A Call to Action

Hi everyone,

This morning, I received an email from Joel asking for me to write a few words regarding the role OPA played in my academic and professional development.

Apparently Dean Magelby and his cronies at the FHSS college are twirling their bowties in scrutiny of Uncle OPA.

Joel asked for a paragraph, but I ended up writing a letter. I'm sure many of you were also asked to write something about OPA, but I thought I'd post this in case Joel missed you. I'm sure he'd take unsolicited letters (paragraphs) regarding your esteem of OPA and a description of its value to you.

Here's a copy of my letter. Apologies for the length.

September 26th, 2010


Aaron R. Woods
Ph.D. Student
4505 S. Maryland Pkwy Mailstop 455003
Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Las Vegas NV 89154-5003


College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences
990 Spencer W. Kimball Tower
Brigham Young University
Provo, Utah 84604


To Whom It May Concern,

It has been brought to my attention that once again, the Office of Public Archaeology (OPA) is being scrutinized by your college in regards to its contributions to student training and experience. I am writing this letter on behalf of OPA to provide some insight into the vital role this organization played in providing me with valuable, real-world skills. These skills have allowed me to find gainful employment and experience success in my current Ph.D. studies.

By way of introduction, my name is Aaron R. Woods. I received my BA (2005) and MA (2009) in anthropology with an emphasis in archaeology from Brigham Young University. I am currently in my second year of Ph.D studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. While attending BYU, I was an employee of OPA for six years.

In 2003, I became acquainted with Richard Talbot and Lane Richens at a BYU archaeological field school held in the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument under the direction of Dr. Joel C. Janetski. During this field school, I was able to work closely with both Richard and Lane. This close working relationship helped me learn many things that contributed to my fledgling capabilities as an archaeologist. At field school, I received a mere introduction to the requisite knowledge and abilities necessary to function in an archaeological career. Therefore, I was very excited to be hired to work for OPA at the end of the 2003 field school.

During my time with OPA, I acquired key abilities that have enabled me to serve as a professional consultant, student supervisor, and contributing member of the anthropological community in recent years. For those unfamiliar with the world of archaeology, there are several skills needed in order to function in a professional capacity. Two of the most important are field research methods and report writing. OPA excels in both of these areas. Richard Talbot and Lane Richens are experts in current archaeological excavation and survey methods. The time I spent with them doing field research provided a vital foundation for subsequent archaeological investigations with other professors, institutions, and contract companies.

OPA is also to be commended for their excellent, well-researched, and visually stimulating field reports. The standards of research, prose, presentation, and delivery present in the reports and literature produced by OPA continue to surpass industry standards. As a student employee, I had numerous occasions to contribute to these reports. A significant portion of my curriculum vitae consists of reports and research performed while working for OPA. I am especially grateful for the time that OPA invested in teaching me valuable and marketable report writing skills. These abilities have facilitated and cemented many relationships with peers, professors, and potential employers outside of BYU.

Finally, it is necessary to mention the key role that OPA played in facilitating the research and writing of my Master’s thesis. Were it not for the financial support (student salary), generous access to archaeological collections, access to reports, and the use of OPA resources, my thesis would have never gotten off the ground. In addition, the numerous discussions I had with Richard Talbot and Lane Richens, both in and out of the office had significant impact on the theoretical perspectives present in my thesis and that I continue to utilize.

The Office of Public Archaeology is a vital institution that has contributed significantly to my career and the careers of numerous professional archaeologists. Dissolution and continued or amplified neglect of OPA by the College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences would be/is a great a disservice to anthropology/archaeology students studying at BYU, professional archaeologists working the Great Basin, and the general scope of archaeological research concerning prehistoric and historic cultures present in the Great Basin and American Southwest. In addition, it is my opinion, that without an OPA-type organization present at BYU, the Department of Anthropology (and by default, the college of FHSS) will produce less skilled archaeology students that will experience a greater struggle to find employment in State, Federal, Private, or Academic positions. It is my hope that this letter and additional words and examples by my peers and colleagues will reiterate the important role that OPA has played in our education and preparation for life beyond the university setting.

