Ah semester in review time once again...what could be more enjoyable than reflecting on the anguish and pain all over again, re-opening wounds and salting them with anticipation of next semester's responsibilities? Here goes:
I spent the better part of the first couple of months working with the Forest Service and finishing out the season's fieldwork. In addition, I finally managed to pull together my Farmer/Forager research about an hour before presenting it at the GBAC. That was the highlight of the semester, since it was my first 'real' presentation, though I still feel like I got jipped out of a really good 'Simms makes a scene' moment. According to Dr J, everybody's favorite Little Elf Man has decided--after 20 years, mind you--to accept that his theory needs work and he needn't be offended by those who attempt to move it in a more reasonable direction. Thank heaven!
Early in October, Charmaine and I took Matt Seddon out to Vernon to talk about eligibility and chaining on surface sites. We couldn't resist showing off our homesteads and, being the fellow rust-appreciator that he is, Matt was interested in my thesis and offered to join my thesis committee. Sufficeth to say, I'm thrilled. His insider track on the Level III project, etc is really going to help. Matt's a great guy--it's nice to know that someone with a personality is up there reading our reports.
I only had one class this semester--History 566: Sources and Problems in Utah History. It was interesting to see the difference in the historian approach--as we chose our books from the selected bibliography, I noticed that the three history students most often chose those that were focused on a specific individual's experience. In contrast, I tended toward those that were broader and emphasized the history of many in a specific place. Granted, I also tended to choose the shortest book on the list. The class wasn't fun, per se, but I don't regret taking it since it places all my little rusty homestead bits in better context.
Fairly uneventful, and I'm still trying to find time to knock out a preliminary report for 42WS1931 from last season, but that's what the break is for, right?
Monday, December 25, 2006
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Busted!
This morning, I was driving into Phoenix to conduct a brief (< 1 acre) survey of a small parcel we are working on. On my way, I passed by the site of a huge (more than 1,000 burial) Hohokam Village we had excavated the previous year. As I was stopped at a traffic light, I noticed two guys out in the middle of the site fooling around with shovels. The site had been hit by professional looters while we were still in the field, and I immediately called our PI for further instructions.
He called the Phoenix PD, who responded with 4 cars and a helicopter unit. The bosses raced over to the site to survey the damage. Turns out, these were just two members of the Phoenix Symphony (Bassoon and 1st Violin) who were poking around in the backdirt. They had run into a former employee of our company on the site a few weeks back who had told them that it would probably be ok.
While I didn't hook a big fish, and while these dudes are probably not going to be getting into any trouble, I still count this as the first looter bust of my career.
He called the Phoenix PD, who responded with 4 cars and a helicopter unit. The bosses raced over to the site to survey the damage. Turns out, these were just two members of the Phoenix Symphony (Bassoon and 1st Violin) who were poking around in the backdirt. They had run into a former employee of our company on the site a few weeks back who had told them that it would probably be ok.
While I didn't hook a big fish, and while these dudes are probably not going to be getting into any trouble, I still count this as the first looter bust of my career.
Monday, December 18, 2006
Yoder's Semester in Review
Ah yes, that time of year again….for the semester in review! Guys, I am so freaking ready to be done with school. I need a real job! I need a real income! Sorry. Ok, this semester I only took two classes, one was an ethics and grant writing class and the other was a hunter-gatherer class.
The ethics and grant writing was ok. We discussed a lot of ethical situations, and how you might deal with them. This was actually more interesting than I first thought it would be. We then discussed how to write competitive grants. I found a few useful things from this part of the course, but most of it I had already heard. Though admittedly I have more grant experience than most of the other grad students here. A smart, yet short and interesting resource we used in the grant portion was entitled “Writing from the Winner’s Circle: A Guide to Preparing Competitive Grant Proposals” by David Stanley. This is a good little resource and can be found at http://epscor.unl.edu/rfps/winnerscircle.shtml
The hunter-gatherers class was good. It could have been better, but the class schedule got screwed this semester so that we ended up not meeting that often. This meant we weren’t able to get into a lot of the topics that we wanted to. Overall it was good though. We discussed the characteristics of hunter-gatherers in prehistory and how they interacted with their neighbors. Don’t have any really good articles to give you as you have probably read them already. As I said, we just didn’t have enough time to really get into the interesting topics we would have liked.
