Archaeology is More than Dirt and Lecturing

Greetings Ancient Diggers from the catacombs of my new office as an Academic Coordinator. Needless to say, I have not been abreast to the latest findings in the archaeological world, as I'm digging through these old, ancient storage units, which I just can't find the words for. They hold these bizarre looking green folders, and they contain these cryptographic seals.

That's right! I'm in the coveted office of the Coordinator. The one that waves her wand and kids flock to forced study where evil scientists wield their powers, and kids grunt in protest. It's education, and I love it!

This has been one of the most challenging and rewarding years of my entire life. Even though I have an anthropology background, I'm amazed at how it can translate to so many other areas of research. One minute you're digging in the dirt, and the next, you're lecturing to a class of second language learners who eat and drink their new language.

Over the past few months I've spoken with many hopeful archaeologists and anthropologists students hoping to break into the field after college. In my case, I headed out of the dirt and into the classroom, and I haven't looked back, but for some you, teaching isn't an option. There nothing wrong with that. Just don't allow someone, a mentor, parent, or even another professor, to steer you down a path that you can't envision on your own.

This reminds me of that line in Indiana Jones when Harrison Ford says, "You can't be a good archaeologists unless you get out of the library". In this case, it's the classroom, yet every archaeologist teaching classes will say the same thing. It's great going out there and getting your hands dirty, but when it comes to cleaning up, i.e. reports and archiving, it's a plain drag.

This doesn't mean you have to spend your life with dirt under your fingernails hoping you never have to complete those reports yourself. It also doesn't mean that you can't still enjoy the feel of ancient dirt around your toes as you brush away the grains of sand from a ceramic.

The outlook is nowhere near as grim as people believe, because in order to really understand history, you have to teach it to others. This doesn't always mean lecturing. How many of you have visited a local museum and read the information plaque? How many hands up? Now how many of you said to yourself, "I never knew that"? This means you learned something, and why? Someone back in the dark trenches of the museum wrote those words for you after researching the topic in the field for years. It's just their way of communicating to you.

Look outside yourself and be creative, because our field is in dier need of innovation and creativity. The next archaeological genious could be you!

Archaeology News: August 9, 2011

Archaeologists uncover 3000-year-old lion adorning citadel gate complex in Turkey

Photo © Jennifer Jackson

Archaeologists leading the University of Toronto's Tayinat Archaeological Project in southeastern Turkey have unearthed the remains of a monumental gate complex adorned with stone sculptures, including a magnificently carved lion.

Ancient Palace Discovered in Sudan
Archaeologists working in the ancient city of Meroe in central Sudan may have discovered the earliest royal building at the site.

Archaeologists discover brick foundations near Wren Building
College archaeologists say the partially unearthed foundation looks to be the remains of “a fairly massive outbuilding,” a structure that was almost certainly associated with slaves who worked at William & Mary in the early 18th century.

Archaeological Fieldwork Determines Alignment of Southern Utah's Newest Roadway
Archaeology team members use brushes to uncover artifacts near the construction zone of the Southern Parkway.

Public urged to dig out heritage
A project to get the public involved in archaeology is being officially launched in southern Scotland. People are being encouraged to take part in the Whithorn "big dig", working alongside professionals in the field.

Skeleton mystery
In 2008, the remains of the newborn babies were rediscovered packed in cigarette cases in a dusty museum storeroom by Dr Jill Eyers from Chiltern Archaeology. They were excavated from the remains of a lavish Roman villa complex in Buckinghamshire.

Jo Bell's poetry workshop
The poet invites you to consider your personal archaeology. What will the things you leave behind say about you? If this was all you left behind, what conclusions might a future archaeologist extrapolate about your character?

Senior Israeli archaeologist casts doubt on Jewish heritage of Jerusalem
A senior archaeologist at Tel Aviv University has cast doubt on the alleged Jewish heritage of Jerusalem. Israel Finkelstein's claims have been made in the face of official Israeli and biblical claims to the occupied city.

Adovasio continues underwater search for new frontier
This summer, using sophisticated sub-bottom profiling and side-scan sonar technology, divers will return to these previously identified high-potential locations with an airlift dredge to remove the sediment apron and attempt to excavate.

Chasing Mummies
If you thought archaeology was for mild-mannered folk who like standing around in fields digging up old coins, then think again. Angry archaeologist Dr Zahi Hawass runs 250 digs throughout Egypt – and makes Indiana Jones look like a wimp.

NOAA, University of Hawaii, research Maui's World War II legacy
The two-week survey continues a longstanding collaboration between NOAA and the University of Hawaii in providing students with hands-on training in maritime archaeology surveying techniques. The survey team produced scaled drawings and took ...

