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Throwback Thursday – 1996 UWL Archaeology Club T-Shirt

Archaeology Club 1996 t-shirt Throwback Thursday – a UWL Archaeology Club t-shirt from 1996.  We thought the Latin text on the shirt said “we came, we saw, we excavated” but we wanted to check.  So we contacted Bill Gresens’ son, Nicholas Gresens who is an Associate Professor of Instruction, Classics at University of Rochester, Department of Religion and Classics.  Here’s what he had to say –

So the text “venimus, vedimus, excavimus” although it looks like it would be we came, we saw, we excavated (based on Caesar’s famous “veni, vidi, vici”), isn’t quite right. It says “we came, we [non Latin root], we were very careful” Venimus, vidimus, excavavimus (or cavavimus, aperuimus, or effodimus) would be what the Arch club wanted to say.