6/30 Sunday’s History Lesson: The Etruscans

Etruscan Territory, image from Wikipedia

Since everything in Italy is closed on Sunday it’s a great time to do some reading and report back to you. Today’s topic of choice is about the Etruscans.  This morning Lexy and I traveled to the San Pellegrino Quarter and got a history book on Viterbo that also covers the architecture, piazzas and other places in the area. The first three pages of the book review the history of Viterbo.  Not normally being a fan of history I would think three pages of solid text is overkill to explain the history of anything, but then again I’m from the western part of the United States where really three pages can cover about everything. Viterbo however needs much more to cover it adequately. Italy is so rich in history, its just astounding.  I’m not used to having to pay attention to “BCE” or any of those identifiers.         

I know that was all choppy, so let me bring it back to my initial topic:  The Etruscans.  On one of our first days here Lexy and I wandered into a courtyard where Paula told us the “benches” were actually sarcophagi from Etruscan tombs.  The Etruscans were the people here before the Romans.  All around Viterbo are artifacts of the original inhabitants.  Huge stone sculptures the Etruscans carved from nenfro, a volcanic rock the Etruscans favored for sculpture still dot the area. For example in the Palazzo del Podesta there is an Etruscan nenfro lion sculpture still looking down on the piazza from atop a column the Romans built.

Italy’s history is just a crazy patchwork of constant war with territory changing hands between groups at regular intervals. The Etruscans gave way to the Romans, then the Goths, Byzantines, Franks and Papal States, among others, controlled the area at one time. I realize history books don’t include lengthy chapters on peace time, but it still seems a bit crazy.

The origin of the Etruscans is still up in the air.  I read that they may have come from Lydia in Asia Minor as described by Herodotus in the 5th Century BC.  Herodotus describes a city that was plagued with famine for 18 years.  The king then decided that something needed to be done, since nothing was getting better.  He divided the population into two, he stayed with half the population in their city, then sent his son, Tyrrhenian with the second half to migrate which is how they may have arrived in Italy.  Not all of Herodotus’s accounts have been verified so this story may not be accurate.  Other people feel that the Etruscans may have been indigenous to the area, however there are some problems with that idea as well.  Etruscan pottery and artwork found in Italy are similar to those found in Asia Minor. This may be because the Estruscans originated there or from trading with the native peoples.  The Etruscan language predated and influenced Latin, in fact Rōma the Latin word for the capital city, Rome, could have came directly from the Estruscan Ruma (that is if the Romulus and Remus story is incorrect!).

Recently DNA testing has been used to try to find the origins of the Etruscans and they’ve had some interesting results.  The Etruscans have no DNA similarities to northern European people.  There are however some mitochondrial DNA similarities to the inhabitants of Asia Minor which supports Herodotus’s writings.  (On a side note for you non-bio people, you always get your mitochondria from you mother.  It contains it’s own DNA, so since it’s never shuffled with any other DNA it remains pretty pure with the exception of rare mutations.  Because of this, a woman can trace her lineage back however far she has the mitochondrial DNA for.  Just like a man can trace his through his Y chromosome on the male side).  
      

The Etruscans were miners, mostly copper and iron, which helped enrich their people so they were able to expand to the southern peninsula of Italy.  They eventually allied themselves with the Carthaginians against the Greeks in the 6th century BC when the Greeks started creating colonies around the Italian peninsula and dominating trade in Italy.  Previous to this the Greeks held trading posts in Africa, and Sicily, starting their monopoly on trade.  They new colonies in Corsica, Sardinia and Iberia finally causing the tension to erupt.  The B

Battle of Alalia, image from Wikipedia

attle of Alalia (540 BC) caused a shift of power between the Greeks and the Carthaginians.  The Etruscans were defeated by the Greeks, causing the Etruscans to lose their southern provinces.  This marked the beginning of their decline.  In 474 BC the Etruscans tried to regain their southern provinces, but were defeated in the Battle of Cumae. This was another naval battle, between the allied Syracuse and Cumae troops and the Etruscans. The Etruscans lost much of their influence in Italy, and after a few more losses on the battle field they were officially conquered by the Romans in the 3rd century BC.     

Not much of the original Etruscan Viterbo remains.  When the Romans first invaded and dominated Southern Etruria the Etruscans resisted.  Viterbo is located in a very strategic location for travel by way of Via Cassia, a main road through Italy made by the Romans after their conquest.  So basically there are some artifacts, but not much else.  The Etruscans remain a mysterious people to this day.  Next weekend Lexy and I want to go to Civita di Bagnoregio, which is also an old Etruscan city.  Earthquakes have caused much of the town to fall down the cliffs and today the population is a staggering 15.  It’s known as il paese che muore, or “the dying town.”  You have to travel across a long bridge to get to the city.  So excited about that!      

Oh my gosh...  Light bulb!!!  In yesterday’s blog I said that we went to the Terranean, thinking that was the spelling since we were so north it wouldn’t be the “middle” terranean.  The northern part of the sea is called the Tyrrhenian Sea, in reference to the son that was sent from Lydia to migrate his people.  Wow, I feel like an idiot...        

Alright, heading over to Scott’s place in a bit to get him some of these pictures.  Now, what should I do for dinner tonight...  Love Italian food!

6/29 A day at the beach

In any language it’s so easy to take a word, pronounce it different, and end up saying something completely different.  Today we went to the beach.  However if you ask Alfredo, we went to the “bitch.”  I guess that’s what we get for not rolling our r’s.

Nice easy morning, no rushing out of the house and walking up to the university.  Lexy, Claire and I were meeting our ride, Alfredo, at 11.  I think I rolled out of bed at 9, and only that early cause of the darn pigeon cooing outside my window.  I attempted fried eggs for myself today, and I think I’ll wait till I get home to repeat that.  The eggs here are so neat.  First off, they don’t keep them in the fridge at the stores.  Makes me a bit nervous (I think I’ve mentioned this before.)  However, still not sick, so whatever.  Normally I scramble the eggs, so I don’t notice how different they are.  Today after I put them in my pan, I noticed how dark yellow, almost orange the yolks are.  Are these just not mass produced eggs or something?  Makes a lot more sense them using egg yolks in those fresco paintings if this was the color they were starting with.  Anyway, the poor eggs, I ended up breaking one yolk, (totally not used to using olive oil in place of butter), and I overcooked them.  Hard yolks are not yummy.  The other odd thing about them was they tasted like lemons.  I promise I wasn’t on any drugs this morning!

