Our Group Discovers Pirate Accents

This happened today.  Truth.

Today was another hot day, although the heat index was only 100 as opposed to the 110 of yesterday. And it did feel a bit nicer, although the work itself was more difficult because our units are getting deeper and we can’t really get into them to excavate, so reaching the far corners or even the middle has become somewhat of an art we now refer to as archaeology yoga.  The positions are quite god for building muscle mass.  Similarly, my the muscles in my hands are still quite sore, and, as an added bonus, I accidently cut my toenail to short last night which lead to a day of pain every time anything touched my toe.  And it’s the awful pain that makes your stomach hurt because it hurts so much.  So.  Yes.  Happiness. 

But actually.  I am proud to declare that today, we hit bone, and I was the one to uncover it.  To be more precise, we uncovered the top of a skull and part of a bandana around the victim’s neck in unit one, along with another shoe, the bottom of a pant leg, and some unidentified clothing in unit three.  It was a busy day.  We also decided to do some more surface searching and we ended up finding anther bullet case, as well. The case seems to be coming together. 

My personal highlight of the day occurred around 11:30 this morning.  I was attempting to clip a rather large root that was impeding the excavation of unit one when it snapped back up and a huge chunk of dirt flew into my eye.  To my dismay, my blink reflex occurred just a bit too late causing my eye to snap shut with the dirt firmly lodged within.  This continued to be a problem as the dirt refused to occupy its new home to the point where my eye was leaking brown tears.  It was lovely.  And it would have been fine had my contact not popped out.  Now, the outside being what it is and with myself not being at the height of cleanliness, I hesitated to put it back into my eye.  And then it fell on the ground and made my choice for me.  Now, since without my contacts I can see color and maybe a shape if I’m lucky, I was less of an asset for my team.  This being the case, Heidi drove me back to Cashin so I could obtain a new contact and flush out my eye.  That was all the backstory to the highlight of my day, which was actually getting to pee inside my dorm at a real toilet.  But yeah.  That’s why I got to go inside. 

Laundry is not this colorful.

I had another peanut butter and banana sandwich and it was grand.  For dinner I ate another goat cheese and chicken sandwich.  I seem to be forming habits.  Also, today is laundry day, as I have officially ran out of field pants and almost every other necessary article of clothing, not to mention it’s been over two weeks without washing my sheets.  Although finding the laundry room was an adventure I’d care not to discuss.  And the washers are big enough for maybe half a normal load and the dryers don't dry things all the way the first time around.  Plus both the washers and dryers are $1.50 per load.  But I'm ranting.  Today the team made more concrete plans for tomorrow and the weekend, and I think it’ll probably be pretty good.  Tomorrow is supposed to storm, so I’m not sure if we’ll end up actually going to the field.  I hope we do since our excavation has actually begun to generate some excitement.  Regardless, tomorrow will be a day.  Tonight looks like more television and probably some eating.  Yes.  My personal life is invigorating. 

The Day We Rediscovered That's What She Said Jokes

Me being a real archaeologist.

Today was really, really hot.  It got up to about 97, but the heat index was around 110.  I think that was mostly because we’re required to wear pants though.  But it was humid.  And boots.  And socks over pants.  However, we were in the shade for some of the day.  So, factoring in those variables, I would still say it was pretty warm, but it was nowhere near those soccer games in 90-degree weather.  So that was a plus.  I drank two whole 32oz Nalgene water bottles that were full of ice water (I froze one over night and waited for it to melt (that took about 10 min)).  And I only had to pee once.  I think I probably sweat it all out.  In fact, it was so hot that we had to turn in a bit early because Heidi and Nick were afraid for our safety.  The good part of that being that the lab was, for the first time since we’ve been here, air-conditioned.  I made the wonderful decision of making a peanut butter and banana sandwich today, and I had a pretty good breakfast, so I was doing pretty well on the food front.  Plus, I stopped on the way to class to get an iced latte, which probably ranks in top ten best decision of my life along with transferring to the U and eating cheez-its for the first time.  It was a delicious drink.  And it was so darn chilly.  It melted almost immediately, but that’s ok.  Tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter. 

Mr. Toad being all sleepy and warm.

I had shotgun in the van both to and from the site today, which was super fun.  Although we didn’t find anything very big at our site today, we did find a few little things, and we got all six square meters down to about 20cm deep, which feels nice to have accomplished.  We also saw our resident toad again, except this time he wasn’t hopping around, he was curled up and sleeping inside a rotted out hollow in a tree.  It was darn cute.  Today was also the day I got the most dirty, probably because I was so sweaty, so all the dirt just turned to mud.  And I wore kind of a light colored shirt that showed dirt easily.  I’m also very sore.  My hands and fingers are really getting used a lot, and it’s a different kind of muscle use than normal.  It’s no fun. 

