisciplinary team’s leader and high technology guru. “This was our second season of excavation and the largest and most complex to date with over 30 students—including three UND graduate students—and colleagues from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Cyprus.”

Since 2003, the Pyla Koutsopetria Archeologic Program (PKAP) team has worked under Caraher’s direction; the team includes R. Scott Moore from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania and David K. Pettegrew of Messiah College.

PKAP background

The goal of the PKAP project: find out how folks lived, worshipped, and did business from the Late Bronze Age to the end of the Roman Empire, a period spanning 1200 B.C. to 700 A.D. The project also trains students how to do field research in a traditional discipline like history with high-tech applications ranging from relational databases to global positioning system (GPS) gear and ground-penetrating radar.

The Pyla-Koutsopetria research area—now part of a British military base—was a harbor and commercial area throughout antiquity, Caraher said.

The goal of the PKAP fieldwork is to collect data without disturbing the archaeological remains protected beneath the surface. The results include the discovery of what may be a previously unknown ancient shrine and an extensive Roman settlement, all from periods dating as far back as 600 B.C., Caraher said.

The seven seasons of PKAP fieldwork have revealed a dynamic and wealthy Mediterranean landscape filled with towns, fortifications and religious centers. The careful documentation of this material is particularly important as more of the Cypriot coastline is developed.

Summer 2009

PKAP researchers this summer used intensive survey, remote sensing, and excavation to document this rich archaeological landscape. Over a five-week season, the PKAP team opened six trenches on sites at Vigla, Koutsopetria, and Kokkinokremos, Caraher said.

“The trenches on the prominent coastal height of Vigla produced significant evidence of a Greek settlement from around 400 B.C.,” Caraher said. “An imposing fortification wall surrounded domestic quarters whose collapsed mud brick walls sealed valuable ceramic material on the floors.”

These buildings may have been the houses for mercenary forces positioned to protect a vulnerable stretch of coastline near the cosmopolitan city of Kition, or perhaps the homes of local residents who had settled in fortified villages during politically unstable times, Caraher said.

In conjunction with the excavation work, the PKAP team conducted 10 days of geophysical survey with ground penetrating radar in collaboration with Beverly Chiarulli of the Arcaheological Services Laboratory at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Caraher said.

PKAP in multi-media mode

Finally, the PKAP team continued its commitment to a multi-media approach to archaeological research.

“We were joined in the field by an experienced documentary filmmaker, Ian Ragsdale of Big Ape Productions and Ryan Stander, a photographer in the UND Masters of Fine Arts program,” Caraher said.

“These projects represent an important aspect of reflexive fieldwork, as well as a commitment to public outreach through new media delivered over the Web,” Caraher said.

The newly created UND Working Group in Digital and New Media will contribute to the production of Ragsdale’s documentary and facilitate a digital exhibit of Stander’s photographs.

Various members of the PKAP team blogged regularly on PKAP sponsored blogs, tweeted from the field on a PKAP Twitter feed, and produced a dozen podcasts.

“As one of the first Mediterranean archaeological projects to blog from the field, it has drawn thousands of readers from around the world who have seen this unique perspective on the inner workings of Mediterranean archaeology,” Caraher said.

“It’s really exciting to be involved in this hands-on project with students,” said Caraher, who as tech guru handles a lot of the GPS and geographic information systems (GIS) for the project . “We use these systems intensively to ensure that we leave no area uncharted and to document the location of artifacts.”

Cyprus connection

All of PKAP’s field work was completed with the permission and cooperation of Director of the Cyprus Department of Antiquities Pavlos Flourentzos.

The 2009 season΄s fieldwork was funded by grants from UND, the Institute of Aegean Prehistory, and generous private donors. The team also enjoyed the generous assistance of the Estate Manager of the British Sovereign Area – Dhekelia Garrison, the Larnaka District Archaeological Museum, and the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute, Caraher said.

Canada Photos

Last week was spent at Karina's home near Springside SK. I had only a few days out with the camera. These first five shots come from her brothers barn. Growing up on a farm I developed a love of exploring barns and their stored contents. No barn is the same from its construction to its contents, not to mention its state of repair which adds a whole new dimension to ones visit. I can recall the dust rising and filtering through the light beams streaming in through the holes in the roof of the barn on the farm that I grew up on. Reducing the shots to black and white allows me to see shape and the gradations of light more clearly.

The last shot is a rather odd addition to this barn collection, however the idea of light is still present. This is essentially the view out the window of the bedroom we stay in at Karina's home. The yard light creates an eary green and blue canvas that holds the innocense of the swingset.

Stray Shopping Carts II

New Series: Stray Shopping Carts

When I was in Cyprus I started noticing shopping carts randomly dumped along the streets.  After a few days of seeing them I began to shoot them because I recognized this same phenomena in the states.  Its not uncommon to see a wayward Target cart shoved into a ditch or elsewhere.  Just another random thing to document.

North Dakota Signage

here are the last of the retro signs from our 4th of july trip in ND.  Hope you've enjoyed this little series.

North Dakota Signage

North Dakota Signage

Again, more photos from our trip through ND.  All of these are from Devils Lake.  The last Coke sign doesn't really fit the rest but I love signs that are painted on the sides of the old buildings.

Off To Canada

Tonight we leave for our week-long Canadian holiday with Karina's family in Saskatchewan. Its been nearly a year and a half since we have been home and we are both excited to go enjoy the familiarity of Springside (who by the way is celebrating their 125th). This trip is especially poignant for Karina as this will be her last visit to her childhood home as her parents home...a place that she considers to be one of those sacred sites of memory and formation. This summer they are in the process of building a new home some 15 miles away and will relocate before our trip home for Christmas. While this is exciting, for her and likely for her siblings, this is no doubt the cause of mixed emotions and floods of memories of their lives lived together in this place. It has been good cause for me to reflect upon my own homes, the liminal transitions of moving, and the processes of packing and unpacking.

On occassion I remind myself of the homes, doing a mental walk-through the rooms, trying to remember where furniture pieces sat, people who sat in them, and the conversations and events that transpired there. Perhaps I am simply sentimental, but it is good for me to recall the formative events of my life in terms of place as it is helpful to rightly appreciate my current place and its significance.

My hope for the family and their visit is that they will allow themselves the space to practice the memories of this cherished farm, gardens, fields.

North Dakota Signage

More signs from our 4th o'July trip across ND.  The last one here is an interesting rehabilitated retro sign frame with a contemporary insert.

North Dakota Signage

This weekend Karina and I headed out across ND again to visit friends in New Salem.  I photographed along the way looking for elevators and retro signs.  Here are a few of my finds.

Retro Signs: GF & EGF

Sioux Falls Retro Signage II

More signage from my visit to SF.

Retro Signage - Sioux Falls and NW Iowa

More retro signage. The first three are from my visit home to Lake Park, IA. The first is from Spirit Lake, second from Rock Rapids, third from Milford. The last two are from Sioux Falls.