Took of to Piazza de Sacrario, aka the winged statue, to wait for the rest of our posse.  We were all so grateful that Alfredo was willing to drive us, makes everything so much easier.  It was about an hour and a half drive to the coast, and the entire way Alfredo was pointing out different ruins or crops.  Love having a tour guide.  We passed a nuclear power plant.  This one used to be in use, however they closed it after Chernobyl.  Sometime in the 90s they wanted to reopen it, but it was voted against.  Sooo, there it sits.  Alfredo joked that they have concerts there.  I didn’t fall for it.  

The beach was beautiful in a very different way than I expected.  First off, it’s not on the sea, so there aren’t waves.  I really felt like I was at Tahoe, till Alfredo pointed out it was just a bit bigger.  This also isn’t considered the Mediterranean since it’s too north.  It’s just the Terranean.  At least so says the people up at the university.  I can’t find it on google, so they may have been picking on me...  Seems to be happening more and more...  They are getting to know me!  So, no waves, no trees, but this very long strip of black sand along the water.  I think us three girls spent more time looking at the sand than the water.  It was very hot to walk on, but it was so different.  I’ve seen the black pebble beach by the light house up in Newport Oregon, but nothing this dark.  We followed in fashion of the other beach goers and put up our umbrella castle, then went to test the water for a bit.  For having such a Tahoe feel that salt water certainly does surprise you.  I always figure if it has waves it’s salt, if not, it’s fresh.  I know that’s totally wrong, but for the places I frequent it’s perfect.

Just to the north of the beach is a beautiful cliff that juts out into the water.  Apparently Scott has a friend with a restaurant over there that serves wonderful fresh caught sea food.  Unfortunately for us the friend is in Bangkok opening a restaurant, so we don’t get to go.  North of that is a wildlife reserve.  We girls wanted to see it, but the beach was just so nice we ended up not having time.  If Wikipedia would hurry up and load I could tell you a bit about it.  I may have to just add it in later...

We stayed at the beach for a good five hours.  I won the lobster award.  But, haha, wait till tomorrow.  Mine will be gone, Alfredo will still have his.  Emmanuelle joined us on the beach with his 7 year old son Leo.  That little boy is so adorable, and Emmanuelle is such a great dad.  The boys and Claire played beach tennis, basically ping pong without the table.  Alfredo and Emmanuelle certainly took it very serious, both boys were covered in sand by the time they were exhausted.  Claire still looked fresh as a cucumber.  And she did very well! 

Around 5:30 we packed up, and took off.  On the ride home Alfredo stopped at a cute little fruit stand.  I really felt like I was in California!  All of the fruit sold is from their farm, and I was surprised at the wide variety they had.  We picked up some apricots and peaches.  The country side is just so beautiful.  Even the farms.  It’s not flat, but constant hills all over.  I also love the buildings, so typical Italian with the yellow-orange stucco and the tile roves.  We crossed one spot where lavender is typically grown, however because of the recent rains you couldn’t smell it.  

One more stop before we hit Viterbo.  We’ve been bugging the locals to tell us about the hot springs, there are so many right around Viterbo.  Alfredo took us to one that is famous, mentioned in some book or movie called “Dante” or something...  Honestly I had no clue what he was talking about, although the other two girls did.  That was a total smile and nod moment.  I suppose I’ll be looking that one up too, huh???

Well, that brings me to where I sit now.  Just finished a home cooked meal with Lexy, and now we are waiting to go out again with Alfredo and Stefano.  Not sure how long we are going to last night, that sun was exhausting.  Tomorrow the boys are going climbing, which Claire is dyeing to go do, so we are tagging along.  Sounds like it’s a beautiful spot in the forest, so I’m looking forward to getting some quiet reading in.  Now, I should probably put some more lotion on this bright red skin of mine...

6/28 Normal Friday

You ever have one of those days where you swear you can’t do anything right?  I’m totally there right now.  Seems every little decision I’ve made today I’ve questioned, from did I take the right street to should I really have let that spider go.  Hate these types of days.  I blame the “The American’s aren’t right” mentality from some of these Italians...  I don’t care what that lady thinks, I like the rain.  

Today's work

I don’t have much to report today.  Typical lab day.  Cleaned some cores, made some new cores, came home.  It was raining, so that’s a bit different.  Nice to feel the rain in my hair, so fresh.  I know I mentioned buying an umbrella on FaceBook, but it just seems like a waste of money.  People don’t melt in the rain, I could really care less what my hair looks like, and it wasn’t hard enough to saturate my sweater.  So I bypassed that.  There are better things to spend 10 euros on.

Lexy, Claire and I went out to the bar we went to with the USAC students.  This time Alfredo and Stefano joined us, two italians we know from the university.  There is some sadistic fun talking in mostly slang and watching their faces, course this always leads to discussions about the differences in our languages.  Once I told Alfredo I play the bass, so he later brought that up again, however saying it like the fish.  This resulted in a half hour conversations between the two, and he even brought in the baseball type of base.  All I can say is I’m very happy I don’t have to learn English.  It simply makes no sense.  At another point in the night Lexy wanted to know what they put in lemonchellos, like what kind of alcohol. This launched us into a half hour discussion about what it means to “put in” a drink.  (Course really I don’t think they knew, they seemed to be stalling till Lexy just simply asked the bar tender)  

