Documentation and Field Reports

All archaeology is only as good as the documentation that accompanies it.  Archaeological fieldwork is inherently destructive and the archaeological record is a non-renewable resource. This means that we only get one shot to excavate something and once we have the context, provenience, and associations are gone from the world existing only in our minds, what we write down, and our photographs.  This is one reason that looting, illegal stealing of archaeological materials, is so destructive. Artifacts themselves are not nearly as important as the context in which they are found.  Looters are only interested in the flashy, profitable objects and so they destroy the archaeological record destroying context, provenience, and associations without recording it.

Documentation is how we not only preserve the past but learn from it and share that knowledge with the world. Our 2011 field season at Ceren was extraordinarily successful. We have written a field report that outlines all of our findings and the most important aspects of our 2011 research.  Given the importance of documentation we leave the last week of the field season for writing reports and submitting all artifacts to the national museum. This report is submitted to the government of El Salvador and is available in English and Spanish. We will turn these chapters into further publications in academic journals and presentations at academic conferences.  Take a look and let me know if you have any questions!

CEREN 2011 FIELD PROJECT FINAL REPORT:
http://www.colorado.edu/anthropology/people/bios/documents/THEREPORT2011_001.pdf 

To do and not to do for fieldwork life in the tropics...

Doing archaeological fieldwork is so much more than just digging 'stuff' up.  Many students find that learning archaeological methods is only one challenge to life in the field.  Archaeological fieldwork affords a remarkable opportunity to learn about present day cultures in the area that you are living in. For most budding archaeologists the experiences of field-life are truly unique and become valuable memories for the rest of your life.

Since fieldwork is highly variable based on the specific archaeological record, your living conditions, and the local climate, I thought I would share a list of To Do and To Not Dos of fieldwork in the tropics. Many of these are likely useful for fieldwork elsewhere, but some are more specific to a tropical climate. Archaeological fieldwork often pushes you physically, socially, and culturally. These experiences can be very challenging, fun, and education. So just a few tips:

1. DO bring sunscreen, bug spray, a complete medical kit, and anti-itch creams.  (Med Kits should have at least: bandaids, second skin for blisters, anti-itch creams, Advil, Tylenol, Tums, Pepto-bismal, Imodium, athletic tape, tweezers...)
2. DON'T expect the bug spray to work and DON'T forget to reapply your sunscreen regularly!

3. DO break-in your tennis shoes and hiking boots before going into the field
4. DON'T forget to bring comfortable flip flops for around the house.

5. DO stay aware of plants and animals around you (as one botanist told me- if the tree bark is peeling don't touch it or you might be next to peel!)
6. DON'T ever reach into a hole or crevice if you cannot see inside it! Also DON'T ever touch snakes, critters, or other animals of which you are unfamiliar!

7. DO appreciate the beautiful world around you and explore your surroundings as much as possible. You never know if or when you will have the opportunity to return so be sure to see make the most of your experiences and take lots of pictures.
8. DON'T wander without doing background research first-  there might be many dangers you never even thought to be concerned about! Just ask around, google, or check a guide book to make sure you are educated about your surroundings.

9. DO work on speaking the local language. Even if you blunder your way through it, your attempt to speak the language is usually appreciated greatly. In my experience people have always responded positively to my attempts at speaking a local language.
10. DON'T travel to another country without learning the basics of the language (Please, Thank You, You are Welcome, Excuse me, May I have, Help, How are you?, Good, Bad ... or any other basic key phrases that might be useful)

11. DO try to appreciate and keep a good sense of humor about field life. If you are freaked out by the creepy crawlies then make a game out of counting the number of bugs or variety of types!
12. DON'T let any bites, cuts, or scratches that look very strange or unusual go unattended.

13. DO shower everyday if possible and be grateful for it, especially if you are one of the lucky ones who gets a warm shower!
14. DON'T reach up and touch the shower head if it is one of the Electric Showers where electric current is used to heat the water in the shower head.

