Spring/Summer 1998
Ernestine S. Elster	BORN ON CRETE The Friends of Archaeology December 31, 1965 by Ernestine S. Elster IN THE FALL OF 1965, UCLA Extension offered an intriguing weekly class: "The Ancient World Before the Greeks," which focused on the prehistoric archaeology of Israel, Turkey, Greece, and Crete. As a companion to the course, a field trip, to be led by Marija Gimbutas and Jay Frierman, was also offered. It's a measure of the success of the course that the field trip had thirty participants and a measure of the success of the field trip that out of it, the Friends of Archaeology was born. A brief sketch of our itinerary may help you imagine how the involvement and excitement grew. The energetic group included couples and singles, of all ages. One of the leaders of the field trip, Marija Gimbutas, turned out to be the perfect pied piper, ushering us-through visits to museums, storerooms, and sites-along a sherd-strewn path up and down every tell, mound, or magoula in the ancient world. Flying into Tel Aviv on December 15th, 1965, we embarked on the first leg of an intense itinerary: the Archaeological Museums of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, the ruins of the walled city of classical Ashkelon, Beersheba and a Bedouin encampment, Masada, Tel Dan, Caesarea, Beth Shemesh, Nazareth, the Crusader castle at Acco, museums, and bazaars. Moving on to Turkey on December 22nd, we visited Ankara and were privileged to examine the riches in the storerooms and exhibit halls of the Hittite Museum. Unforgettable was the diorama recreating one of the "cult" houses from the prehistoric site of Catal Huyuk (recently Ruth Tringham of UCB gave an Institute- sponsored public lecture about her ongoing reseach at this same site). Bused out to Gordion's tomb on a rainy day, we unloaded on a muddy road, a bit too close to the soft shoulder, and watched, mesmerized, as the bus slowly keeled over! Next was Izmir, with a day at Ephesus, and finally Istanbul. There we found Byzantium and Islam, churches and mosques, the Seraglio and St. Sophia, chestnut vendors roasting their wares, and the Grand Bazaar. On the final leg of our journey, we visited Greece and Crete from December 28th to January 3rd. Athens and its monuments were magnificent; the city was unpolluted, the air fresh and pine scented. It was clear that the friends of archaeology were gestating the day we entered the Lion's Gate at Mycenae, gazed about us at the magnificent ruins at Corinth, examined the architectural drawings of Lerna in the dig house (work of then-student draftsman Lloyd Cotsen), climbed through the the double walls of Tiryns, and finally came to rest in beautiful Nauplion. On Crete, we visited the palaces at Knossos, Phaestus, Mallia, and the settlement at Gournia (excavated in the early part of this century by Harriet Boyd Hawes). The trip was winding down and everyone wanted more. There were questions to Marija and Jay about another class and field trip. We gathered after dinner to toast our leaders and the New Year when someone said, "Let's form a friends of archaeology and do more of this!" Marija and Jay and the rest of us resoundingly agreed. Basking in the glow of this very special New Year's Eve celebration, we all instantly became Charter Members of the Friends of Archaeology and went right on to elect our first President, Sandy Elster. The following day, our heads spinning with excitement and our hearts filled with good will, Sandy and I waved goodbye to all our Friends on the quay and took off in the car ferry for Athens. The next meeting of the FoA took place at UCLA with official benediction from then-Chancellor Franklin D. Murphy. And the rest, as they say, is history.
	Top | About Backdirt | Contents | Next