After apertivo we walked around the Caffiena festival a bit.  There are tents set up all over our piazza, through the medieval districted, then north of here to Piazza Sacrario where Claire’s apartment is.  These booths seem to contain everything from photovoltaic cell info, to books, to honey, to gelato.  Lexy and I were both very excited because the booths right outside our door hold everything we could need:  fruits and veggies, wine, gelato, mojitos...  Of all the booths I think we lucked out with the best ones.  These are all affiliated with the Slow Foods Movement, which was started here in Italy.  I’m not really familiar with it, I’ve only been told about it once from a friend in the states.  Basically if I’m getting this right it’s just about taking food back to its basics (very easy with these amazing Italian dishes) and making that food from local ingredients.  So, no highly processed hydrogenated wannabe-plastic nacho cheese.  Man I mess that stuff...  You can tell many of the little shops here in Viterbo believe in this slow foods movement.  Looking at a fruit stand the fruits all look natural, not genetically modified or waxed.  Many of the shop keepers have them delivered from local farms.  Cheeses are made at the stores from local ingredients, meats are for the most part local.  It’s quite amazing, and now I more than ever want to go home and start my own garden.  The food is just simply amazing.  Ok, so the festival is more than just food.  Walking around we saw piazzas where people were holding discussions conference style, two people talking up on a stage.  Not a clue what they were talking about, Alfredo didn’t translate.  In other piazzas bands were (are) playing.  The streets they were crazy busy, and at one point I lost the group trying to keep up.  Luckily Alfredo stayed with me, I think I knew where I was, but it was a potential recipe for a very tired easy-to-get-lost Kristina to spend hours trying to find her apartment!  About 10 minutes later we found them.  Leave it to my luck, this was the one time Lexy wasn’t wearing highlighter so she was more difficult to find.  After wandering around a bit more and having our nightly gelato fix, we ventured home.  Tomorrow we are hitching a ride from Alfredo to the sea, so that should be fun.  Looking forward to more sun, and maybe chasing some waves.  I’ll let Lexy, Claire and Alfredo do the swimming!

See?  Told you.  Not much today.  I hope to get some great pictures for you of the beach tomorrow.  I’m thinking I should get some sleep, maybe I’ll feel better in the morning.

6/27 A day at Lake Ventina, of COREs!

Lake Ventina

Lexy and I have been trying to come up with a nickname for our project.  We quickly discovered a huge problem; scientists tend to be more literal than teachers.  Our first idea, and my personal favorite, was “We Dig Cores” which is fabulous because it could mean both the literal, we dig cores with shovels as well as the hipster "We Love Cores". After proposing this to Scott and Paula, we were schooled in the fact that they don’t actually dig the cores, the process is to push a tube over... blah blah blah...  Party poopers!  Ok, not really, it’s just funny how different people think.  Lexy then came up with saying “of cores” for everything, of course.  It’s been an entertaining way to occupy our travel time.  For the record, defining words like “corney” and “lame” to Italian is very difficult without using more slang.

Scott, Gianluca, and
Emmanuelle building the skiff

Scott jokingly told us to meet at Porta della Verita bright and early at 5:00am.  He was actually able to keep a straight face for a whole 10 seconds. The actual start time 7:30am saw us off on the two hour ride up to Lake Ventina.  I got to ride in the “squeakymobile,” and now I know why they call it Squeaky.  Its a van that must date to the Romans.  Let’s dive into the actual coring process now.

On the lake we used a floating platform or skiff that you can tell was designed by a scientist.  By that I don’t mean high tech.  It’s nothing more than a piece of plywood, two large pieces of foam covered in tarps and some straps.  It looks pretty stable with three guys standing on it so kudos for coming up with this contraption.  The foam pieces come off so it’s easy to transport.  In the center of the deck there is a round hole cut out where the coring collecting tube  will be inserted to collect the samples. There are four tie downs at each corner for anchors, and one spot for a pulley.  That’s about it, a very simple machine.  We also took along a larger boat with the skiff.  This is where the supplies, the record keeper and lunch went. 

Scott floating on the skiff, Gianluca
and Emmanuelle coming to save him

The first step for coring is finding the location.  They paddled around for a bit looking for the deepest part of the lake.  Since they’ve already cored this lake in years past, they had an idea of where to look.  When they find the spot the four anchors are dropped and tied off for the skiff.  It’s important for the skiff not to move so then the coring device can be dropped into the same hole.  Once the skiff is anchored the larger boat is tied up to the skiff.  Since we had such a large party today there wasn’t enough room for Lexy or I on either boat so Paula let us borrow her little blow up boat.  This worked out well because we had the versatility of a small boat, the freedom of coming and going when we wanted, and didn’t have to worry about literally “rocking the boat.”  

Scott and Gianluca prepping for another core,
Emmanuelle getting the GPS coordinates

The first core they took was just of the surface.  The first step is to take a clear tube that is connected to a long metal rod, insert a plunge in the bottom of the clear tube then this contraption goes into the water.  As it gets deeper, they are able to screw another metal rod to the top of the original one.  A metal rod also goes on the top of the plunger and will also get additional rods.  They then push the entire contraption into the bottom of the lake.  And they do literally push.  I had imagined them with a t-post hole digger you would use when digging a tree steak.  Gianluca, Emmanuelle, and Scott all pushed down at the same time, as to not jar the sample.  The metal rods were tapped off at certain intervals, so they were able to see when the clear tube is full of sediment.  As the tube was pushed down into the sediment, the plunger was pushed up.  Sounds more complicated than it is...  You ever put your straw in your soda pop, put your finger over the top, then pull it out?  Straw is still full.  Same idea here the plunger takes the place of your finger.  So again, with the rods marked off, they can tell how much sediment they’ve collected, then they pull the whole contraption up.  Since this tube was clear, they were able to see the core pretty well.  Since the plunger is in the tube, it was cut out.  Then, sorbitol, or some chemical, I could be wrong on the name, was added to the remaining water in the top of the core.  This causes the water to coagulate, making a solid layer on the top of the core.  They capped off both ends, and this one was done.  Now, you can imagine this is really wet sediment, so if that top hadn’t been solidified it would have settled like a milkshake which would have destroyed the "layers of time" preserved in the core.

Scott, Gianluca, and
Emmanuelle taking a core

I mentioned that they took a surface core first.  The process for taking the testing cores is basically the same.  This time they used a slightly different set up.  Instead of a clear tube, they had a metal one that was slightly smaller in diameter.  Everything else was the same though.  Metal rods, plunger...  Scott at one point was joking around with the guys, telling them if they are going to drop something, drop a tool.  The livingston (the name of that metal tube device) ran the project about a thousand dollars.  But the metal rods, (this made my jaw drop) cost $300 a piece!  Crazy.  All of a sudden even a nice pair of channel locks seems cheap.  So, metal tube complete with plunger and metal rod is lowered into the center hole cut into the skiff.  Once it hits the bottom of the lake, the guys all push on the rod to fill the metal tube.  When full, they pull the whole contraption up again.  This time however, they don’t leave the core in the tube.  The pulley ratchet thing I mentioned earlier is then used to help push the core out onto another piece of tube.  Remember those black PVC tubes I cleaned the other day???  The core is pushed out onto one of these, then the second half is set on top of it.  The tube is then wrapped in saran wrap to help keep it from drying out.  Cap it on top and bottom, mark what it is, and poof!  One done!

