Speaking Archaeologically™

Each coin has a story to narrate, which may either be outlined on it's either side or hidden inside the covers of rust and dust. To get familiar to these hidden tales and to unfold the mysteries veiled in the metallic discs, the first workshop that was organised for the New Volunteers of Speaking Archaeologically was the Coinage Workshop.  The history of coins extends from the ancient times to the present, and is related to economic history, the history of minting technologies and the history shown by the engraved words and images. A single metal piece, unfurling a number of secrets is what attracts the lovers of this subject.  The workshop was held on the 4th of September at   S Cafe  and Bar, Chandigarh. The dim lights and the dusky-wooden shades adorning the walls of the Cafe created a perfect atmosphere. Without any delay, Shriya opened up the coins album which was welcomed all the energy that was present in the room. The enthusiasm and...

Fabric on Display When the word ‘Silk’ is mentioned, it immediately conjures an image of waves of light and luxurious fabric in bright jewel colours. However, when I get to talk about the ‘Silk Workshop’ of Speaking Archaeologically , all that I may ponder upon is the golden-mauve Thai Silk costume or the Chinese emerald-green Silk dress. After a series of written tasks, team tasks and Museum visits, the Silk Workshop acted as a source of recreation. The workshop was held in MCM DAV College, Chandigarh (Firstly, because the College staff calls it Shriya’s second home and secondly because more than half of the volunteers were students of this college,) A powerpoint presentation was prepared to highlight SA’s journey so far, it’s aim, achievements and all the activities that the volunteers were involved in.  Athira and Tarannum in  the traditional Chinese and Thai National Dresses    As I entered the Conference room, (the venue), the first ...

As a pleasant, windy November melted into a foggy December , the First Season of Speaking Archaeologically Volunteers came to an end, too. I was going to miss these loons I had spent the last one month working with and tutoring. All of us were going to miss them! That's why, there had to be a proper farewell, because some of them were leaving SAV for good. You'd think, it'd take time for a bunch of college students and an archaeologist, who has never met them outside the formal work environment, to bond. Don't be deceived! These kids know how to dig stories and anecdotes out of you, even the cringe-worthy personal details, and it's only fair they dig so well-they are archaeologists-in-making, after all! A lot happened over coffee and lunch that day-enough to get us kicked out of the restaurant. I'll shut up now and let you watch what happened before you go on to read the End-of-the-Season Report!

Which is completely different and totally better than Rakshanda and Vedant's partnership which the Panel has decided to do a feature on. Which doesn't bother us.  At all. Before I, Athira, start writing about the details of my first With Arundhati and Anmol in the Doll's Museum partnership I'd like to explain how the both of us ended up as partners.  Shriya had just organised our first workshop on coinage and provided us with the task of writing a report on the coins we had observed during the workshop. The results were announced and guess what? I had FAILED the task. Yes, FAILED. Not lost the task, FAILED the task. Also, I wasn't the only one FAILING the task, there were others and one amongst them had been her. It was then that the task for the ones who had just FAILED was provided and partners assigned. A tragic start to the beautiful, wonderful, awe-inspiring, totally better than Rakshanda and Vedant's, bond we share now.  A barch o...

As early as in Season 1, two people from sister colleges (and competing sister colleges at that) were paired together for  two tasks, just like the rest of their peers. What the Panel did not know back then, while making this random sorting of partners, was that this would be one of the most powerful and reoccurring partnerships on SA Volunteers. "Ideally, you partner with one person only once as a Volunteer, simply because, we want everyone to have a chance to work and interact with each other," says Shriya Gautam, who plays the head honcho of all the tasks allotted to the volunteers. This was a rule Vedant Chandel and Rakshanda Thakur were not going to follow... "Not because they are such rebels, but because, somehow, they always end up being sorted together, in the most serendipitous ways despite the best of our efforts," the Panel answers, admitting that maybe it's not such a bad thing after all. Vedant was labelled the Panel's Favourite...

Where do I begin about the whole Museum Visit! Okay, so we had a Coinage Workshop. A task was assigned to all of us to present our observation sheets based on our enlightenment on the subject by Shriya. A date was settled for a next SA meet in the Museum of Natural History in Chandigarh. So, we all met met again; this time, better acquainted with each other. Being slightly behind the schedule due to losing the direction, we lost a bit of the wisdom shed by Shriya on the origin and evolution of life on Earth, as we know it today.  The Cyclorama - Evolution of Life is housed on the ground floor of the Natural History Museum. The geological landscape paintings illustrate the origin of earth, evolution of life from unicellular organism to multi cellular plants and animals through the Archeaozoic, Paleaozoic, Permian, Devonian, Triassic, Jurassic, Oligocene, Miocene and Pleistocene periods. The Cyclorama - Evolution of Life International Doll Museum We were divided...