15. DO make friendships with other archaeologists as well as the local people who work with you, live nearby, or you see regularly.
16. DON'T be surprised by culture shock. When you first arrive you might feel disoriented, overwhelmed, extra tired and confused.  This is normal.  If you are there long enough, upon returning home you will feel a similar experience that we refer to as reverse culture shock.  These are great opportunities to see the variation between life in different cultures, so take notes on anything that seems strange to you (as soon it will become normal).

17. DO remember that your cultural rules don't apply. It is best to get a feel for local customs related to etiquette, dress, and particularly appropriate behaviors between men and women. 

18. DON'T forget that in a foreign country the same laws, protections, and cultural rules do not apply.

19. DO try new foods, drinks, and experiences- especially when individuals are offering to share their food with you! Some of the most touching moments I have experienced have been when people who deal with true poverty and hunger offer to share their food with me. This generosity is hard to even describe.
20. DON'T feel ashamed if you just need a taste of home every once in a while! Sometimes a peanut butter and jelly sandwich helps me get through the day.

I could list many more, but these are just a few to get you started.  My field experiences always allow me to grow as a scholar and a person. If you are fortunate enough to attend field school, volunteer on an archaeological project, or run your own excavation do your best to remember to appreciate it. Field life can be very challenging but also greatly rewarding.

Never A Dull Moment!

We continue to have a great field season. Today we excavated another area of the Ceren sacbe (road). Our excavations have maize fields on each side of the sacbe. Our plaster plant casts of the maize (corn) show multiple ears of corn and in one case we are even able to see the corn kernals. 

Check out the photo published a few weeks back of our of our plant casts:
http://news.yahoo.com/photos/christine-dixon-student-university-colorado-shows-ear-corn-photo-230357713.html

We also documented an ancient manioc field that was so worn down and compacted, we were able to interpret this as a manioc field that was no longer in use at the Ceren site at the time of the eruption. The fields appear to have been not used for a season or longer (given the erosion and compacted areas).

I will post more when our Internet connection is a bit stronger (rainy season makes for more difficult Internet connections) and plan some upcoming posts on paleoethnobotony, lab work, and  a list of fields dos and don'ts to remember! Stay tuned. For now I'm going to go see what the latest flying bug is that has caused half of my field crew to run around screaming.

Document, Document, Document

Sometimes people imagine that all archaeologists do is dig, fight off snakes, and chase down looters. While those might be aspects of our archaeological work, the most important part of our work in the field is documentation. Without documentation the artifacts, ecofacts, and other data we encounter are rendered almost useless. The context and provenience of what we excavate allow us to reconstruct the stories of the past.

So what to document in our excavations? Typically we document by drawing maps of the excavation in plan view (bird's eye view) and profile view (cross-section).  We record information about the ridges and furrows (height, spacing, direction), we record how deep we are below the ground surface, and even differences in color along the ground surface. Since colors are often subjective, cultural influenced, and names not agreed upon, we utilize a system of standardization by using a Munsell Soil Chart. This book contains a variety of colors (each given names - e.g. 10 YR 3/5) that we compare our soils to for a color description.  We wet the soil or sediment (note that dirt is not a scientific term and soil and sediments are not the same) and then compare these to the color swatches in the book.  It can be frustrating to decide which color you have,  but this system provides a way to standardize our observations of color.

The moral of this archaeological tale... DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT.  Our job is to record as much data as possible when we excavate. The archaeolgoical record is a non-renewable resources, so once we have dug it up we cannot go back and re-excavate. We get one shot to do this right and that responsiblity weighs heavy at Ceren, where we have a very special data set to record each day.

Catching up!

Sorry for the delay in posts but we have been sick around here the past week!  Head colds in the tropics are not so fun but our field crew is on the mend and we are continuing to enjoy our Ceren work.

Having had so many of us fighting through ear infections, fevers, coughs, and what not has given us a lot to catch up on. So here we go, we have opened many more excavations (we are beginning our 12th operation of the field season tomorrow - all 3m x 3m in size).