I asked Scott how they are going to get the tube back in the original hole.  This made sense, I should have realized.  The boat is anchored from all four corners, so it’s not moving much at all.  The hole if fixed in the boat, and the livingston basically acts like a plumb bob.  The lake wasn’t very deep to begin with, I think about 4 meters.

Claire and Irene sealing
up the core

After they completed this second core, Lexy and I rowed to shore to let Paula and her son Nate have a shot.  By lunch time the guys had already cored 11 meters, and by 2 when my half of the party was about to take off they were just starting a second core.  All in all, very successful coring day!

Other than that, easy day.  It’s neat to see them actually take these cores that we’ve been working with.  Takes some of the mystery out of it.  It’s also nice to see this project from head to toe, see how it all fits together.  I can see how that could be useful in my classroom.  Maybe instead of all the lab set up I tend to do for them, mixing the pH solutions, imbibing seeds, setting up certain apparatuses for lab, I should be letting them do this.  Actually see a lab from head to toe.  Would take a bit more training, but I really think the pay off would be worth it.  Food for thought.

Alright, dinner in a bit.  Thinking the spaghetti place again.  That curry spaghetti was soooo good!!!

6/26 Chironimids, Ostracods, and Gastropods

I think I say this every day, but it was a beautiful day!  It’s raining right now.  Love the rain.  

Lexy and I in the lab

Followed the morning routine today for the most part.  I love my new little caffé maker, it makes a great brew so we indulged in that.  I figure we have to make 10 caffé’s on that little guy to have it paid for itself.  So, 8 more to go!  Whohooo!  Now I have to figure out how to get some sleep on caffeine.  We left for the university around 8, got there shortly after.  

Scott was in the office today so that was helpful.  I think I mentioned Monday that there is a shortage of the deionized water and we were waiting for instructions whether we could use tap water or not for cleaning the sediment.  We can!!  Yippy!!!  We had to slightly alter our procedure for the storage process.  Initially we were just placing our samples in a vial, and because they had only been exposed to the deionized water there was no issue with degradation of the sample.  Since we switched to tap water for cleaning we had to add a drop of 10% hydrochloric acid to the vial.  HCl is a strong acid which is able to neutralize any ions left from the original tap water that could degrade the sample.

The organic matter from the core
under the dissecting microscope

I performed the same job I had last lab day, I was Microscope Girl.  I really want a cape!  It made the most sense because I have more experience with plants as well as using microscopes than Lexy does.  She rocks at the chemistry and math stuff so I’m more than happy to handle the biology stuff.  Not that bits of leaves that are hundreds of years old are really life anymore, but I digress.

We were able to clear about five samples before lunch.  Since Scott was there I shared with him some of my concerns about the samples.  I’m not exactly sure what to look for so he offered to walk me through a sample.  The one we had ready didn’t seem that great, and it really wasn’t.  However, like a typical scientist, he looked through the microscope and was instantly excited!  He saw some little moon shaped objects I’ve been writing off as the carapace of some insect, and while I was partially right, they are apparently interesting.  These moon shaped objects are the mouth parts of something called a Chironomid.  This is one of the aquatic stages of midges, those little bug you see flying over water.  (You may also know that term if you like fly fishing!  And if you do, teach me!!!)  Chironomidae are found in water at a specific temperature therefore the Chironomidae act as an identifier for the status of the lake at that time.  I was able to pull out a whole bunch of these so Scott can potentially send them to a colleague of his. He also pointed out the Ostracods again, these look like little white or clear beans.  I need to look these suckers up, I don’t know anything about them.  We also found a few gastropods in the sample.  Now, who can tell me what “gastro” means!!?  You may have heard of a gastroenterologist, they would study your stomach (and other attached organs).  Pod you may know, and not as a device that plays music.  Foot.  So gastropods literally have a stomach foot.  Snails are gastropods.  So, what I see in the microscope are little shells that look like mini snail shells.  Very cute!

Diatoms and other particles.  200X

I had a bit of down time between samples so I was able to hop on the other microscope and check out the smear slides again.  The diatoms in some of those slides are so amazing.  Claire taught me more about the importance of the diatoms; the researchers are looking in the different layers of sediment for diatoms because diatoms are specific to the body of water they are in and they are also very susceptible to temperature and pH.  By finding key diatoms that have known temperature and pH tolerances they are able to extrapolate those conditions for the lake at that time.  In the picture to the left the diatoms are mostly the canoe shaped objects.  They do come in many different shapes, but those are the most abundant varieties in the samples so far.  I really like microscopes.

Lunch was very similar to yesterday, except for the rain.  It’s so beautiful.  A soft little sprinkle.  We all ate lunch inside, still visited our caffé, then back to work.  Lexy and I completed three more samples.  On the last one I asked one of the resident plant experts named Alfredo to help me find plants.  Alfredo told me I’m going to be crazy by the time I go back to the States!  At that moment, after staring through the scope all day I'm sure he was right.  Alfredo found a small leaf for me and in my excitement I promptly hit the petri dish by accident!!!  I searched forever and I still couldn't find that darn leaf again!  We did however find one pretty good sample today, I was able to get some very nice leaf fragments out of it.  Even Alfredo thinks they may be terrestrial.  

Gianluca talking to Scott, Alfredo looking in the microscope

That pretty much wraps up today.  Picked up some new music on my iTunes because I was desperate, and the .69¢ bin on iTunes has some good 80’s music.  OH!  For the record, typing on an Italian keyboard is a headache.  There were three symbols on one key, and I for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to get the one I wanted.  So glad I brought my Macintosh!  We are coring Lake Ventina tomorrow, so that will be fun to explain.  I’m really looking forward to seeing how this goes, and it helps that this is a swimming lake.  Nothing like science and a tan!  

6/25 Smear slides and Spaghetti

A trend is starting to emerge:  Lexy and I are the only people that don’t order wine with dinner.  This is my third night that I’ve consumed that fortified grape juice stuff...  I’m sure that tidbit of info will explain again the dis-conjunction of the following text...  