I wanted to take a second to thank my mother for the idea of kneepads.  When she first brought it up, I’ll admit that I was a bit skeptical.  I could see how it could be a useful idea, but I wasn’t fully convinced I would use them.  I was wrong, and my mommy is a genius.  I literally use them every waking second of excavation, and literally everyone now had purchased a pair.  I was a bit worried on the first day because the straps kind of hurt the backs of your knees and make them all itchy.  However, once I figured out that you just kneel on the, without actually strapping them to your knees, my life has gained new meaning.  Thanks again mother dearest. 

My trowel in my back pocket because archaeologist are
really just that cool.  

The highlight of today was that we had a freeze pop break at around 14:00.  It was nice except for that Nick had to walk them from the van to the site, giving them a chance to melt.  And melt they did.  And then we didn’t have scissors, so we had no idea how to open them.  We all asked each other, but, as it turns out, no one had eaten freezies since they were little, and mommy always opened them.  So no one actually knew how to do it.  The group had just decided that clearly it was just a mom thing and we wouldn’t ever be able to enjoy them when Laura whips out this overly large pocket knife and goes, “Well, I’m not a mom.  But I do have a knife.”  And that solved that. At the end of the day, as we all were preparing to go back to the lab, we had to walk to the van.  It isn’t that far of a walk, but it really is.  When we got to the van, it was like a sauna.  We opened the van doors and the environment in the vicinity went up 10 degrees.  It was ridiculous.  When this occurred, Re turns to Lauren and goes, “Wow! Did you feel that?”  Lauren slowly looked at her and says, “I don’t feel anything anymore.”  It was pretty warm. 

The plan for this evening is to make some dinner, watch some television, and probably make lunch for tomorrow, since that seems to take quite some time in the morning.  

I'm in New England and I Finally Get Dunkin' Donuts

Today started of differently than others, simply because, when I woke up, the world wasn’t blurry.  This sounds like a good thing, but it wasn’t because it means I left my contacts in over night, which is just about the worst thing a person can do to themselves.  Ooops.  So that took a little getting over.  After I had come to terms with this tragedy, I proceeded to get ready for the day, and Jackie and I headed over to the lab. 

It was supposed to get up to 80 today, but it only got up to about 74, thank goodness.  We were digging all day.  By the end, our excavation units were all at least 5cm deep, with two of them being 20cm deep, which was a lot of progress.  The units look really neat since they're so square.  Jeff and I continued to dig up the cloth we thought might be a sleep until Heidi told us they hadn’t put the foam there and they didn’t know if it was dangerous or not, so we stopped with that idea.  Also, it turned out to be a tube sock.  The highlight of the day was fully excavating an entire woman’s shoe in unit one.  Or the time we found a salamander and it was sleepy and yawned.  Also I learned everyone’s middle names, which was nice.  I like the excavation par, it’s just a lot of the same thing over and over, although it’s a little like what I imagine gambling would be like.  It’s the hope that you find something that keeps you going, knowing any shovelful of dirt could have something cool in it.  We found a lot of little things today, mostly nails and other metal things.  I also realized that I don’t really mind being dirty all that much, I just don’t like getting my other clean things dirty.  So, I don’t mind having dirt all over me, bit when it comes to digging in my backpack for something, I don’t like that.  Although, you think you don’t mind being dirty until you take a shower at the end of the day and a ray of sunshine comes down from the clouds and Jesus says, “You gave been cleansed.”  Or, that’s what happens in my head. Another thing is that I really enjoy my group and it's really nice because we don't usually disagree on things.  The only reason that was brought up is because the other team was having some issues coming to a consensus.  I'm glad we don't really have to deal with that.  Lastly, in our excavation pits today, I saw both a toad and a salamander.  What a day.  

We only had one fatality today, and it was that of my clipboard, whom Jeff stepped on.  There was much sadness and talk of him buying me a new one.  For lunch, which I had been excited about since 9:00 AM, I had a pb and j, a Capri sun, Cheetos, chips ahoy, and some carrots.  It was super yummy.  I also never had to pee in the woods today, which was a pleasant surprise.  I take back what I said about the excavation of the shoe being the highlight of the day because the actual highlight was when Heidi’s in-laws came to visit with four boxes of Dunkin' Donuts.  Tomorrow is supposed to be record highs for this area, reaching about 95.  I hope the weather people are wrong!  As for this afternoon, it will be spent attempting to find a new Tv show.  I miss Dr. Who.  

