The Patron Saint of Archaeology

St. Helena of Constantinople, the mother of Emperor Constantine, is the Patron Saint of Archaeologists. (Constantine was the Christian convert who put the "Holy" in Holy Roman Empire!) Due to her spiritual motivation, she was probably one of the first people ever to have embarked upon archaeological fieldwork.

the first archaeological dig?

Helena undertook a trip to Palestine during 326 to 328 AD. This was with the express intention of recovering the relics of Christianity, a burgeoning religion she had adopted and, later, to which her son would convert, setting in motion the Christianisation of most of Europe and beyond. Helena’s trip was probably the first archaeological mission in history.

After distributing largesse to the poor and needy along her route – this was a time when such charity was a cornerstone of the new religion – she turned her attention to fieldwork. According to legendary accounts, Helena was moved by the Holy Spirit to dig in Jerusalem, whereupon she found wood from three crosses. Some sources say that she immediately knew which one was the cross upon which Jesus was crucified by the plaque affixed upon it, declaring him King of the Jews. Another source says that she took all tree crosses to a sick woman and, touching her with each in turn, identified the holy cross upon the woman’s miraculous recovery.

my sister and I touching the Reliquary of the True Cross in Israel

Helena also found part of Christ’s tunic, the rope with which he was lashed to the cross, and also the nails that went through Christ’s hands and feet (but not his body as, according to scripture, this ascended to heaven). She sent one of the nails to her son who made it into a horse bridle, so honoring the prophecy linking the nails to “the bells of horses”. 

Unwittingly, Helena also sparked the cult of relics and thousands of pieces of the true cross were to find their way across Europe, most with rather dubious pedigree. There is still a Reliquary of the True Cross at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

Helena died a little after her return from Palestine in 330 AD with her son at her side. She was buried in the Mausoleum of Helena, just outside Rome, and, what is claimed as her sarcophagus, now lies in the Vatican Museum.

a stained glass window in the Community of St. Helen's church

I knew all this of course, being a good Catholic school girl and having visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and the Vatican Museum in Rome in person. And my parish church for 25 years in Westfield, NJ was named in honor of St. Helen. My son Alex's Confirmation name - the additional name one takes upon being confirmed a Roman Catholic - is even "Constantine." But my fellow SH2015 Gaza Gray excavators did not. They had sought the blessing of St. Helen before beginning to dig in Kruger National Park, but they did not know why she was acknowledged as the Patron Saint of Archaeologists. 

But after finding not one but two skeletons at the site, it was clear that someone was looking out for our little archaeological expedition. Blessed be St. Helena of Constantinople!

my St. Helen charm for SH2015 in RSA!

 

RainRainRain. There, I said it!

uncovering the excavated skeleton in the morning

Neither cold, heat nor wind could stop the intrepid workers of SH2015 Gaza Gray. Only one thing could stop us and that was rain. Which is why we were forbidden to utter the word "rain" or any of its incarnations during the entire dig period. If you did, you might attract the attention of the rain gods and that would be bad for business. As your penalty for such an infraction, you were given a "strafdoppe" that evening in the boma, i.e., a shot of mampoer or moonshine.

You would think it would be easy to avoid saying the word "rain" for a week, but you would be surprised how easily the word is uttered in normal conversation. Especially when you are working in the heat in a parched Kruger National Park after a particularly dry winter.

I got caught out at least twice that I remember. Once in the morning before we uncovered the exposed skeletons that we had revealed the day before. There in the middle of the plastic tarp which had protected them overnight from the animals and the elements was a small puddle of water. It had clearly drizzled a little the night before.

The second time, it was much more innocent. I didn't even realize I had said it until I was called up to collect my strafdoppe that night. But now that the dig is complete and we have left the park,

red sky in morning, sailors take warning! Rain today!

... let it rain!

All the Big Five in one game drive! Again!

playing chicken with impala on a bridge

Really, Kruger National Park is truly the most amazing place on the planet!

After we finished the excavation of SH2015 Gaza Gray, we took a final game drive through lower Kruger National Park. And for the second time in a week, we saw all of the Big Five in one game drive! We aw two lions, two leopards, dozens of elephants, hundreds of Cape buffalo and three rhinos who were sleeping standing up!

the first lion

the second lion

a leopard

ellies and hippos by the river

herds of Cape buffalo too

shhh! rhinos sleeping here!

I found beads!

Anton verifying my find

Ya know I love jewelry ...

... so naturally it became very important for me to find jewelry during my archaeological dig if any was to be found. And there was jewelry to be found in the form of beads.