Our road I first posted about to you has been declared an official Sacbe by Maya experts due to its shape, size, and the level of investment put into not only building the road but also the canals on the sides. We have now documented the first earthen ancient Maya sacbe in two test pits. In the second test pit that exposed a section of the sacbe we had very well constructed canals on either side and again a width of approximtely 2 meters. There appear to be maize fields of either side of our sacbe and we suspect that the sacbe runs into an area where a ritual feast was underway when the volcano erupted. This has been hugely exciting!  We are now excavating an area even closer to the site where we think the sacbe runs and will likely expose this during this week. If the sacbe does extend to this area we will have confirmed approximately 40 meters in length of this road!

From Left to Right Maize Plant, Constructed Canal, and Ceren Sacbe

Plan View of Ceren Sacbe

Doesn´t get much better than this!

Hi again,

Well I have to say the archaeological research at Ceren this year has just taken off to an amazing start.

Today I excavated a 1400 year old earthen walkway ! This is amazing. It is much larger than would be required for one person to walk on it, and it seems like it would require a lot of maintance. I even found a spot as I was excavating where the soft sand from the canals on either side of the walkway hadbeen scooped up and placed on the edges (to reconstruct the walkway).  We have never seen anything like this before at Ceren and are truly excited.

Along the top of the walkway are small ceramic sherds that have been compacted into the surface of the walkway. This shows us people likely walked over these a few times.  Also, you can readily see a dip and color change in the center of the walkway where much higher traffic was likely present. To the east of the walkway is the beginning of  a maize field.

I think the most amazing part of all is that today I walked in an area that was last walked on 1400 years ago!

I am so lucky to get to do this research and really do love being an archaeologist!

Hollow cavities, plaster, singer workers, oh my!!!

Before I begin let me apologize for the typos! Spanish keyboard here and a brain totally mixed with English and Spanish.

Well another great day in what I have to consider archaeological paradise. Our excavations have progressed nicely and in Op S we have reached the TBJ (tierra blanca joven) horizon, the living surface of Ceren. You should by now be feeling very connected to our work if you are reading this because I walk each day at 4pm after work to the Internet cafe still covered in dirt as I write to you! So the Ceren tephra is actually helping me type this- we like to call this our washable tan.

Okay on to the archaeology-today we found many hollow cavities in the western two operations Ops Q and R. It appears we have a maize field in these areas. In Op T (furthest east and north) we also have what appears to be a mazie field with a very large branch that was blown off a tree during the eruption of the Loma Caldera volcano 1400 years ago.  In Op S we have the beginning of a maize field in the far eastern corner but almost the entire rest of the excavation appears to be an area with open spaces where possibly activities might have occured. In this Op we have a very clear field boundary for the maize, which is exciting, but we need to excavate more to more fully understand it. 

 

First- we test the plastic bag to make
sure there is no hole in it



We mixed and poured the dental plaster into the hollow cavities of Op S.  This is a mix of powdered dental plaster we put into a plastic bag and then add water to it until it is the right consistency.These will harden tonight and then tomorrow we will clean off the TBJ surface and excavate these plant casts. Very exciting times.



Next, we add the powered plaster



 

Then we add water to the plaster mix

 

Finally we pour the dental plaster mixture
into the hollow spaces and will excavate
these once they h



Please let me know if you have any questions... In other exciting project news, we have a flush toliet being FINALLY put into our house! After years of outhouses with cockroaches, spiders, mosquitoes, ants, giant grasshoppers, etc.  we will finally get some cushy accomidations added to our cinder block field palace. But for now our workers, the tour guides, and the guards at site are having a blast making fun of the gringos who make very good use of the site museum´s bathroom! I´m pretty sure they have bets going on the gringo visits to the facilties each day!



Oh and when my workers found out I will be here for my birthday (July 4) they became very excited and began planning my party. They practiced how they will sing to me and even wrote happy bday kris (their spelling of my name) with the extra plaster. ;)

That´s all for now... but much more fun to come tomorrow.

Chris