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July 4, 2007

The weeks have brought some unusual changes. I left Sofia for the small city of Razlog, surrounded by three massive mountain ranges (Pirin, Rila, and Rhodope) each with its own geological and mythological character. In Razlog, I slept in a room kept by the enthographic museum, where the historians spend their days in the yard arguing about cultural preservation and playing with the tiny cat that sleeps under a broken-down wagon. My room sits right in from of a small farm of rabbits, chickens, and honey bees. I have been working with Svetana Komutova, the archaeologist running the Razlog dig. She holds a permanent position at the Blagoevgrad History Museum, as their resident medievalist. Svetana is working with a small group of locals to found a historical society here in Razlog. Of course, that's just what she does in her spare time - her days are consumed by the dig.

Just outside of Razlog, a paltry 50 meters from one of the largest construction sites in the region, Svetana and her crew are slowly uncovering a 14th century church, and underneath it, a 9th century church. I spent many of my days in Razlog shadowing Ivoh, a digger who is apprenticing himself to Svetana. Before a site is even established, Svetana usually digs a 5-by-5 meter test area to determine the presence of an artifact. Once something has been uncovered, the site can be expanded. The work day begins at about 9am, when the crew meets for coffee and takes a van over the extremely rough trail to the dig. In temperatures topping 100 degrees, it's only possible to work for four to six hours. While some digs combat the heat by starting in the early morning, Svetana has to accommodate her workers. The actual process of removing dirt and uncovering structural elements can vary a great deal in both technique and pace, depending on the depth and fragility of the item. On my last day in Razlog, the crew uncovered what Svetana believes to be the ruins of the church burial ground! This was quite a discovery, and I was sorry to have to leave just as it was being unearthed.

This particular dig represents only a tiny portion of the historical sites found in the area. Money, Svetana tells me, is the main hindrance. This summer she works on four digs; in a few summers past, she has been unable to get funding for a single dig. Bulgaria's impending membership in the EU promises to bring in more money for these sorts of cultural initiatives. However, decisions concerning the distribution of this money are made by legislators who are often uninterested in archaeology (the sorry truth is that historical ruins don't exactly draw the masses). Ivan Hevel, a local preservationist, has suggested that financial interests can endanger digs in several ways. In addition to struggling for funds, the digs can be outmaneuvered by projects representing more significant financial interests, such as the massive hotel structure that neighbors the Razlog church. A Razlog Roman bathhouse was converted into a bar, and the site's integrity was severely compromised. Svetana also has a hard time hiring skilled workers. The Razlog site is staffed almost entirely by women who live nearby, with no special training. Some of them also work other jobs. Svetana has to be particularly vigilant when supervising these workers - some are consistently breaking the artifacts.

My short time in Razlog has already exceeded my expectations. Razlog moves at a slow pace, and the local ethnographers have been extremely generous with their time. At dinner with the two individuals who run the museum, conversation is frenetic, and rarely touches on the 21st century. They spend all of their time discussing the local history - what it means, and how it can be kept alive. Even though Svetana's financial compensation is meager, I find that she doesn't even notice. Every day she gets up and walks among the ghosts of medieval history. As far as she's concerned, that's all the compensation that matters.