Taphonomy and Trapanation

Never know what you will find when dig a hole around here. Turns out while excavating for a new housing development down the road, a labourer on a 482 visa, much to the displeasure of the developers, put a shovel into a Neolithic village. Now there is a marvellous new Megalithic Museum, beautifully designed and presented and with English text. Evidence of first soil ploughing ie animal powered rather hoeing by hand; menhirs and post holes; burial tombs and relics galore and a journey from post glacial warming to Roman era and beyond.
Taphonomy is the study of the corpse and the changes that take place over time. Remarkable stuff can be learned from bones - what sort of work they did; traumatic injuries; and rituals. Trapanation is the practice of creating a hole in the skull for medical reasons. Evidence on display here. And some of the patients survived (as evidenced by new bone growth). A fascinating morning.
Being a warm day and not wanting to walk back to town in my Archies, I jumped on No 3 bus which I nearly missed cos I was doing Wordle. The driver had serious dreadlocks and the passengers seemed unsure about the reggae music. I waved my phone over the ticket things as you do in Sydney. Unsatisfactory response from the machine. Tried a couple of times but no luck. Foolishly I had no plastic credit card with me doh. “Due Euro” says the driver, “Senza contanti” says I. What now! I made to get off the bus but the door was already closed. Driver thumbs me to a seat. Cheers bro’.
The other site I visited, the Roman Theatre - a mini Forum Romanun, is being developed but still impressive. After the decline of the Roman Empire and the expansion of Christianity, public entertainment venues were progressively abandoned, repurposed, or dismantled for their stone materials, which were subsequently reused elsewhere. See photos.
Thereafter, a bit of passeggiare, but otherwise took it easy. Booked a table for dinner tonight with an English couple I met on the trail. Should be fun - have conversation not English weeks had not.
Walkies tomorrow to Rus.
Buona notteRead more