Layers
Introduction
by Granate
Setting:
This story takes place in Ashkelon, a really cool ancient city in Israel right on the eastern bank of the Mediterranean.
Ashkelon has a really long history, from the Canaanites (2000-1550 BC), then the Philestines (1175-604 BC), then the Phoenicians,
followed by the Persian Empire, next the Roman Empire, and finally it came under Muslim control and was part of the crusades. So, this city is very layered. Since I studied Roman archaeology, I’m focusing on that and the Phoenician time period. Harvard used to dig there before 2001, but American excavations have been cancelled there for obvious reasons. Ok, so the archaeological stuff should be correct (to a certain extent) but I’ve never been there, so I’m making all that up. Also, I made up all the structures like the temple and the library.
About Archaeology:
Dirt is fun. Dirt can tell you a lot. Layers in dirt are very important, and difficult to distinguish from one another.
Things you find in dirt can’t really tell you anything unless they are found in context – where they were left.
If you were digging and found a coin and yanked it out of the ground, it wouldn’t mean anything (and I’d slap you).
But if you left it where it was, or marked which layer it came from, it would help assign an approximate date to
the layer and therefore everything else found with it! Taa daa! That’s how we do archaeology, folks. There are lots of other
things you can date, even the tree rings in wood! That's called Dendrochronogly. I’m telling you this so you know
why Heero has such a stick up his ass. Archeology has to be very detailed and exact or its meaningless.
This was supposed to be an entry to the GWyaoi's
Novella challenge, but it is unfinished. *sigh* Bear with me. At about chapter nine, we enter unbeta-ed territory, so apologies for any
crappiness. I hate it when authors go back and change stuff, but it
looks like I'll have to do that. I was in a rush to get this out
before I left the country. Anyway, enjoy!
A million thanks to my wonderful betas, Dragyn and Lev, for shaping me up and knocking some sense into me. *hugs*
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