“You guys are like robots”

To begin a hard day’s work of digging and various other work we start by waking up extremely early.  Like at 5 AM with about five other alarms blasting in the small space that is our room.  Because it is extremely hard to get up at 5 in the morning we end up having to...

A Day in the Life of an Intern Archaeologist

A cacophony of alarms sounds at 5am. Calming guitar riffs interact with foghorns, as the sound of 12 people collectively scrambling to stop the noises can be heard throughout our little apartment. Immediately a line forms in front of the small bathroom that we share,...

A Day in the Digging Life

It’s time to finally explain what a typical day on site looks like because I don’t just sit around and eat Turkish snacks the entire time (though we do work it into the schedule). So, here’s a quick outline of my day yesterday, Friday, July 20th, 2018… 4:55 a.m. My...

Beauty in the Background

5:00 AM, it’s time to wake up. It’s time to get out of bed, brush teeth, put on clothes, and not wake the late sleepers. 5:35, the bus is coming. The bus is crowded, most get to sit, an unfortunate few stand. 6:10 the bus arrives at the dig-site. Breakfast is served...

Interview? What interview? I thought this was a blog post…

The field of my work, also known as AC Unit 2 (aka Gamora), is the main place where I have practiced some professional skills. As you know, there in fact is a Unit 1 named Drax the Destroyer, which lies right next to Gamora. Since both Gamora and Drax share the same...

“Is this pottery or rock?” and other questions

Some people think that archaeology is a really specialized field, that the skills you learn can only be applied to very specific situations. And yes, I have learned specialized skills such as the proper way to hold my trowel when excavating and how to determine if a...