Sincerely,

Aaron R. Woods
Ph.D. Student
University of Nevada, Las Vegas

A template change and call for content

Hi all, I've been pretty busy with excavations down in Mimbres, NM and I'm sure all of you have been pretty busy too.

I hope all of you are doing well.

I changed the format of the blog a little. Blogger has recently provided all sorts of new format/layout options that are pretty cool. I hope you like the new design. If not, please let me know.

Here's an update from me:

For the entire month of June, I worked in the little town of Mimbres, NM excavating a the Harris Site, a Late Pithouse Period (AD 500-1000) site. The Harris Site is located on a large, flat terrace overlooking the Mimbres River and a large flood plain. In the 1920s, Emil Haury excavated several pithouses, but was mainly worried about the architecture and distinguishing Mimbres/Mogollon from the Anasazi. To his credit, Haury left several unexcavated pithouses on the site and Henry Stewart, the current land owner, has allowed Barb Roth to perform excavations there for the past few years.

This season, we excavated four pithouses and a few extra-mural areas. I was also lucky enough to go down slope and test a Classic Period (AD 1000-1250) pueblo! The pithouses all yielded some great stuff including numerous shell bracelets, a chunk of smelted and worked copper, a figurine, some turquoise and shell beads, and many, many ceramics. Also, we uncovered about 10 burials.

One of the cool phenomena that Barb has discovered in the past three years is the presence of pots that have been plastered into the floor near the hearth. This practice of plastered pots in floors has been found in three different pithouses. All of the pithouses are from different time periods. Barb suspects that this may be a familial tradition that is being passed on.

The pueblo was fun to dig, but since I only dug two 1x2 m trenches, we did not collect much data. We did however, get a good map and a better idea of where I will be digging next year.

This is only a brief blurb, if you have any questions, let me know.



Harris Site Overview



Final Photo of a pithouse



Another pithouse



Final photo of a pithouse, is that a possible deflector stone by the photo board/hearth?



Pithouse with pot in floor (its that little black circle just right of center)



Removal of pot



Barb holding removed pot


Shell pendant



Bone Awl



Animal Figurine



Turquoise bead/ polished frag.



Axe head found on pithouse floor



Remember when you all took your BYU MA comps and wrote about fish on Mimbres pots? Here's one just for fun. Found at a museum. Not our site, unfortunately.

Back with Uncle OPA

So after a long and difficult job search, I was hired for a year by OPA. I guess it is time for me to put in my time and pay my dues. We are in Kanab in southern Utah working on the Jackson Flats Reservoir project, which should last until at least the end of August. The archaeology so far is predominantly Basketmaker and is really fascinating. It's great to be working with good people and to be back in the dirt for a change.

As for the dissertation, I finished just two days before our family moved out to Utah. I'll try to get a link to the pdf up soon for those interested. Nothing like getting that monkey off your back. Well, I hope everyone is doing well.

Mike

Fremont Book, SAAs, and what are you doing for your summer vacation?

Hi everyone,

I was sorry to have missed you all at the SAAs, so I'm looking forward to next year in Sacramento. Also, GBAC in Layton? Anyone? Anyone?

Today, I was perusing the shelves of the Lied Library here at UNLV and noticed a shiny new book called The Fremont Culture. At least, I thought it was new (October 2009). Turns out its a reprint of Gunnerson's 1967 book on the Fremont. This may be old news to some, but I thought it was pretty cool and it can be yours for the price of $19.95. One word of caution, it does contain a new forward by our favorite archaeological elf, Steve Simms but it's pretty harmless.

So, how were the SAAs? Any great papers? I keep hearing about a pre-clovis paper involving mammoth bones and bulbs of percussion. What else was of interest?

Finally, what are all of your spring/summer plans? I will be heading to Mimbres, New Mexico to work on some pithouse excavations with Barb Roth. After that, I may do some work for Geo-Marine Inc. as a sub-contractor (if they decide to hire me again) and hang out in the labs at UNLV analyzing groundstone for Barb.

Hope all of you are well.

Oh so off topic...

Couldn't resist showing off my little critter even though it's too cold and he's still a little small for a FoF-themed shot. Someday, there will be a photo shoot in sagebrush...