On my own research notes. I’m just about to submit an article to the Journal of Archaeological Science on using soft X-rays in perishable research. I hope this one gets in, it would be a good publication. I’m planning on spending the break finishing up a curation article I hope to have submitted by the beginning of next year, and of course, the ever present grant writing for dissertation money. I’ll also be running a week long survey out in the Nevada desert for one of my professors (I need the cash!). Oh, and I might work on the experimental granaries paper for publication somewhere. Though I’m not quite sure if that one is worth it, we’ll see. I’ll also be going up to Utah to visit my in-laws. On the way I’m going to stop by some old fellas who have sandals in their private collections and see if I can convince them to donate them to my dissertation (I think I’m going to dissect one or two). Working with the good ole boys and destroying artifacts, what the h have I come to! Hope you all are enjoying the break. Take some time off and relax.
The ethics and grant writing was ok. We discussed a lot of ethical situations, and how you might deal with them. This was actually more interesting than I first thought it would be. We then discussed how to write competitive grants. I found a few useful things from this part of the course, but most of it I had already heard. Though admittedly I have more grant experience than most of the other grad students here. A smart, yet short and interesting resource we used in the grant portion was entitled “Writing from the Winner’s Circle: A Guide to Preparing Competitive Grant Proposals” by David Stanley. This is a good little resource and can be found at http://epscor.unl.edu/rfps/winnerscircle.shtml
The hunter-gatherers class was good. It could have been better, but the class schedule got screwed this semester so that we ended up not meeting that often. This meant we weren’t able to get into a lot of the topics that we wanted to. Overall it was good though. We discussed the characteristics of hunter-gatherers in prehistory and how they interacted with their neighbors. Don’t have any really good articles to give you as you have probably read them already. As I said, we just didn’t have enough time to really get into the interesting topics we would have liked.
On my own research notes. I’m just about to submit an article to the Journal of Archaeological Science on using soft X-rays in perishable research. I hope this one gets in, it would be a good publication. I’m planning on spending the break finishing up a curation article I hope to have submitted by the beginning of next year, and of course, the ever present grant writing for dissertation money. I’ll also be running a week long survey out in the Nevada desert for one of my professors (I need the cash!). Oh, and I might work on the experimental granaries paper for publication somewhere. Though I’m not quite sure if that one is worth it, we’ll see. I’ll also be going up to Utah to visit my in-laws. On the way I’m going to stop by some old fellas who have sandals in their private collections and see if I can convince them to donate them to my dissertation (I think I’m going to dissect one or two). Working with the good ole boys and destroying artifacts, what the h have I come to! Hope you all are enjoying the break. Take some time off and relax.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Virgin Anasazi Ceramic Conference
Kelley Hays-Gilpin gave a guest lecture in my Ceramics of the Southwest class yesterday and mentioned a Conference on Virgin Anasazi ceramics that she, Jim A., and Margaret Lyneis are planning. What the H? I gotta hear about this from the outside?
Anyone know anything about this? I already emailed Jim about it.
PS: Sounds like the MPC just got a really important collection of ceramic vessels from Holbrook. Anyone know about this?
Anyone know anything about this? I already emailed Jim about it.
PS: Sounds like the MPC just got a really important collection of ceramic vessels from Holbrook. Anyone know about this?
Monday, December 04, 2006
Figurine Analysis
The other day, Aaron and I were talking about the figurines recovered from North Creek.
We were talking about how they are sometimes scored on the back, and were wondering what they might have been attached to. We are currently trying to set up a Scanning Electron Microscope analysis of the dorsal side of these artifacts to see whether any organic fibers or other residue indicating how or what these things might have been attached to. We are trying to get a student in the BYU microscopy lab on-board to help with the analysis and technical stuff.
Any thoughts?
Archaeometry Rules!
We were talking about how they are sometimes scored on the back, and were wondering what they might have been attached to. We are currently trying to set up a Scanning Electron Microscope analysis of the dorsal side of these artifacts to see whether any organic fibers or other residue indicating how or what these things might have been attached to. We are trying to get a student in the BYU microscopy lab on-board to help with the analysis and technical stuff.
Any thoughts?
Archaeometry Rules!
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