Shovel Testing

I am an archaeologist. This is a fact that I have not discussed much recently, which is odd because I spend 40+ hours a week being an archaeologist. I travel as an archaeologist and every dinner party I go to I have to discuss being an archaeologist. Archaeology is actually a pretty diverse field. This is surprising to most people.

Typical conversation -
New acquaintance: "What do you do?"
Me: I am an archaeologist.
New acquaintance [is thinking, but how do you make money?]: "Who do you work for?"
Me: "I work for a cultural resource management (CRM) company."
New acquaintance: "So who pays you?"
Me: "I work for a private company that contracts with a variety of federal, state, local and private agencies."
New acquaintance: "Oh [then they decide to let the subject drop]. What is the coolest thing you have ever found?"

Everyone asks about the coolest I have found. I do not know the answer. Archaeology is about context. If a group did not have many ceramics and you find a sherd, this is cool. Ceramics are not as cool when you find 100+ sherds in every screen full of dirt.

Last week I was in Charleston, SC. We were working on a tract of land that has been a tea farm, rice plantation, and more modern housing. Did you know that tea was briefly subsized by the U.S. government? It was a largely failed enterprise as a whole. There is still one operating tea farm in the United States (see this). There were still wild tea plants growing across the tract.

Shovel Test

In CRM archaeology one common way of exploring an area that has not been previously surveyed is shovel testing. To shovel test an area a grid is established and regular holes are excavated throughout the grid. The distances are measured through pacing and the angles are determined using a compass. The dirt from each shovel test is screened for artifacts.

This is a sort of zen inducing activity. Walk, dig, screen, dig, notes, repeat. This is supposed to locate archaeological sites. Often it even allows sites to be roughly dated. Shovel testing is a necessarily flawed activity. What if a site is less than 30 meters in size and sits between shovel tests? Oh well... let me know if you think of another, better, way to find archaeological sites.

Blue Cheese Potato Carrot Soup

Today I found myself in need of a comfort food dinner. Derek told me he could not have too much cheese before he played hockey. This eliminated the macaroni and cheese option. I have been really obsessed with soups lately. We had black bean soup last week and butternut squash soup the week before.

So, I made up a recipe. One of my very first, now I am going to share it with you.

Blue Cheese Carrot Potato Soup

1 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 tablespoon olive oil (really you could use all olive oil if you want to avoid dairy)

4 medium sized carrots, chopped

1 medium sized onion (indifferent about color), chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

2 pounds russet potatoes (approximately), diced

3 cups vegetable broth (low sodium is preferred)

1 bay leaf

6-8 ounces blue cheese (something creamy), crumbled (blue cheese could be optional, it is not for me)

salt

pepper

1. Melt the butter with the olive oil in a large pot on medium heat. Add the carrots and onions with a heavy pinch of salt. Sweat until onions are translucent (about 5 minutes). I love saying this even though I do not think onions are ever translucent.... Really they will just be soft. The carrots will not get soft yet.

2. Stir in the garlic. Let it cook for another minute or so.

3. Stir in the potatoes and let them get coated with the butter and oil. Then, pour in the vegetable broth and add the bay leaf.

4. Let this simmer on lowish heat for about 30 minutes or until the carrots and potatoes are falling apart and soft. Then remove the bay leaf and discard.

5. Now, carefully, use a stick blender, regular blender, food processor, or a potato masher (maybe?) to blend the soup. At this point it kind of looked like baby food. It is bright orange.

6. Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper. Then add the crumbled blue cheese and let it melt in.

Serve with wine, fresh bread and good company.

I apologize for the awful photos. Really the soup was good, my camera karma was just not with me today.

Conference

Last week I went to the Southeastern Archaeological Society (affectionately known as SEAC). Once a year archaeologists who study the southeastern United States meet up at a random hotel to talk about archaeology, drink beer, and generally nerd out. This year it was in Lexington, Kentucky. Home of bourbon, the derby, and, well, not much else.

