The International Brigade Archaeology Project

You never know who you'll meet in Hay!
Today I sold a book about Welsh participants in the Spanish Civil War to another bookdealer in town. Why were Welshmen getting involved in the civil war of another country? Well, they were joining the International Brigade, a fighting force recruited from all over Europe to fight the Fascists (sadly, the Fascists, under General Franco, won that war). It was a sort of prelude to the Second World War.
The other bookdealer is Salvatore Garfi, who has a unit in Broad Street Books - but he's also an archaeologist, and he's one of the team working on the International Brigade Archaeology Project. He's been recruiting volunteers for the project from the UK, for a dig in Spain in September. They will be going to the Aragonese town of Belchite, which was left untouched after the Spanish Civil War as a memorial to it. Obviously, they can only scratch the surface in two weeks, but it sounds like a fascinating project.
The International Brigade Project has been running since 2006, and their English language website is at https://sites.google.com/site/internationalbrigadesproject/home