Alysia Leon

Alysia Leon

Apr 22, 2015

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Work, Work, Work!

Once people catch wind of the fact that my research partner and I are going to Peru for the entire summer jaws drop. Images of archaeologists swinging through the jungles surrounding Machu Picchu, machete in hand while wrestling snakes immediately comes to mind. I give it to you, it is a great vision! Sadly, this imagery is far from what an archaeologist's schedule (or lack of one) actually consists of.

In preparation of this summer I have created an estimated 3-month timeline of what an archaeologist's work actually consists of for everyone to see!

Everyday the field house wakes up at approximately 6 am, stumbles blurrily downstairs to fill up a cup of instant coffee or coca tea. We sit and eat quietly in a haze a plate of fruit, a piece of bread and a small portion of eggs. Pack up the car of all our fancy equipment (buckets, trowels, scoops, and brushes) and drive an hour through traffic and the mountains in order to reach the field site. We typically work in the field from 8:30 am until 12:30 when we break for lunch, a chicken salad sandwich and a piece of fruit, for a half hour. After lunch we continue excavation until approximately 3 pm unless an extraordinary time pressing find was discovered when we pack up and drive an hour back to the field house. Laboratory work begins immediately upon returning to the field house. Picking through 600 year old cotton, corn cobs, peanut shells, fruit seeds and sticks, washing broken ceramic pieces, cleaning a lithic artifact with a toothbrush, or sorting ancient human remains. Once nightfall hits we can no longer continue lab work due to the lack of light and dinner approaches around 7:30 pm. Congregation typically happens for about an hour after dinner until everyone is too exhausted to keep their eyes open anymore and we all stumble to bed. This process is repeated for a month for most people that attend this field school, but for my research partner and I we will continue this process for 3 months. In this 3 months we must also complete the analysis of over 80 previously excavated ancient human remains in addition to those found of the course of new excavations.

From what I have told you above does it sound like the schedule below is doable?

Analyze 2014 Remains/Survey Sector 325-May
Labwork/ Pachacamac Visit30-May
Begin Mapping Sector 031-Jun
Labwork/ Cerro Azul6-Jun
Choose Cist #1, begin excavating8-Jun
Labwork13-Jun
(Cont.) Cist #1 Excavation/ Test Pit #1 Periphery Unit begin15-Jun
Labwork/Lima/ Travel? END OF SESSION #120-Jun
Analyze Cist #1 Materials22-Jun
Labwork27-Jun
(Cont.?) Analyze Cist #1 Materials/ Survey/Test Pit #2 in Periphery Unit29-Jun
Labwork4-Jul
Visit Tijerales & Huaycan de Cieneguilla (Survey)6-Jul
Labwork11-Jul
Excavate Cist #213-Jul
Labwork/Travel? END OF SESSION #218-Jul
(Cont.) Cist #2 Excavation20-Jul
Labwork25-Jul
Finish up Cist #2 Excavation27-Jul
Labwork1-Aug
Finish up all analysis! END OF SESSION #33-Aug


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About This Project

Southern Illinois University of Carbondale

The Peruvian Central Coast has not been extensively explored through archaeological research. This project aims to determine mortuary practices at Panquilma (c. AD 900-1532), a secondary site to the most important religious center of the South American coast, Pachacamac, and how they reflect the social and political organization of the Ychsma people that lived 600 years ago prior to the arrival of the Inca in this region.

More Lab Notes From This Project

Blast off!

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