“So!” I said brightly. “Who wants to hear what I learned today!”
They all reluctantly turned to face me.
I launched into my story about Mrs. Harrington’s discovery. It had taken place ten years ago when they were making the basement for their new house, but still.
Mike frowned thoughtfully. “So what about all the other layers? If you’re going straight to Iron Age, what happens to the rest of time?”
It made me happy that he’d asked that, like he was an intelligent undergrad in my Intro to Archaeology class. “Well, that’s the big question, isn’t it?”
“Huh?”
I smiled and switched into lecture-lite mode. “The thing about archaeology is its destructiveness. You can’t repeat an excavation and see if you get the same results. You can’t go back and check the positioning of the bricks and stones you’ve already pulled up. We map and take pictures of every single layer—God, how we map—but you’re right. Here, I want to get to the first century, and that means I might be tearing up footprints from medieval manors or twentieth century farmhouses.”
I paused. “I don’t think there’s going to be a ton of really important artifacts. I mean, sure, if we come across a cist burial, that’s going to be an issue. But I’m betting this land has been farmland since the beginning, and the things we do dig through aren’t going to be unlike what you’d find if you excavated anywhere else in the area around us.”
Lauren frowned. “How do you even know where to dig?”
I nodded. “It’s impossible to actually pinpoint the harbor, since there’s so many possible points. Luckily, a coastal survey took core samples of the area three years ago, so we do know there was saline water here two thousand years ago. There’s also, interestingly, a dolmen—that’s a portal tomb, you know, the giant rocks marking burial sites—that is oddly far away from water, which supports water being here, which is why I believe the harbor city is so far inland. I think there was a tributary that silted up.
“But since the area’s so large, I’m bringing in a specialist to do an electrical resistivity survey first, which should tell us if there’s any large structures buried. Hopefully I’ll find quays, or—this is what I really want?
?a sunken ship. If there’s nothing found that way, we’re going to open units using a systematic sampling, and I’m sure that will find something. It has to.”
Mike regarded me with an unhappy expression. Shoot, I’d gone too far into grad mode. Time to rein it in and act like a normal human.
“Natalie.”
“Yeah?”
“But you’re not going to dig there.”
“Oh, right.” I flushed. “I know that. I just got a little carried away.”
Paul’s eyes narrowed at Mike. “Do you derive some twisted pleasure in parading around as the prodigal son, even as you cut off the village’s chance of bringing in major money?”
Mike looked outraged. “It’s none of your business what I do with my land.”
Paul leaned forward. “Of course it’s not. Of course it should be left up to a bunch of Yanks to decide what to do with a place they’d never seen and they’ll never see again.”
“This is my family—”
“But not your country, mate—”
Lauren slammed her hands on the table. “Will both of you just shut up?”
The mellow tenor and bass of the singers swung out into our small corner of silence. “No, nay never, no more...”
I took a deep breath in the long, tense stillness. “I just love this song!”
Paul flashed a blazing smile at me that was clearly really intended for the other two members of our party to notice. “Want to dance?”
I stole a glance at Mike as I whirled my finger at my chest. “Me?”
Paul smiled. “Won’t be the same as salsa in Ecuador or dancing at one of the super-clubs, but we have better music here.”
I laughed. “Yeah, well, I’m awful at salsa and can’t stand house music, so this sounds like a great alternative.”
Mike stood up abruptly. “I’ll dance with you.”