I presented a paper entitled "Geophysical Prospection as an Archaeological Survey Method: Ground-Penetrating Radar, Magnetometer, and Intra-site Patterning in North-Central Tennessee." No one really wants to hear about my presentation. Actually, there were people at the conference who did care.

The conference was so much fun. Nothing like being surrounded by people who share a common interest. Then you can drink beer and gossip about the same stuff.

Women's Rights National Historical Park

Seneca Falls is the home of one of the country's only National Parks dedicated to a movement. I have to say that visiting the park's museum totally inspired me. Rights for women! Go ERA! Equal pay! Etc!

The park has a museum, the Weselyan Chapel and two historic houses that major leaders in the women's rights movement. The chapel is the site of the first women's rights convention. The houses belong to Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Mary Ann M'Clintock. Without this convention and these people, I would not be doing what I am doing today. Elizabeth Cady Stanton believed that women could do whatever they wanted. That was pretty intense stuff in the 1840's. For some people that is still pretty crazy.

The museum is very well done, with sections on politics, fashion, education, and work. It makes a valiant effort bring all of this into the modern era and related to women's status today. It would do a much better job if it were still 1980. As it is, the funny haircuts tend to undermine the very serious subject...

It is a little sad that women have basically made no strides since the 1980's exhibit was put together.

Girls are still not represented in the math and sciences.

That's me... archaeologist was not an option (Park Ranger though, really?!).

You boys were wrong. We can do!

Anyway, I think the park is a must visit for everyone of any gender. It is nice to be reminded occasionally of how I got here, a woman working in a male dominated field.

At least we don't wear corsets any more. Thanks, E. Stanton, S. B. Anthony and their cronies!

In the field! teaser...

This past week and a half I have been at the Women's Rights National Historic Park. I know, this is a pretty cool place. I am a woman. I enjoy voting, owning property, etc. I have these gals to thank for it all.

We have been incredibly busy this trip. I have yet to find time for a real post. But, here I will summarize our field schedule so you can picture me out there slaving away.

7:20 ish - Leave hotel

7:30 - fill our mugs up with real coffee from Zuzu's cafe in Seneca Falls (a very worthwhile visit)

7:45 - arrive at the site, drink coffee, discuss plan

8:00 - begin data collection

12:00ish - lunch, usually cheese and crackers, little soups, apples (it is that time of the year up here in New York)

4:30-5:00 ish - wrap up, finish data collection, roll up tapes

6:00-7:30 ish - Dinner

7:30-10:00 - Data Processing, downloading, and back-up

10:00-11:00 - Quiet time, reading

11:00 - Sleep. Goodnight

Carolina Tiger Rescue

While my friend was visiting this weekend we decided to go to the Carolina Tiger Rescue for a tour. This is a pretty interesting place. It is basically a cat shelter for big cats. Apparently, sort of dumb people get tigers or other large cats as pets. I think they think said cats will curl up and sleep at the foot of their bed. This does not happen, they are wild animals and sort of violent (see this story about a crazy tiger owner).

Anyway for $12 we got a tour around the grounds and got to meet the cats. It was pretty awesome.

Caracol

The Caracol can jump 10 feet (or something like that). They attack and kill animals bigger than them, they tend to go for the face. Great pet!

Tiger

There were lots of tigers, they were the most common animal. They feed the tigers one whole chicken a day, bones and all. We got to watch it chew the chicken and the bones sounded incredibly creepy.

Hot Tiger

It was warm in the afternoon and tigers like water, unlike my kitten.

Kinkajou

The kinkajou is not actually a cat, note prehensile tail. This guy likes bananas, which is why he is visiting.

Serval

The Serval eats rats. That is all I remember.

Ocelot

This ocelot loves Calvin Klein perfume and it smelled like cat pee. Ocelots live in the rain forest and they love climbing.

News!

Hello blog readers (do I have any blog reader? Mom?)! I have good news! My long period of office time is coming to an end. I am going somewhere. Now I can write about something interesting. Well, cooking is interesting too, but even I get bored of talking about our latest conquests in the kitchen. I want to go somewhere, get dirty, meet new people, try new things, etc.

I am going to.... drum roll please... upstate New York! More to come on this later...