Work, Work, Work!
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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 3 | 25-May |
Labwork/ Pachacamac Visit | 30-May |
Begin Mapping Sector 03 | 1-Jun |
Labwork/ Cerro Azul | 6-Jun |
Choose Cist #1, begin excavating | 8-Jun |
Labwork | 13-Jun |
(Cont.) Cist #1 Excavation/ Test Pit #1 Periphery Unit begin | 15-Jun |
Labwork/Lima/ Travel? END OF SESSION #1 | 20-Jun |
Analyze Cist #1 Materials | 22-Jun |
Labwork | 27-Jun |
(Cont.?) Analyze Cist #1 Materials/ Survey/Test Pit #2 in Periphery Unit | 29-Jun |
Labwork | 4-Jul |
Visit Tijerales & Huaycan de Cieneguilla (Survey) | 6-Jul |
Labwork | 11-Jul |
Excavate Cist #2 | 13-Jul |
Labwork/Travel? END OF SESSION #2 | 18-Jul |
(Cont.) Cist #2 Excavation | 20-Jul |
Labwork | 25-Jul |
Finish up Cist #2 Excavation | 27-Jul |
Labwork | 1-Aug |
Finish up all analysis! END OF SESSION #3 | 3-Aug |
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