Archaeology
Is like a plane ride
No position
Works
– Freeform poem; I’m really scraping the barrel here
Archaeologists only in this pic 😉
Sweltering heat beats down. The sun’s glare is not so much angry as it is incensed, and the skin on my back is brutally punished for its temper. The layers of sunscreen, caked with dust that turns my skin darker than it will be once the tan sets in, are barely any help. Hunched over a square plot of rock, screwdriver in one hand and river stone in the other, I crack another layer off. The chips scatter into smaller fragments and sandy powder; as I brush it away, something catches my attention. A gleaming, pink bone, hidden beneath the detritus of a millennia, pokes out. My work is over. The prize is mine to claim.
So that was a dramatic retelling of what I wish had happened. In reality, though I did find a couple of bones, I didn’t get to keep them. They stayed in the ground, highlighted with multi-colored pins so that the team could later reconstruct the exact placement of every fragment. The parts about the heat and the hunching were pretty accurate though: my poor back is praying on my downfall with every step. Nevertheless, the rewarding feeling of uncovering a bone all on my lonesome was quite worth the pain. As my blog title suggests, I felt like a legendary archaeologist, combing through an ancient site for valuable relics. Unlike Professor Jones, however, I didn’t have a cool hat or leather jacket on, just sweaty cargo pants and a crop top. Oh well, nobody’s perfect.
My bones! I was the proud unearther of three specimens.
Today we got our first taste of an actual digging experience. As some people once again split off to work with Dr. Charles, others were shepherded to the BK dig site, where we got to smash rocks alongside the professionals. And I mean rocks literally: as my cold open suggested, our main tools were a screwdriver and a big rock. Reconnecting with our hominid roots was rather gleeful for me, and I took to bashing with gusto. Still, by the end of the long few hours we spent there, I was ready to abscond from the sun and get a nice, cool soda from the dining pavilion.
Can you spot the fossils?
After lunch, we made like pea soup and split once again. This time, though, the divide was more uneven. The vast majority of students went to dig again, and only Milton and I were too worn out to make the second trip. Instead, we were treated to a unique experience: a one-on-one session with Juan, where we cleaned bones with toothbrushes and tiny picks. We were also treated to fun, informative glimpses into the world of archaeology. Juan showed us how they used special glue diluted with acetone to put fragmented bones back together, as well as the finer points of photogrammetry. I ended up quite glad I hadn’t gone with the others, as this experience was one that almost no one else could claim to share.
Though the day’s work was difficult, there is something extremely rewarding about performing hard tasks. All the sunburn in the world won’t detract from the fact that I actually got to pull fossils out of the ground and clean off ancient ribs with a toothbrush. The rewards are definitely outweighing the cost here, at least in my humble opinion. Thus, another day ended in satisfaction, though we were all sad to realize the next day would be our last. We went to bed determined to make the most of our final moments here, preparing to squeeze out every last drop of cool experiences and bragging rights.