Twitter Users Speak Out: Reasons Why You Became An Archaeologist

After my recent epic tale entitled 30 Reasons Why You Should Become An Archaeologist, I took to twitter to find out why archaeologists in the field really chose their profession. Was it glamour? Was it the money? We all know there’s not that much unless you suddenly become the face of a syndicated history show. 

Here are the real reasons why these individuals became archaeologists.

1. You think the labs at museums are way cooler than the exhibits.~ventur514 (Eric Shertz)
2. No degree needed - just mad skillz. I've worked w/many fellow refugees from humanities-degree-land!~lisagrimm
3. The Summer after finishing a B.A. in Economics, I went on a field school & it changed my life. Love finding stuff in the dirt!~circledigs
4. I enjoy rifling through peoples rubbish- it was this or tabloid journalism~transit_monkey
5. I love everything that's old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wine." but mainly the wine ...~YorksArch
6. I became an archaeologist because; as far as I can tell, it's the reason God made me. This is why I exist.~JohnGallinPi
7. What would it be like to follow in the footsteps of Indiana Jones :-) Serious, I prefer fact to fantasy.~jdarch1
8. So I could get paid for picking things up off the ground!~archaeocore
9. It's a field that balances physical & intellectual work with the reward of showing the variety of cultures through time.~processarch
10. I went to field school in Israel and discovered my heart is still in the balk. I'll to keep excavating and find it. ~mknowles22
11. I wanted the chance to hold something in my hands that was thousands of years old. An artifact untouched from another century or era is pretty amazing.~AncientDigger

I want to thank each and every Twitter user for contributing to this list. For new readers, I think it’s important to hear the truth from the archaeologists in the field.

Excavation of Sutton Hoo Yields Unseem 1939 Photographs

Over 700 new pictures of the hugely important 1939 archaeological dig in Suffolk were dropped off at the National Trust visitor centre by a mystery donor.  When experts opened the albums they were stunned by the colour images of the excavation of the grave believed to be that of the Anglo Saxon king Raedwald.

The pictures were taken by two female teachers who were amateur photographers and were on holiday in the area. Mercie Lack and Barabara Wagstaff's visit to the early 7th century burial was known of but the collection of the unseen photos has proved invaluable to archaeologists.

Their equipment included German colour film and their photos are one of the first excavations in the country captured in colour. Personalities are also shown and they include the famous archaeologist Basil Brown and Queen Victoria's granddaughter, Princess Marie Louise, who turned up for a tour.

The pictures also include details such as the archaeologists working with a turkey baster and kitchen bellows.
These were possibly taken from the kitchen of Edith Pretty, the landowner who believed there were treasures on her land and organised the dig.

Prior to these photos emerging there were just 29 known pictures of the excavation of one of the most important discoveries ever in the UK. When the ship was dug, experts from the Science Museum were there to take measurements - but their data were lost during the war.

So these pictures have enabled experts to help piece together the missing information.

Edited From The Telegraph

The Hilarious Eddie Izzard Pokes Fun At Archaeology

Close to three hours ago, I finished my last final. I can't even tell you how relieved I am. I was actually at the  point my brain was starting to shut to down and I didn't the know the difference between Neanderthals and Homo Erectus. One had a big nasal aperture. One left Africa close to 1.8 million years ago. One has a bad reputation for pulling his ladies across the dirt, all while swinging a club in his other hand. Ok, so the last part may not be true, but I needed a laugh.

So here I am, calmly sitting in the library after my exams, buying some last minute gifts on Amazon, and planning my trip to the Smokey's next week. Low and behold, I found myself on YouTube looking for humorous archaeology videos. Why? Well, sometimes archaeology can be mundane. Yes, I said it. I didn't want to write about lost civilizations or another discovery found after a year of digging. I wanted fun. I wanted laughter. I needed a break! Awwwww




Archaeologists will dig for three weeks at a time, turning up maybe one millimeter of top soil that they dated to two weeks ago. Yes, sometimes it's that slow and unexciting. Leave it to Eddie Izzard to give archaeologists a reason to shake their head in agreement. Why do we does this? Because we are nuts that's why!

Just a warning! I couldn't stop laughing at this video and I was in the library with hundreds of people studying for their finals. Opps! lol

German archaeologists recover Nazi-era ‘degenerate art’

Subway workers and archaeologists in Berlin have discovered a trove of early 20th-century art that was thought to be destroyed by the Nazi regime.

Workers building a new subway line in the German capital stumbled onto the remains of sculptures that were part of a list of ‘degenerate art’ the Nazi regime deemed too Jewish or un-German.

No one is entirely sure how the sculptures survived Nazi propagandists and the Second World War, although there is speculation that an anti-Nazi Berliner saved the works  from destruction. Der Spiegel also has a photo gallery of the works which are now housed in Berlin’s Neues Museum.

Read the entire story about  German archaeologists recover Nazi-era ‘degenerate art’