One by one, other people sifted through the dust and dirt and found beads. Glass trading beads. Decorative ostrich egg shell beads. Even a bone bead. But not me.

But then finally ... on my last bucketful of the day ... on the last day of the dig, I found a bead! As Anton described it, ".. it was a typical Gaza Gray bead." But I thought it was simply beautiful.

And then a few moments later, a bonus bead!

my first bead!

4 glass beads on the left, an ostrich shell bead on the right and a bone bead on top

And that evening in the boma I was given the day's Excavation Award for my find!

Me and Moffat

me and Moffat, the skeleton

Meet Moffat. Moffat was our dedicated game ranger for the SH2015 Gaza Gray dig. Moffat's job was to keep us safe from the wild animals that surrounded the excavation site.

We were literally in the middle of the bush of Kruger National Park outside the safety of our vehicles and therefore very vulnerable to whatever and whomever wanted some fast food for dinner. Jackals, hyenas, lions. Moffat kept them all at bay.

a rhino running from the dig site after rolling in some excavated dirt and dust

But Moffat is also a natural-born archaeologist. One morning he noticed a rock poking up out of the excavation site. He said, "That is a skull."

is it a rock or a skull?

A little brushing and some strategic dirt removal and ...

meet Moffat

... sure enough, Moffat was right! So naturally we named the skeleton after the first one to correctly identify the find.

me and Moffat, the game ranger and nature-born archaeologist!

And the next day I was allowed to help excavate Moffat! My first skeleton. I had thought my first skeleton would belong to a hominin, this being Africa and all. But still, it was a rare and privileged opportunity to excavate a skeleton. I am so thankful!

It truly was amazing to watch the bones slowly reveal themselves as I brushed off the surrounding dirt.

And the day after that, Moffat was photographed in situ before we removed, documented and sorted the bones.

Gardiol and I removing Moffat from her home for the last 150 years

Anton believes Moffat is actually a native female adult, but the bones will be sent to a forensic anthropologist for verification. Hopefully a cause of death will also be determined. After that, Moffat can be reburied according to the customs of her tribe.

A day on the job

SH2015 Gaza Gray was an excavation of an 1850's military outpost probably established on a late Iron Age / historical era native African site.

signing in at the gate at 5:45 a.m.

We started each day before dawn leaving our campsite in time to take advantage of our early access privilege into the national park. We could enter before the gates open to the general public at 6:00 a.m. in the winter.

We then picked up Moffat, our dedicated game ranger and drove to the excavation site.

Most of us would then walk the last 300 meters.

arriving on site

There are a number of jobs to do every day.

scraping and digging

a double sifter (one fine and one gross mesh) ...

to sift the excavated dirt ...

... for artifacts such as pottery shards and bone

documenting the finds

measuring and delineating the dig site with string

Even though it was the second week of the excavation, Anton still wanted to open a third excavation site. I assisted with the measurement and outlying of the perimeter of the new site.

photographing the excavations

Some jobs required advanced skills. Like photographing the completed excavation sites.

The skeletons needed a 90 degree angled aerial photograph with a grid for an accurate rendering before being removed from their resting place.

the easiest way to photograph at a 90 degree angle

the site had to be surveyed in case of future excavation

And after all the excavations were complete and all the sites were photographed, documented and surveyed, we filled the holes back up again with all the sifted dirt we extracted.

Anton empties the ceremonial "last bucket" to close SH2015 Gaza Gray

What to wear on an archaeological dig in Kruger National Park

I am smiling under that dust mask!

Excavating in Kruger is a dirty job!

I wore long pants and a long-sleeved shirt to try to minimize the dust and dirt on my skin. Socks and boots to keep the dirt and ticks out, and a hat or bandana on my head. I wore my eyeglasses because I wear glasses. But if I didn't, then I would still have worn safety glasses to keep the dirt and dust from landing in my eyes. Ouch! I wore leather gloves to stop blisters from forming and to keep my hands from getting even more dirty. And most importantly, I wore a particle dust mask! Sunscreen and bug spray.

It wasn't pretty but it was effective.

Hats are a must!

look at that dust and dirt from sifting!

And when I was back home in Joburg, it took a world of spa products to help me feel clean again. Dead Sea mud from Israel, a seaweed foot scrub from Ireland, facial exfoliating cream from Denmark, and an olive oil and eucalypti Savon Noir body scrub from Morocco.

All before I went to Toast for my oxygen facial and spa manicure and pedicure.