With an Indiana Jones-style hat perched on his head and dirt covering his burnished skin, Bruce Huckell assists nine University of New Mexico archaeology students in the hunt for evidence of 11,000-year-old Paleoindians.
Sweaty and tired, the students methodically dig into square plots of land southeast of Socorro for hours on end.
But in a cactus field full of young undergraduate dreams, precious artifacts from the past aren't the only thing Huckell's students are discovering.
They're also busy trying to find their place in a profession that is rapidly changing from a world of academic pursuit and grant writing into the "lowest bidder takes all" business of contract archaeology, a profession inspired by New Mexico's construction boom.
It's actually a pretty good article on contract archaeology.