Cleaning the coring tubes

Lab day again, however with a different focus.  We had a peaceful walk up to the university, grabbed our coffee (the barista there knows us now, I didn’t have to ask for my cappuccino!) then over to Scott’s office.  Lexy and I started out our “lab” work cleaning the PVC pipes for the coring later this week.  To briefly review the coring process again (i’ll get better details Thursday along with pictures)  from a raft floating on a lake a large tube is pushed into the sediment.  These pieces of PVC tube have been cut length wise so the cores can actually be taken out of the tubes without disturbing the sediment.  If you’ve ever used a band saw on something, you know the little burrs it leaves on the edges.  These can really mess up samples, so we cleaned about 30 tubes.  It’s really nice to help out, even something this simple.  And we got some good time out in the beautiful Italian weather that decided to cool off a bit.  Great way to start the day.  

Claire and Lexy using the
computer to view the slides

After working on the coring tubes, we joined Paula and Claire who were working on the smear slides.  A smear slide is basically just a very fine sample of the sediments found in a section of the core.  Claire walked us through the process, which was quite interesting.  It starts with a core, much like you’ve seen before.  She marked off every 10 centimeters on the core where she will be taking her samples from.  A toothpick is then dipped into the sediment picking us a very tiny sample.  Two or three drops are then placed on a microscope slide which is then “smeared” around.  This creates a very thin cloud of sediment on the slide.  The slide is then placed on a hot pad to dry.  Next, two drops of adhesive is placed on top of the sample, then a coverslip.  This cures under an ultraviolet light for three minutes, after which the slide is complete!  

Claire and Paula completed several slides while Lexy and I observed them.  The microscope they were using to view the slides had a computer connection, so we were able to take a picture of what the slides look like.  (There is one on the dissecting microscope for the core samples, I’ll work on getting some pictures from this one as well) 

We are searching for certain sediment, microfossils, and diatoms.  The picture here includes a diatom, a small pill shaped protist.  Protists are unicellular organisms that aren’t quite animals, not plants, and not fungi.  It’s basically the “junk drawer” kingdom, and naturally my favorite one.  Diatoms are specific to the type of water they live in.  I was watching a CSI a long time ago and they were actually able to say exactly where their victim drowned based on the diatoms found in her stomach.  Pretty cool stuff.  (The diatoms, not the person drowning!)

New awesome espresso maker

After checking out the smear slides, we called it a day.  Lexy and I went for a walk down some streets that have our favorite window shopping stores.  Since it was so early in the day we were able to actually go inside!!!  There is a little kitchen gadget store we’ve both been drooling over.  She loves this little hedge hog cleaning tool, I picked up a little espresso stove top device.  We pealed ourselves out of there (it was painful, so much cute stuff!) and we went in several clothing shops.  Ok, if you haven’t been to Italy, this makes no sense.  THERE ARE NO SIZES!  I mean really, you just pick something up and it either fits or not.  I was able to pick up two very cute dresses for an affordable amount, but a few I tried on were just too small.  Apparently I’m at the upper end of their size chart.  It’s also a pain to find a dress that is going to cover you in a comfortable manner.  Maybe I’m just getting old...  

My dinner!  Three different types
of spaghetti

So, lab work done.  Shopping done.  Time for dinner.  We met Claire and headed out to a restaurant that the USAC students had recommended.  This restaurant has over 300 spaghetti dishes.  I’m not joking.  It’s not Olive Garden style where you pick your pasta, pick your sauce, pick your toppings.  They literally hand you a menu with 300 different sauce/topping combinations.  Totally overwhelming.  Then of course, as soon as we have a guess what we want, the waitress brings over the English version, so we started all over!  Lexy got some spaghetti with asparagus, egg, and a cream sauce.  I got the spaghetti with a cream sauce, eggs yolk, curry, and shrimp, and Claire got spaghetti with a cream sauce, zucchini flowers, pumpkin flowers, and white beans.  We shared all three, then realized we were getting dirty looks from our waitress...  Meh.  A bottle of wine and three spaghetti dishes later, we were all three very happy little lab workers.  That is certainly a restaurant we will be visiting again, it’s a nice break from pizza (although that is amazing too, which we had hash brown pizza for lunch.  Very good).

Hash brown and Mushroom Pizza

That pretty much completes my day.  I’m now sitting here in a beautiful leopard print maxi dress still enjoying the effects of my wine.  Sounds like a perfect time for some shut eye.  More lab work in the morning, probably back to cleaning samples, then coring on Thursday!  Whohooo!

6/24 Monday Labday

So I have to be honest.  I’ve been sitting with this blank page staring me in the face for the last hour now.  I’ve fiddled with my phone, looked around on my iPad, put some music on...  I’m just not exactly sure what new and exciting stuff to report to you today.  We’ll just travel through my day together and we’ll see what pops up.  Deal?

Today I most certainly did not wake up before my alarm.  It’s funny, not sure I’ve actually ever heard that alarm on my phone.  Took me a minute to realize it was coming from my room and not outside.  After figuring that out, went through the normal routine, however this time discovering I must have had a little mosquito friend in my room last night...  You may have to remind me to stop itching here and there.  Lexy and I took off to the university around 8.  Today’s weather was much more mild than it’s been, the walk was just beautiful with the clouds rolling in.  Every time we walk through the city I swear I notice something new.  It may be a new little shop, or a beautifully sculpted statue.  We even were treated to a little show in the park of an adorable old man warming up by punching a tree.  I think he was having a Rocky moment.  We visited the bar, then walked over to our office.  

Typical morning routine, abuse their super quick internet for picture uploading and such.  I uploaded a whole bunch of my Italy pictures to Costco and ordered them so Drew could see me.  He gave me the inspiration after we had Skyped yesterday.  He received my post card and asked which one I lived in! (The postcard was an assortment of buildings in Viterbo)  So I figured he’d like to see where I’ve been in a more tangible form, he gets a bit distracted with things on the computer.  

