May 2011
8 posts
4 tags
B.A. versus M.A.
A while ago, Chris Webster commented on one of my entries:
In reference to the statement, “The Secretary of Interior standards require a professional archaeologist to have at least a Master’s degree in order to run a project,” how do you feel about CRM companies that allow BAs to run projects as Field Supervisors (one step under PI here in Nevada) because they are under the...
Adventures in Archaeology: I can't wait. →
adventuresinarchaeology:
I can’t wait.
I can’t wait to feel the dirt under my nails, in my clothes, caked loosely on my skin. I can’t wait to let my sore muscles relax under a hurried, cold shower, and watch the clear water turn grey with the day’s debris. 3,000 years of historical dust, washed down the drain.
I can’t…
8 tags
Archaeologiiiiiiists... iiiiinnn... spaaaaaace...
A recently-announced discovery has filled the newshole about using infrared satellite images to locate previously unknown sites in Egypt. This is being called “space archaeology” by some, but as pointed out by many archaeologists around the internet, this is remote sensing, not space archaeology.
Remote sensing involves, as the name implies, remotely detecting archaeological...
Archaeology Definition - Several Forms of an... →
I’m a little late to the party with this one, but Kris Hirst at about.com has a nice assortment of definitions of archaeology. Which one is your favorite?
6 tags
'Chasing Aphrodite' And Other Dirty Art World... →
I heard this segment yesterday morning and thought it touches on some of the themes that I’ve discussed (e.g., archaeological context) on this blog, but also some (e.g., curation, heritage) that I hope to discuss.
“The Getty and other American museums over the last decades have justified the acquisition of these things under questionable circumstances by saying that these poor orphan...
5 tags
Learning archaeology in the academy →
If you care about education at all, please read this article. Really, even if you’re not that interested in the academy, you should read this. Sadly, if you are interested in the academy, you probably already know this.
A minor point, but one that’s nagged at me ever since I’ve read this article is that it argues that the main job-related goal in getting a doctorate is to get a...
2 tags
Context
Often, when you read an interview with an archaeologist, they’re asked about the most spectacular thing they’ve found. The archaeologists usually give an answer about how it’s not really about the individual pieces, but about the context they’re found in. This is so common that my wife jokingly refers to these interviews as “Archaeologist explains context, yet...
5 tags
Knowing where to dig.
One of the questions I’m often asked is, “How do you know where to dig?”
The simple answer is, “We don’t.” Sometimes, we’re not even given an option of where we dig.
In the cultural resource compliance world, we dig where we’re told to dig. This will be wherever the driving project might affect an archaeological site. That’s not excavation on...
