Monday and Tuesday of dig, September 15 and 16

How do the team decide where to look and when to stop? We have moved on top of a plateau with an incredible view. The line of sight on the top of El Saso takes in a view of Codo, Belchite and beyond , and the road where the Lincoln Battalion advanced and retreated.  The artillery shell we saw lodged high in the side of a church in Belchite  came from this hilltop. We can see the hills spurs of Mediana where we dug Saturday looking for evidence of the British Battalion.

In  this site the leaders are uncovering with labor and backhoe a series of pillboxes and fortified positions, showing how the fight in Spain in the 1930's, often seen as a precursor of WW2, was at its start fought with the old tactics and tools of WW1 . Research had uncovered the plans for these defenses, made by an enthusiastic German engineer for the Nationalists.

Archaeology seems to me like a calculated treasure hunt. The trained eye see possibilities, adapts theories according to the evidence, digs, and sometimes finds nothing. But even finding nothing tells you something. Bethan from Wales described the great excitement in uncovering objects. Someone will ask : " how did you find that?"  and Bethany replies, " I worked my ass off digging all day!"

On this site they had found rusty springs, evidence of mattresses laid on the roof against mortar fire. Lamb bones from cooking or barley used for coffee  tell them about the soldiers who briefly stayed here. While most of the team continued digging, Elaine,Wendy and Gary set off with Sal half a  mile across the  fields full of rocks and stubble, to another site on the edge of the plateau.

Wendy, "Draw Me a Line" is an artist by trade. She was recruited to sketch a plan of  the building and bunker now used as a shelter by a farmer.  Gary "The Ruler" from North Dakota is a seasoned and lean  battlefield buff. He was eager to get in and discover passages in the bunkers. He has become The Ruler, because he knows his stride so well he can accurately pace off distances, and we use his pace and his height to measure  meters for Wendy's drawings. Elaine the Eraser looked after the elusive rubber when it bounced away in the rubble. It was like being back at work in her retirement: at home out in the wind and sun on top of the world,  measuring, recording and ending up with a drawing that can be used.

Above: respite from the sun;
below: the Popaloo in the field

The whole landscape is an artifact, whether we can see it or not. All of the tiny pieces connect to tell a forensic story. We can't dismiss the importance to the story of a  single bullet or a barley grain, in the same way that our little toe is vital to the whole body.