So, pictures uploaded, internet fully abused, 9:30 rolls around, we go up to the lab.  Claire was there!  We knew she would be, however she’s been here for a few days and we haven’t seen her yet.  Claire is Paula’s research student, she’s just starting out with the project as well.  However even Claire’s awesomeness was not enough to keep Lexy and I from our samples.  We were able to complete five more core samples.  Today I got to use the microscope to pull out the leaf fragments.  I decided after the second one that we need to change the labels on the vials from “Leaves” to “Leaf.”  So hard to find anything in those!  I’ve discussed the process we use for cleaning these samples.  We’ve soaked the 5cm of sediment in the sodium metaphosphate and now we are rinsing them through a sieve. Then what’s left in the sieve goes under the microscope to look for those terrestrial plant matter bits.  We ran into a small road block today.  You see, in Italy water is a bit more scares.  I’m not sure why but you can’t drink the tap water.  We’ve been using deionized water to clean our samples, and we’ve gone through three jugs.  Apparently the university doesn’t make that water, they order it.  Tomorrow we won’t be cleaning samples until we find out how we are going to get more water or if it’s alright to just use tap water.  If the lady at the carbon dating lab says tap water is ok, we’ll be back to sieving in no time.

I feel very fortunate to be working with Scott.  I’ve never worked on any other real research project, but Lexy has pointed out time and time again about how nice he is.  If there is a little bump in the road, Scott just looks at it and rolls with the punches.  I’m probably just being spoiled, it seems like his approach is the right way to go.  I couldn’t imagine working with someone who was micromanaging everything.  They’d go crazy, but I’d probably beat them there!  It’s also been interesting talking to Scott about what we do, teaching in the schools.  He teaches freshman level classes and he was explaining some issues he’s noticed with them, the lack of being able to use a text book, the inability to study, and worse off, their writing.  I work in our school system every day, so it all just seems common sense to me, so it always astounds me how little people outside know about what happens.  Every teacher has their horror stories about what happens in their classrooms, the fights, the joint rollings, the cell phone problems, the kids that refuse to do what you ask.  These are just normal things to many of us.  As teachers, teaching is actually such a small percentage of our job.  It was interesting to see Scott’s reaction to what we deal with in the classroom, and it was also enlightening to hear what he saw in his students.  If I can find ways to help my students access their text, or maybe find ways to help them understand how to listen to a lecture or study, that’s going to help them in the long run.  They are certainly not all college bound, but some are.  And let’s face it, those critical thinking skills needed to figure this stuff out are beneficial to them all.

Anyways, after our small sieving session, Lexy and I split for a while.  I went to the Ipercoop (supermarcato) cause I like having breakfast made of something other than those delicious cornettos filled with delicious sugary crema filling...  (Ok, total lie, I’d eat those everyday, but then I’m on a sugar high and still hungry.)  Also got a can of Pringles, sour cream and something...  Some evil person got me hooked on those...  After that, wandered home, again enjoying the beautiful not-hot day.  Lexy had been in contact with one of the USAC students, and got us an invite to go to a bar and partake in their favorite bar’s aperitivo.  This is a pretty cool thing that the Italians do.  Basically free food!  You go to a bar, order a drink.  Any drink.  A caffe, water, an alcoholic drink.  Then you can eat the food they put out for free!  This particular bar had a wide assortment of pasta and vegetable dishes; the USAC students said it was the best in Viterbo.  Nothing like free food for the price of just a glass of wine!  

We all hung out for about two hours, then a few of us decided to get some gelato.  Tonight’s flavors were Nutella and Ricotta Cannella.  Wonderful as always.  With our gelato in hand we wondered up to the Piazza San Lorenzo.  This is where the Palazzo dei Papi is.  I need to get more info on it for you, and some pictures.  All I know is this is where the word “covenant” came from, and where the current method of picking out a pope started.  I believe they had hidden the pope here once, but I’m sketch on the details.  Again, I’ll get back to you.  This is about one block from my apartment, so I feel silly for never going!  Such a beautiful place.  I’ll certainly get some pictures up here soon.

After the small tour we came home, and now here I sit.  Tomorrow we are working with Paula in the lab, it will be nice to see yet another aspect of this project.  That also means I’ll have new info for you then!!

6/23 A day of rest

What a crazy, eventful, exciting week.  I remember last night before going out thinking that the Colosseum visit must have been the day before... what a whirlwind. I wouldn’t change a thing though. This has been the experience of a lifetime.

Lake Lungo

We don’t have anything planned today.  To be truthful, I woke up at 12:30...  pm!  I think these Italians may have the right idea of closing up shop on Sundays.  Of course the lack of food in my fridge isn’t the most fun, these days of being out from 6:am to 10:pm make it hard to shop.

Since I really have nothing new to report for today, I figured I’d fill in some gaps from the week.  I’m experiencing so much and trying to record it all in such a small time period I’ve left out a lot.  A big "Thank you" to those of you asking questions, the feedback really helps figure out what I did and did not include in these blogs.  My individual travels aren’t lacking many details, however when it comes to the real reason I’m here I’ve left out a lot.  I’m not a researcher, and despite being a science teacher I haven’t spent a lot of time with scientific research.  The idea of heavy research has always been very overwhelming for me to the point I'm scared of it.  In short, I’m just like my students when it comes to this stuff.  I just spent the last hour looking over the initial information I received on the Rieti Project. When I first read through the synopsis it made little sense.  Yes, I read the words, but since I had no context to fit the project into it was just a bunch of words without real meaning.  I’m going to spend a good chunk of this blog going back over this project so hopefully it will make more sense. 

Overlook of Spoleta

Looking directly at the NSF (National Science Foundation) grant the official proposed title of this project is “Reconstructing 2500 years of environmental change at the periphery of Rome:  Integrating paleoecology and socioeconomic history to understand human response to climate.”  This project was started by Dr. Scott Mensing, professor at UNR in the department of geography, 5 years ago. This is the first year that they’ve had NSF funding, hence the first year they have incorporated teachers.  NSF is very focused on bringing scientific research into the classroom, so they are the ones that are funding my time here.  Over the course of those five years they have been collecting tons of data, and these last three years of this project will be aimed at some final data collection and then bringing it all together.  I’ve already discussed the types of data we are gathering, coring two lakes in the area, measuring vegetation, and finally water and sediment samples to look at aquatic fauna.