The Never Ending Tick Check

So today was our very first day in the field.  This was started by me being exhausted from the weekend.  What did I do this weekend? you may ask.  The answer is nothing.  I did literally nothing.  I sat in my room and watched Dr. Who.  I Skyped two people.  I didn’t even leave for food.  I ordered pizza.  Both nights.  I took a shower once.  I think.  Anyway.  I was exhausted from doing nothing and then having to get up early to do something.  So, I got out of bed, somewhat grudgingly, put my field clothes on (socks over pants), and lathered up on bug spray and sunscreen.  What I’ve earned today: Anything under 25% deet is the devil.  I packed my lunch and was off.  On the way to the lab, Jackie and I were stopped by an orientation leader and politely told that orientation was the other way.  Because we would be those freshman who wear hiking boots, a baseball cap, and socks over pants to orientation.  First impressions, and all. 

Upon getting to the lab, we had to load up the vehicles with all of our field equipment.  In fact, today was supposed to be a getting ready day, and none of us really thought we’d get to digging.  It did take a while to get everything to the field and carry it from the car to the site, but it took less time than I had imagined.  Next, we split into our two groups, and, from this point out, the bioarchaeology team doesn’t exist because our sites are on two different sides of the overall enclosure.  My teams first step was to start a pedestrian survey.  We all lined up with ten flags each and walked the length of our site, tagging anything we thought could mean something.  This included everything from a Twix wrapper, to an entire rusted spring mattress frame, to ground that just somehow felt too soft.  Regardless, an infinite amount of flags were placed and we went around again to look at them all, take photos, and decide what should count as evidence.  If we thought it was something important, like a footprint or a beer bottle of winter ale, it was my job to map it.  This included taking compass measurements and distance measurements and making the map with a protractor.  It turns out this was a never-ending job.  As soon as I thought I’d gotten everything, someone would find more evidence.  For example, I’d put all the mapping stuff away anf then Jeff was like “Oh look!  A bullet casing.”  Crap.  I mean, cool.  I know it’s important, but I just put everything away.  So I mapped it and put it all away again because I’m the worst at this.  Because, then, of course, Jeff goes “Oh look.  A piece of a shirt.”  Well.  Fine.  You do the mapping then.  I was a bit proud though because Heidi came up while I was mapping and asked one of her questions that’s supposed to tell us we’re doing something wrong.  She goes, “So, how do you know what angle to put all the points at?”  And I look back, all worried now that I’ve just messed it all up and go, “Well, I took all the compass bearings from the site datum and transferred it with a protractor.”  And she basically said good job for knowing compasses exist.  That was a close one.  We then proceeded to go around and bag and label everything we had deemed to be evidence, which was like 25 things.  The part of being on the forensics team that’s tricky is everything has t be so precise.  The labels have to seal the evidence bags so that we know no one got into them.  We have to make everyone who visits our site sign in on a visitors log, and by visiting I mean anyone who comes inside the caution tape.  And the evidence box can’t be without a member of our team at all times or all the evidence is compromised.  Joy. 

We eventually got to the point where we decided upon a spot to dig.  We set up a grid of two by three squares, each one-meter square, and another unit off the corner of the last in the main body to encompass the cloth we found.  After the pain that is attempting to make perfect squares, which took an hour and a lunch break, we eventually got it to our satisfaction.  Which is very different than perfect.  Then, we set up our screens to sift through the dirt we dig up for small artifacts.  Anyway, Jeff and I had the square with the cloth and we started digging first.  It was fine until we encountered the foam.  If that sounded ominous, good.  It was ominous.  Basically, this layer of green and black foam covered the entire unit about two centimeters underground, and we weren’t really sure how to handle it.  Or know what it was.  And the cloth was under it, so we couldn’t really even get to that.  It’s a problem we shall confront tomorrow.  However, I did find a used piece of gum.  And let me tell you, it’s probably the only time in my life I’ve been happy to pick up a used piece of gum.  IT’S EVIDENCE.  Our other team members also found a small tin bucket, but let’s be honest, it’s not as cool as gum.  Anyway, the day continued on for a little bit more.  I peed in the woods, which was an experience full of mediocrity and sadness.  I also realized I needed more for lunch than a pb and j. 

After cleaning up and putting tarp over our sites for protection at the end of the day, we went back to the lab and logged all of our evidence into the evidence locker, which took another 10 minutes.  Then, we took a team trip to target where I bought infinite food rather than buying another meal plan.  And by infinite, I mean more bagels and more bread and some Capri-suns for lunch and those assorted individual bags of chips except they weren’t assorted, they were all Cheetos.  It was a good trip.  I also got Gushers, which were gone immediately.  I got fruit, too, since I’m out of yogurt.  Yum!  After that, We visited McDonalds and then I took a shower and finished the last few episodes of Dr. Who, and now I feel as though I’ve lost a very god friend.  What do I do now?  I dunno yet.  Probably Boy Meets World.  The never ending tick check continues.