On this cloudy and blustery day in Athens, several team members have already arrived and many more are en route or are just zipping up their suitcases for the last time before flying overseas. We will have a team of just about 30 people – about average for our project. Some will be experienced, entering their second decade of working with us! Others will be very new, for some it may be their first time out of Canada or the US. Everyone is excited about the work ahead and what we’ll learn about ancient Eleon.

We will start work next Monday morning on site (provided it doesn’t rain!). The first task will be to see how things held up over the winter. It was a fairly mild winter without too much rain/snow so we should be okay. We are all also very curious to see how the large black lake-liner tarp held up, how much it prevented unwanted weeds and other things from growing and creeping around our excavated remains. I have no doubt that soon after Monday morning the tall grass, prickles and thistles will be stomped down or removed and quite quickly the wild rural landscape will transform itself into an active, archaeological site.

And before work starts on site, we will also be setting up our living/work area/office space in Dilesi this coming weekend. Team members will be assigned roommates and will start to settle into their new homes (for the next six weeks). We very much look forward to returning to our second family – the Mamonis in Dilesi have been a part of our lives since 2007. We are fortunate, and very grateful, to have them as our friends and supporters all these years. Here’s to a very successful 2018!