Ok, purpose.  I haven’t been clear on this at all, I knew right away I’d lose the forest for the trees.  However after seeing all the parts the whole is starting to make a lot more sense.  Basically there are some holes in scientific knowledge when it comes to the collapse of societies in relation to global climate change.  We know we’ve had fluctuating climates in the past, but it’s been unclear if this caused societies to collapse, or if societies caused the change in climate.  Most studies only look at one aspect of this issue, maybe just the physical or just the behavioral parts.  This project is bringing them all together.  If a community comes into an area and does not use the resources wisely, it can cause the entire ecosystem to fail.  This is what happened to Easter Island after they cleared out the surrounding forest.  However on the other side of the coin small natural fluctuations in an ecosystem can cause it to collapse as well.  By creating a clear understanding of how nature and societies can cause these changes it will help making better decisions when it comes to sustainability for us today.

Lake Ventina

This project is incorporating paleoecologists, geologists, social historians, and archeologists.  Basically science and history are being brought together.  As we are able to date certain sediment samples we can tie that to written record to see what those people actually experienced at that time.  This will then show if humans caused the climate change, if they were just responding to a natural occurrence of climate change, or perhaps even a relationship of the two.

I haven’t explained the choice of site!!  It’s not because Scott loves pasta.  Although I do commend the choice in a place with such stellar food.  The Rieti basin has been used for approximately 2,300 years for agricultural purposes, so people have been constantly using this land.  Looking for climate change and human responses to it in a place that wasn’t consistently used would just be silly.  This land is so history rich, there are written records, there are undisturbed lakes, it’s just the perfect equation to collect the data needed.

Top of Marmore falls, the
outlet of our water system

Over and over I’ve mentioned I’m not a researcher, I’m a teacher.  I feel really fortunate to have this opportunity for several reasons.  First, I’ve always thought I’d love research.  It sounds like a total blast!  However now after just one week of really seeing what it’s about, I don’t think it’s quite my style.  I’m happy to help out, but I think I would be dreadfully lonely if I chose this as a career.  I thrive when I’m working with people constantly.  I loved hosting kid parties, loved working in the coffee and jewelry shop, and I really do love teaching.  Good info for myself.  Another reason I feel so lucky to be here is for the pure and simple fact I’m in over my head.  I mean really, I was scared to use a centrifuge.  I’ve been teaching biology for seven years, and it’s all so easy.  Why would my kids have any problems at all, right?  Ha!  Sure.  This has been a good wake up to realize what my kids are going to deal with when they come to my class.  Many of them have dealt with certain lab supplies, but not in the correct manner.  During vertical alignment PLCs (professional learning communities) we’ve seen that our feeder schools are dealing with the fact the kids have never had science before.  They get a very basic understanding of what doing a lab actually means, and for some of them they just treat it as free time.  So by the time they are sitting in my class they either have the wrong impression or just very little experience.  In short, they are like me in this situation.  Labs aren’t scary, they just take practice.  Once you are comfortable doing the labs, using the equipment, then you can start inquiry, and thus research.  

As a teacher I am constantly told that I need to teach more inquiry based.  Bring in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).  Create more PBL (project based learning).  It’s overwhelming, but not impossible.  First off, as Lexy and I have discussed with Paula when trying to explain what all of that is, all three of those are the same thing.  Schools are trying to create a push to get kids to ask questions then find ways of answering those questions on their own.  Inquiry based just means to not give students a lab where there is a prescribed answer.  It’s more real science than those recipe labs from the book.  Watching Scott and the geomagnetisist argue over a spike in their data showed just that.  They were making up stories they could look in to cause they had no clue.  That’s real science.  STEM and PBL really are the same thing.  They are striving to create a way to make something better.  They both want to answer questions.  STEM gets a bit more specific by giving parameters, bring in these different aspects where as PBL seems to be a bit more broad.  However the two work famously together.  And really, if you are trying to answer some question, perhaps how can I stop seeds from germinating in my garden, isn’t that inquiry based?

View of Viterbo from my skylight

Ok, where am I going with this... Oh yes, why am I here!  That whole last paragraph is why I’m here.  I’m to work with a cross disciplinary team to help incorporate into the classroom  different aspects of research.  Together we will create lesson plans that will then be published for other teachers around Nevada to use or mutate at their desecration.  I really feel that this project is already in line with what I’ve been wanting to work to achieve in my classroom, and by pulling in other subjects I’m even more enthused.  Cross curriculum lessons are difficult with the limited time and crammed curriculums we all have, so this project helps provide that time and support we need.

This week will be more lab work, and probably more site seeing.  Monday and Tuesday for sure we will be working in the lab on those core samples.  Then for the rest of the week (it’s still being decided) we will be coring for two days.  Lexy and I will only be joining for one day, the researchers stay the night in a villa and there are only five beds.  With eight people scheduled to go, probably not going to work with twin bunk beds!  This will mean that one day Lexy and I aren’t coring we should be able to work with Paula in the lab with the samples we took last week.  Then we are hoping to take one day off to go to either a garden with interesting statues or a beautiful city situated on the top of a sunken volcano.  This place is just simply amazing!

6/22 When in Rome...

SATURDAY!  What a wonderful day.  Today was the day that Lexy and I decided to head to Rome on our own to check out the more touristy stuff.  Paula and her family were going there too, so we traveled together.  We got into Rome around 9, which was perfect timing, because by the time we were off the metro the Colosseum had opened.  

The
Colosseum

The metro stop at the Colosseum was fun.  You walk out of this shabby, dirty hallway with tagging all over the place packed with people, walk up some stairs, and poof!  Right in front of your nose are the towering walls of the Colosseum.  I stopped dead in my tracks.  I knew what it would look like, but I wasn’t expecting that.  Absolutely spectacular.  Lexy and I tried to stay together, but this is certainly one of those places where you are looking up and around so much staying with a party is difficult if not impossible (so totally bring a leash for the husband if you go).  I ended up alone after just a few minutes, which worked out pretty good.  There are two levels that you can visit.  I started on the upper level, looking down into the arena.  They have a small section of the arena floor rebuilt to show what it would have looked like.  When it was originally in use they covered the floor of the Arena with sand, and the scientific name of the type of sand they used actually translates into "arena."  The sand was necessary to soak up the copious amounts of blood spilt during the games and prevent the combatants from slipping. Under this stage the basement and lower levels are laced with small holes, these are where the pulleys and ropes would have been to help raise animals and sets onto the arena floor.  Apparently they used to bring up entire sets to help make the games more interesting.  In one set they brought up a wooden whale which then released 50 bears.  Can you imagine a wooden whale that large being brought up by pulleys filled with bears?  That just boggles my mind thinking about what they were able to do.  

