The archaeological fieldwork properly started in the
afternoon of April 5th. We worked a total of 19 days in the short 3
weeks lap, with an daily amount of about 8½ working hours on site (08:30-12:00
and 13:00-17:00). During the first days, heavy late afternoon rains and hale
storms impeded the work. The campaign was closed on April 25th. To
the working time, one should add at least 1½ hour a day (single person) spent
for office work (journalizing, sketching, cataloging, and cleaning of
artifacts). The reminders of the days were usually spent walking to and from
the site, taking lunch at the site at noon 11, having dinner at the
guesthouse and reading. The evenings were frequently animated by the
discussions with the numerous guesthouse visitors passing by or staying for one
ore more nights. We spent the first Sunday resting and roaming around in the
nearby forest. On the second Sunday, W. Roder and his wife invited us for an
excursion in the Tang valley. We had the opportunity to visit a splendidly
remote temple and a marvelous dzong
in a remote location of the south flank of the valley. During this trip, we
recognized many opportunities for future ethno-historical studies, which could
ideally complement archaeological and historical investigations.
At the beginning of the campaign,
the RNR-RC affected two female workers to our small excavation team.
Subsidiary, two young men, in charge of guarding the yard during the night,
felt pleased to give us a hand during most of the days. Their help was so
physically engaged that it is quite hard to figure out their efficiency
accomplishing their nightly tasks! At mid-campaign, a supplementary young woman
joined the crew, and during the last week, two to three strong young men came
along (Fig. 12). The yard foremen also supported us and organized the building
of the sheds and the wooden excavation frames. Finally, we would not like to
forget the two daily cups of the famous milk tea and instant coffee which were
kindly prepared for us all (Fig. 13). Tab. 1 summarizes the workmanship time
repartition.
|
|
Swiss |
Bhutanese |
|
Total |
|
|
team |
permanent team |
supplementary team |
|
|
1st week |
2 |
3 |
1 3 |
6 8 |
|
2nd week |
2 |
4 |
1 3 |
7 9 |
|
3rd week |
2 |
6 7 |
1 3 |
9 12 |
|
Average |
2 |
4.3 4.7 |
1 3 |
7.3 9.7 |
Tab.
1: Number of persons engaged in excavation work during the campaign.
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