At the museum, Criss helped move some of the artifacts from the third floor down to the first floor. These boxes and crates hold the findings of this summer’s (2007) excavation of the amphitheatre.

This year the excavation team uncovered the remains of houses that collapsed in the 1243 AD earthquake and in the rubble were the remains of several skeletons. Most impressive were the skeletons of a couple lying together with a baby between them at their feet and a small boy in the adjoining hallway.

So as we moved this jumble of pottery, glass and bones we set the boxes down to wait for the guide to get the key to the room. During this time, a man who was waiting for the museum director walked by and saw the bones. He took a moment to go over to the flower containers surrounding the museum, picked a bloom and placed it on the box.

The archeologists laughed at him and called him a simple villager (which is not a compliment). But we wonder, is the line between respect and simple mindedness so distinct? Ah! the labels we put on people.