The colosseum was built in only 8 years.  This is a very short amount of time for the period.  For example one of the churches in the area took over 100 years to build! The reason they were able to do this so quickly is because Emperor Vespasian looted a temple in Jerusalem during the Siege of Jerusalem.  He returned with huge amounts of gold, large golden menorahs and other objects of gold (you can see these depicted on his memorial arch) that he melted down to make coins to fund the building of the Colosseum.  He also returned with thousands of Jewish slaves to use in the construction process.  To celebrate the opening of the Colosseum there were 100 days of feasts and games during which 10,000 gladiators and 5,000 wild animals were killed.

Gladiatorial games were held until 404AD when they were abolished by the Emperor Honorius. 

The Colosseum looks in such disrepair today because it was basically "recycled."  The marble and metals used in the structure were taken out and used for churches or other building projects.  There was also a large earthquake that did some damage to the structure.  I always thought it looked the way it did do to weathering, but that’s just not the case.  

Oh!  I should discuss the name!!!  It’s not really the Colosseum.  It’s the Flavian Amphitheater after Titus and Vespasian’s dynasty.  The name Colosseum came from a statue of Nero that used to sit next to the amphitheater named Colissus Solis.  Hence, Colosseum.  This statue is no longer there, but you can see the bronze that covered it in the Vatican.

Around the outside of the middle level where we were able to get to, there were statues and writings explaining about Roman culture, how they made statues, constructed the buildings, stones they used, so much amazing information!  It would take an entire day to go through the Colosseum properly.  After looking around for a few hours, I met back up with my group and we took off to grab some lunch.  Course I stopped by a little gift shop and bought Drew a little Roman coin.  Shhhh, don’t tell him!

At this point Paula and her family decided to part ways with us, which worked fine.  Great people to be around, I’m glad we got the morning together.  Lexy and I took off to lunch, then decided to hit up the Forum.  During lunch we kept trying to think of what the forum was, and neither of us had a clue.  After seeing it, I have to say it was even more awesome than the Colosseum.  

The Forum is right across the street from the Colosseum.  The entrance was a bit of a cluster, I lost Lexy just a bit in the line.  However, talk about making lemonade.  In my attempt to get back to her I bumped into this man named Blake who asked if I was with his group.  I said I was just trying to get to my friend and he said that he was giving a free tour.  I’m betting you had the same reaction I had to that.  Free?  Really?  I told Lexy when I finally got to her, and we both decided to watch from a distance.  Blake gives paid tours and this was a “trial” tour.  I am so happy we ran into him.  Blake spoke perfect English (he is originally from Baltimore) which seems oddly rare lately.  So, we had a tour guide we could understand in a place with nothing but crazy ruins with no signs.  Had it not been for his tour this would have just been a stroll through rocks.

Blake explained to us that the forum is where all of the emperors lived.  When a new one took over, they built their own home.  Can you imagine all these palaces in one area?  Astounding.  He took us to a dining room in the beginning of the tour.  Again, I would never have known what it was on my own.  The dining room was situated right next to a lowered arena, basically a small Colosseum.  This was for when the emperor didn't feel like watching games with 40-80 thousand other people.  Behind us in the dining room (where the umbrella pine now sits) there used to be a small temple.  This temple would be dedicated to what ever the current emperor's god of choice was.  As people entered through the front doors they would walk on a raised walkway directly to this temple where they would offer sacrifices to the god before entering the rest of the home.  Again, creepy to stand somewhere where animals were sacrificed.  We then saw the slave tunnels where the slaves would conduct all their work without being seen in the palace.  

Blake then described how frescoes are made.  I had no idea!  I had taken for granted that they had some form of paint in this time, but that’s not the case.  Apparently the people would put plaster on the walls, and while it was still wet they would apply something from nature that was the color they wanted.  Dried petals that have been ground up.  Dried egg yolks ground up...  These “paints” still survive in many areas today.  Simply amazing.

Oh wow, we saw so much.  The next area he took us to was full of beautiful buildings that had not been “recycled.”  The walls that were left in the palaces were obviously made of brick, however when they were whole they were faced with marble.  We could see holes in the walls where the hooks for the marble slabs would have hung. The marble is now in different churches around Rome!  We passed the first emperor's home, which was right next to the most recent emperor's home, Mussolini.  You know, I remember learning about Mussolini in ROTC, but when you live half a world away it just feels differently.  History is completely different when you are looking straight at the relics.

The last chunk of our tour took us to the Arch of Titus.  The Arch of Titus is just beautiful and served as the inspiration for L’arc De Triumph in Paris.  After Emperor Titus died his body was placed in the top of the arch.  I’m betting he’s not still there...  Just a guess.  We then visited some beautiful churches.  Interesting fact.  Many of the Roman buildings were not brought down and reused because they were then converted into churches.  It seems like incredible structures are commonly destroyed in war and disagreements, so it’s refreshing to hear that history was preserved this time.

Our tour ended at the tomb of Julius Caesar.  Blake had brought a very neat book with him that shows the “before” and “after” of a location.  He showed us what Caesar’s tomb looked like when it was built, then had us turn around.  Little to nothing is left of his tomb.  Not really surprising, seeing how much has been taken down.  The Circus Maximus where they used to have chariot races is now a park.  Another area like that has been turned into a piazza.  After hearing that I am grateful the Colosseum was preserved, although the reason is quite horrible.  Because Christians had been killed in the Colosseum Pope Benedict XIV decided to stop it’s destruction to make a memorial to them.  That’s the purpose of the large cross you see when you first enter the Collosseum.

Alright, I feel like I went to a really awesome history class.  For the record, Blake does lots of other tours, but they are a bit pricey.  I have the brochure if you are interested.

At this point Lexy and I were exhausted, so we decided to return home.  Nothing too exciting here, except for when the conductor decided to get snippy with her for resting her foot on another seat.  I think he only got so grumpy because I said “Non capisco.”  Apparently that now means, “I don’t speak Italian, so go ahead and yell at me and make mean sarcastic faces at me.”  We didn’t really care.  We were so tired we both found it quite funny.  I hope he has a better day...

Tonight we are taking off for a festival they are having in Scott’s Piazza.  From the sounds of it, Vegas is going to be a disappointment.  I hear there is sequence, an accordion, singing, and dancing.  This could be very interesting...