Monday, June 04, 2007

Cold, hard reality sets in. . .but he likes it Working With Fish Bones
Archaeology and zooarchaeology in particular, teaches one about patience and accuracy. The process from digging to analysis has many intermediate steps: identification of the faunal remains, notes on taphonomy (cutmarks, burning, signs of gnawing are critical for later studies), cataloguing, measuring, and entering the observations in a database. The work is methodical, and every step is a puzzle piece that finds its place so that we can gain a better view in the economy and lifeways of the early settlers of Iceland.

The work in Iceland led me to change my major from accounting to archaeology and gave me a fire in the belly and excitement about studying and researching that I had never experienced before. I was hooked on archaeological faunal material, and fish were it, but the choice of a regional focus was still open. When I heard that there was a new project, this time in the Caribbean, my interest was piqued: Could this be it?


Pretty good article.