Daily Updates
Week Two: 25 September
25 September. Dave Stanek Reporting:
Today, we embarked on our first trip away from Rome. Excited, nervous, and weary, we awoke and stocked up on all the essentials: groceries, money, and, for some of us, phone cards. We were about to enter an unknown and possibly uncivilized territory. Of course, "uncivilized" in a Dartmouth student's lexicon means, "limited wireless internet access." We all met at the famed Stazione Termini and dealt with the first mishap of the trip. Instead of a full sized coach bus, we had to travel in a slightly smaller coach bus. While a few of us watched the beautiful Italian countryside, most of us opted to take in the scenery later and catch up on our sleep. After an hour long drive, we arrived at Cerveteri, the modern day site of an Etruscan city and burial ground. We explored subterranean crypts and gigantic tumuli, tombs cut into tufa bedrock that are easily identified by hemispherical roofs of dirt and grass. Julie Chang lectured the class on the Tomb of the Hut, the oldest burial chamber in the cemetery, while James Barkley and Briar Teron presented the Tomb of the Capitals, named for its ornate columns. These chambers provide clear insight into the architecture of an Etruscan home: even though the interior is completely composed of stone, the Etruscans carved imitation thatched roofing and central beams. Giampiero Bevagna, our very own Etruscan descendant, elaborated that this mimicking of the household, combined with the alignment of tomb entrances with the northwest (the darkest sector of the sky, which is ruled by the gods of the underworld), indicates that the Etruscans went to great lengths to ease the transition to the afterlife. The Etruscans were not altogether sexist: men and women lay side by side in these burial chambers. Briar and James pointed out that two markers, a phallus and a house-like structure meant to represent the womb, defined the gender of the individuals housed in the tomb. After spending much of the day in dank, cramped hollows, the group was ready for some time to unwind. We departed Cerveteri and made our way to Tarquinia before a few of us could even finish our Scrabble match. Most of the group took advantage of the nearby beach, where we had our first encounter with the European male Speedo, but we returned with a slightly lighter load: Dan Racic's Frisbee now resides somewhere at the bottom of the Mediterranean. This is Dave Stanek signing off for now.
Caere Tomba a dado
Charlie and Jackie
Caere: tumulus
Craig and Dave
Julie lecturing.