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www.oakvillebeaver.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Friday, July 23, 2010 · 14 Oakville resident enjoys digging up the past By Nathan Howes OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Digging around on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca, Oakville's Veronica Stoneman spent last month helping archaeologists uncover artifacts from a Byzantine settlement. Stoneman, who has a degree in classical studies from the University of Western, travelled to Spain last month for the dig through an international program with ArchaeoSpain, an educational and archaeological non-profit organization based in Connecticut and Madrid. Stoneman and a group of archaeologists and archaeology students from Spain, the United States, Canada and Australia, spent the month focusing on an area that used to house a 7th century church. Some of the daily tasks on site included excavation and mapping of the site, extracting and cataloguing artifacts. The team excavated several walls and burials. Stoneman helped uncover quite a few graves at the site, where archaeologists have been present since 2005. "It's a basilica Byzantine, probably 5th or 6th century A.D. What they hope to find, which we did, is graves mostly. So there were quite a few graves we uncovered, which is kind of neat because we got to deal with human remains," said Stoneman. "The structure is still there, but uncovering bits of what the entire site looks like, and coins, is also important. Veronica Stoneman "They found one (a coin) on the final day, which is nice because you can date the site if you find the coin because it usually has a date on it. It was interesting." This is the second dig for Stoneman, who went through ArchaeoSpain last year on a dig to Rome for the Monte Testaccio program. She got involved because she wanted to try Greek and Roman fieldwork. "Originally, I found out about them because I was researching fieldwork opportunities and I wanted to (do) Greek and Roman fieldwork," said Stoneman. The programs do offer academic credit for those participating, but since Stoneman already has a degree, to her it was more of a vacation. "Well, for me, it's sort of vacation, but I'm sure some people would consider it work, but mostly its just extracurricular." Archaeologists have already uncovered a basilica, a baptistery with two baptismal basins and two sectors of adjacent rooms used for housing and funeral rites. Stoneman says not many people have heard of the Byzantine settlement or its empire. "Basically after the Roman empire sort of split up, it became the eastern half and the western half. The eastern half, which is centered around Istanbul, became the Byzantine Empire and they were involved in a lot of the Crusades," said Stoneman. "Because they were sort of former Roman Empire, they had properties and they were all over the place. "They think the site was around 500 A.D. and the Byzantine Empire itself lasted until about 1400 (A.D.)." According to Stoneman, archaeologists think people may have occupied the site before then, because it's a place people have been living in since prehistory. They have found material there from before any written language was known. "They had found sites on the island so they think chances are there was somebody there before the Byzantines, but that's mainly what we're uncovering now." Not only did Stoneman enjoy the work, but she also enjoyed living there with a group of people she had just met because they shared the same passion for archaeology. "It's really good to be with people who are interested in the same thing I am, because usually when I tell people that I'm interested in archaeology and I have a degree in classical studies, they kind of go "Oh, well that's nice,"" said Stoneman. "But everyone was really friendly and it was a really nice time." With her second dig now completed, there won't be much rest for Stoneman, as she plans on going back to Rome in September for a third dig. After that, she is thinking about going for a master's degree in archaeology. "If I can get into university or if I have to start taking some classes, I might do that in January or the following September," said Stoneman. "The degree I have is basically (a) history degree so there's not a lot of practical knowledge that we were taught about archaeology. "(As) part of doing fieldwork, I want to get a lot of experience actually doing it and I want to hopefully get a masters degree in that at some point." Students from 14 countries and 157 universities have participated in ArchaeoSpain programs since it was founded in 2000. For more information about the organization, visit www.archaeospain.com.