VOLUNTEERS AT HALAI FOR SUMMER 2008
(For flyer in pdf format click here)

The Cornell Halai and East Lokris Project is looking for several volunteers to take part in our six week field season in Greece during the coming summer (June 28-August 10).

Our focus is on the archaeological site of Halai, in the village of Theologos, on the North Euboean gulf about 75 miles northwest of Athens (2 hours by bus). The site was a settlement in the Neolithic period, followed after a hiatus by a Greco-Roman town with a small fortified seaside acropolis. The main later periods of the town are Archaic, Hellenistic and Late Roman (Early Christian).

Volunteers in 2008 will help with the description and recording of artifacts from Halai in the project's storerooms and with study and conservation at the site. Those interested in archaeological ceramics and in handling and learning about Neolithic pottery are especially welcome. Although no particular skills or experience are required, volunteers should have a serious interest in learning about field archaeology. Volunteers are expected to spend a minimum of 4 weeks with the project.

Living quarters are at our camp at Vivos, 2 miles from the site, and a 4-minute walk from the nearest bay. Our storerooms are at Tragana, 21/2 miles from the camp. Besides swimming, recreation includes walks in the beautiful valleys and hills in the area and visits to various nearby sites known through excavations, standing remains, scatters of sherds, etc.

CHELP covers volunteers' basic living costs while they are in Greece but not travel. Accommodation is in tents (beds are provided, bring sleeping bags) and there are showers, flushing toilets and a washing machine. Participants make use of a spacious kitchen adjacent to a broad terrace where we congregate to eat, have meetings and lectures, etc.

Volunteers will have the opportunity to hear talks by and interact with specialists studying the material at Halai.

Those interested in volunteering can contact Coleman by e-mail with queries at jec13@cornell.edu. To apply, please send an e-mail with relevant personal information, including a resume and contact information for a couple of references.

INFORMATION ON HALAI STUDY SEASON, June 28-August 10, 2008
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The study season is 6 weeks. Full time participants should be in camp at Vivos by the evening of Saturday June 28 and stay until Sunday morning of August 10. See the CHELP web page for information on getting to Halai/Vivos (http://halai.arts.cornell.edu). We work a full day on weekdays and a half-day on Saturday. Our daily schedule is generally as follows, though it may be somewhat modified during the season: morning start at 6:30 or 7:00 AM; break in mid-morning; lunch and rest for a couple of hours in early and mid afternoon; finish in afternoon at 5:30 PM; dinner at 7:30 or 8:00PM, depending on the heat. The time between 5:30 and 7:30PM is mostly available for swimming, walks in the countryside, etc., except for those who have dinner chores (see below). We have occasional optional trips to nearby sites or other points of interest in the later afternoon and occasional evening seminars before or after supper.

We supply basic living costs. Living in tents (some fairly large and can accommodate couples); we supply beds, sheets and blankets, towels, etc. Food, pretty much everything except beer, soft-drinks and junk-food snacks. We bring food from camp to the workrooms and site for lunch to keep costs down.

Participants are responsible for food preparation and other camp chores (the rise of the Euro against the dollar and inflation preclude other arrangements). We rotate through salad preparation, cooking of a main dinner dish, dishwashing, cleaning of kitchen, showers and toilets, taking out the garbage, etc. There is always basic food in the camp on weekends and participants are responsible for their own food costs for dinners out (except for the occasional group excursion) or when travelling elsewhere on weekends.

Although we work a half-day on Saturdays, everybody is entitled to one complete free weekend of their choice starting on Friday after work until Sunday evening.

Participants should bring any medicines you might need and your prescriptions for anything that must be renewed. There is a drug store in Tragana, but some things easily available in the US (e.g., ibuprofen) are not in Greece and the European versions of drugs may not always be quite the same. In case of medical emergencies we go first to a clinic with doctors in Atalanti, 20 min. from camp and they are able to take care of bee stings, minor infections, etc. For more serious injuries we would go to a hospital about an hour away, either at Leivadhia or Lamia or, if time permits, to Athens. Plan to bring lots of sun screen a good broad-brimmed hat and your favorite water bottle; also, a flashlight and/or headlight. Rubber shoes or flip-flops are good on the bare ground around the tents and for swimming. There are mosquitoes and we have found that Skin-So-Soft may keep them at bay on the terrace. The tents have pretty good mosquito screens but if you are especially concerned consider bringing good quality netting for your bed.

Resources on the research: two preliminary reports on our work in Hesperia (Vol. 61, No. 3, 1992 and Vol. 68, No. 3, 1999). Versions of these and other Halai documents are available elsewhere on our web page at "Online Reports" and you can also get Hesperia online through the CU Library gateway via JSTOR at "e-Journals." For earlier work at the site see Hetty Goldman, "The Acropolis at Halai," Hesperia 9, 1940, 381-514 (also available online).

EXCAVATIONS AT MITROU

Intitial surface survey was carried out at the Bronze Age site of Mitrou by CHELP in 1988 and 1989 and Cornell participated in the first season of excavations in 2004 (see here). For the continuation of excavations under the Mitrou Archaeological Project (MAP), please go to the MAP web page (http://www.mitrou.org).

If you have any questions, please send mail or email to John Coleman, Department of Classics, Goldwin Smith Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853; jec13@cornell.edu. We'd like to thank everybody who has contacted us already to express an interest in the project. Opportunities for participation are limited and that it may be some time before we will make final decisions about participants.