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Researching from Afar - Frustrations and Joys
February 2021
Research is always fun, but frustrating at the same time. I hope by the end of this piece you will feel the joy of researching.
If excavation is finding puzzles, then research is putting the puzzles back together. My mission was to carry out a thorough research on a seal excavated at the Vedi Fortress in summer 2019. For the research, I was expected to answer questions. What is engraved onto the surface of the seal? When and where was it made? Who was its owner? Why was it here? However, it was hard to get started, as there were too many aspects to begin with and way too much information to be digested. (Photo 1: The seal)
Everything began with looking for a needle in a haystack. Researching is a necessary technique in archaeology, which is still digging, but digging through articles instead of mud. To come up with a conclusion, I looked through different sorts of material such as excavation reports, review articles, iconography studies, catalogue books and object databases. (Photo 2: example of my notes) In which, reading excavation reports of sites led me through the background, process and results of particular past excavation seasons. There were different approaches, such as looking for sites in Armenia and Eastern Turkey, or looking for sites with similar seals and objects. I’m sorry to say, about 70 percent of the time was literally looking at “nothing”, which means I do not have any findings. However, revelations did hit me unexpectedly when I started to get stuck. Excavation in the field requires skills. Researching behind the scenes is the same. I never thought bibliographies would be so useful that they could point me to useful and correct publications, until I carried out this project.
Another obstacle I had was with resources. It is hard to get every article and every book you want, either due to access issues or any other restrictions. Some important books might even be out of print and without digital copies. I tested out tools such as the interlibrary loan management system (ILLiad) of the HKU Library, to request for books that are unavailable in the library but available in other local or overseas libraries. Up to this point the book-requests are still being processed, fingers-crossed that I’ll receive them sooner for further detailed and exciting research.
Interestingly, I now know how to spell archaeology in 4 different languages: archaeology, archäologie, and arkeoloji, archéologie. Lots of excavations in the ancient Near East were carried out by archaeologists from different countries. I have at least encountered reports in English, German, Turkish and French, though I have no idea how to read the latter three. Language has been a barrier, especially when they have important and related information to our seal. Google Translate is the only solution to me right now, until I can master these languages some day in the future. This situation has encouraged me particularly to learn a few more languages to equip myself for future studies.
The word ‘fun’ comes first in my head sentence, as the fun part comes first. I never knew I am capable of handling an object research project on my own, until I started. There were a lot of difficulties and struggles, but they all faded away when clues and evidence came along. This has been a really precious opportunity for me to experience the behind-the-scenes work of an archaeologist, and something you rarely get from an undergraduate course. Here are some tips for future young researchers: keep track of your notes and try to be as organized as possible; keep your directions clear; talk to professors or supervisors whenever you get stuck; be confident and careful; good luck!
Source
Stephan Kroll, (1970) Die Keramik aus der Ausgrabung Bastam 1969, Archäologische Mitteilungen aus Iran, Neue Folge 3, 1970, 67-92.
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