Petra Vaiglova is the pre-doctoral fellow at the Wiener lab, and is working on a PhD in archaeological science at the University of Oxford. She previously received an MSc in archaeological science also from Oxford, and did her undergraduate at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
Q: What brings you to the American School of Classical Studies at Athens?
A: "I passed through the school every time I came to Greece to gather samples for my doctoral project and I very much enjoyed staying at the school and meeting the people here. Now I’m at the stage of writing-up my PhD, and the fellowship offers a great opportunity to put everything together while being able to use the facilities of the new Wiener lab and meeting with my Greek collaborators more easily."
Q: What is your particular field of interest?
A: "I’m interested in learning how early agriculture worked. I’m asking questions like: how intensively were first farmers tending to their fields? How were they managing their animals? The introduction to farming during the Neolithic period was the biggest economic shift in human history and for a long time, we have tried to answer the question ‘why’ people started to farm. But equally important and interesting is to ask the question ‘how’, and that’s what my project is trying to do."
Q: So what are you finding?
A: "A lot of diversity! Early farmers were not following a recipe. In one place, for example, they cultivated their wheats at a high intensity while at another, they put more effort into growing their barley. During the period that I’m looking at (Middle to Late Neolithic), the farming methods were not at all experimental. They were very sophisticated and tightly integrated with other aspects of the village life, such as spatial organization."
Q: How do you figure this out?
A: “I look at chemical signatures, ratios of different elemental isotopes, in preserved plant, animal and human remains. These signatures tell me different things about the materials, such as whether distinct species of crops were grown in the same types of fields, how they contributed to the human and animal diets and whether the animals moved to the mountains during the summer in search of greener vegetation."
Q: What sites are you looking at?
A: “I’m looking at the sites of Halai, Kouphovouno and Makriyalos, which provide a great opportunity to see how farming techniques were established in different kinds of environmental settings around Greece."
Q: What did you think of the move to the new Wiener lab facilities?
A: “The new facilities are amazing, so I’m very happy that I got the chance not only to work in the new space but also to experience the transition. I also played flute in a small orchestra for the inauguration of the new building, which was a lot of fun.”
Q: How did you get interested in archaeological science?
A: “I was born and raised in the Middle East, in Syria and Egypt. I didn’t actually like living there at the time, but when I left I realized how much I missed the culture, the people and their ancient heritage. Then when I was in undergrad, I realized that archaeology would offer ways to come back to the region on a regular basis. I was still interested in studying science though, and archaeological science offered a chance to combine the two. It’s also a discipline that combines both creative and analytical skills – one day you’re in the lab pipetting acid for four hours and another day you’re imagining how ancient people lived – and that’s what I found most attractive about it."
Q: Wow! So what languages do you speak?
A: “I speak Czech, English, French, and I can read and write Arabic. I’ve been trying to pick up Greek while here, but I’m still embarrassingly bad. But in a year’s time I’m also going to have to start learning Hebrew, because I’ll be moving to Israel to work as a post-doctoral researcher on a Byzantine project."
Q: What are you excited and nervous about moving to Israel next year?
A: “I’m excited to join a new project and start working on a completely different time period. I’m slightly dreading the hassle of moving countries again, for the eighth time, but I know it will be worth it."
Q: What other places in the world do you want to visit?
A: "I want to go to south-eastern Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. And South America. So basically everywhere."
Q: What is your favorite place in Athens?
A: “I like sitting in front of the Gennadius library, leaning against one of the columns and looking down the street towards where the sculpture of the runner is. I can’t see it, but I know it’s there.”
Q: What’s your favorite souvlaki place?
A: “Stick Bar.”
Q: If you could choose to be a Greek god, what Greek god would you choose to be?
A: “Probably Athena. That lady was a tough one.”
Q: If you could travel back in time, what time period would you want to travel to?
A: “Classical Ancient Greece. It would be great to see what the places that I now visited looked like when they were brand new and colorful.”
Q: What book would you recommend people to read if they wanted to get a glimpse of what you are studying?
A: “The Leopard’s Tale, by Ian Hodder.”
Q: What do you get from your experience here at ASCSA?
A: “Aside from making it possible to finish my PhD, it’s another way of expanding my cultural and academic horizons. My PhD would be very different if I was writing it from a desk far away in England. I also really like the atmosphere of the school. It’s a very intellectually stimulating environment, but people also know how to have fun. I’m so excited that I have another year to go here"
