Archaeology

I have written a book for a popular audience, and it has been a long and interesting process. I'll probably write about it in detail when things have moved farther along. For now, I am very pleased to have signed a contract with an agent. The book is about two projects I directed near Cuernavaca, Mexico. It tells the story of the residents of these sites (Aztec provincial peoples), and also about how archaeology gets done: everything from screening dirt and identifying faunal remains to my random sampling disaster involving broken glass, beans, and peso coins, to getting excavation permits to trying to keep our kids safe and healthy in Mexico. As I started writing the book, I went to the website of Norton press, figuring that would be an ideal publisher. "We don't deal with authors, only with agents." Hmmm, that led to a big search of agents, and instructions on how to find an agent, what does an agent do, etc.I sent off a bunch of book proposals to agents, and got a big stack of rejection letters. Some agents came right out and said "not commercial enough," and the others said something else but their reason was probably the same. That was an upsetting experience. I am used to my writing being judged for its scholarly and scientific value, not for its commercial potential. And I am used to being successful with my publishing efforts, without a lot of rejections. But fifteen rejections for one project? A humbling experience.One agent expressed interest in the topic, but said that my writing was "clear but not vivid." She was not ready to offer a contract unless I could improve the writing. Well, "clear but not vivid" is pretty darn good for an academic, but evidently not for popular nonfiction. So I paid for a writing coach, who went over the entire manuscript and gave me excellent advice and editing. She especially liked my use of Monty Python's "Life of Brian" to make a point about provincial peoples in empires ("What have the Romans ever done for us"?). Writing in a narrative style is very different from writing in an academic style. I think I finally figured it out, and it was fun doing the revisions on the chapters. So, now evidently my writing is sufficiently vivid for an agent to offer me a contract.There will still be a bunch of revisions to do, artwork to assemble, and then we have to find a publisher. But at least the project is moving forward, and my prose has moved beyond "clear" to "vivid."

BTW, I thought I might update y’all a bit on the other work I’ve been doing: some global health work in Africa. At the moment, I’m researching the relation between alcohol consumption and HIV/AIDS treatment and outcomes. It’s a bit nostalgic for me, doing all this sub-Saharan Africa stuff, since from these posts, I kind of got my start in anthropology/archaeology doing some work for an anthropologist on Africa. When I was a budding undergraduate archaeology student, the whole concept of Africa was kind of this wonderful terra incognito of the whole anthropological endeavor, from human origins to current ethnographic comparative analyses. I remember reading Don Johanson’s “Lucy” book and being fascinated with the whole concept of fieldwork. This is a bit off the beaten track, but it’s still kind of fun to be actually studying the place that sort of kick-started my archaeo-imagination in the first place. In fact, I’m in the beginning stages of developing some research ideas that brings together my pet interests of evolution/selection in relation to certain aspects of disease transmission. My time on this project goes down a bit after July (actually quite a bit) so I might be spending more time on archaeology (currently one day a week) after that. The stuff I’ve been doing is, for the most part, horrendously boring — apart from dodging track hoes and running away from broken pipelines spewing natural gas — and I’m not allowed to post Exciting! photos from the field (not that there are any apart from broken pipelines spewing natural gas).

I’m currently in Cambodia working with the Greater Angkor Project and recently some research by my friends/colleagues here have been in the media in a big way (links at the end). I was going to wait to post about this work until a bit later, but today I saw a post in my twitter feed that seemed to downplay the importance of this find by stating we already knew about this city. Normally, I find that the press often overstates and oversimplifies archaeological findings, but in this case I think the LiDAR findings, including those on Phnom Kulen which have been in the news, are worthy of some of the hype. Above: A LiDAR image of the city of Mahendraparvata on Phnom Kulen. The news stories have largely focused on the discovery of a “lost city” on Phnom Kulen, but this is part of a larger LiDAR survey over part of the Angkor region. LiDAR is a laser scanning technology that gives you an incredibly detailed view of the landscape, including features you can’t see under dense tree cover or that may not be clear on the ground level. LiDAR has been used before in archaeological studies, but the current project is the largest archaeological use of LiDAR to date. It is also incredibly expensive, and required the formation of a consortium to help fund and support the project (more here). Archaeologists and historians have long known that Phnom Kulen was important to the early history of the Angkorian empire. Firstly because there are some early brick temples, but also because historical texts state that the “founder” of Angkor, Jayavarman II, held his consecration ceremony at Phnom Kulen. I visited Phnom Kulen in 2008 and saw the archaeological work being done by the archaeologist J.B. Chevance and the the Phnom Kulen Program (see more here and here . The forest was quite dense, he needed to have the areas around the temples cleared for land mines, and while these historical documents had suggested a city, his comprehensive and extensive work did not clearly uncover a city or major habitation areas. But on the ground archaeology is difficult, and recent remote sensing technology has been incredibly helpful in identifying cultural features on the landscape that are difficult to see on the ground. Readers who are not archaeologists may also not understand that many archaeologists hold a healthy amount of skepticism regarding historical documents. Texts are often written years removed from when an event took place, contain the bias of the writer, and often have a broader agenda than simply stating what happened when. Historical texts provide a hypothesis to be tested with archaeological data. The goal of archaeology, generally, is notto prove that historic texts were true. If we cannot find archaeological data to support historic texts, then we begin to think more critically about them. Up until now, archaeologists had to consider that the llack of evidence for a Jayavarman II city on Phnom Kulen could indicate that historic texts were incorrect. So yes, there was an idea that Mahendraparvata existed on Phnom Kulen, but archaeologists weren’t exactly sure what the texts were describing, where it was, or the extent of this place. In this way, the information about Mahendraparvata was lost, and the LiDAR data really did lead to the discovery of a lost city. I’m generally a bit of pessimist, but this work is really, really, really, cool. So it’s ok, dear reader, to let yourself get swept up in the romance of archaeology. There is still so much we don’t know about Cambodia’s archaeological past and this place is deeply fascinating. But I’m not sure how many more lost cities or lost temples there are to be found here, so let’s enjoy a great archaeological discovery like this when we find one. The LiDAR data will be published later this month and at that point I hope to share more about the work I’ve been doing excavating as part of GAP in the

In this colour plate, take the bluish tinge in the quartz microblades (A,B) with a grain of salt. They are actually clear, but they were photographed against a blue background which I removed and replace with plain white in photoshop. Its misleading in the colour image, but in the black and white version of this plate that will appear in publication, its not an issue. (A,B) stemmed quartz microblades, (C) chert micorblade core, (D,E,F) Chert microblades, (G) Distal end of a biface, which is probably from an asymmetric knife, (H-L) Stemmed and notched biface bases, (M) sideblade, (N) Asymmetric knife, (O) biface, that may be an endblade, although its is thinned at the base similar to knives, (P-S) Endscrapers - the top one (P) has slight ears, but most of the scrapers found at the site were small and traingular in outline.Photo Credit: Tim Rast

That is a Galaxy S4. I bought it about a week after it came out. Yeeup, my first smartphone. I’d held off because I didn’t really need one — or at least I didn’t think I needed one and I probably didn’t. A couple of things led me to finally break down and go for it. First, I’m doing some work on a WSDOT project and seeing as it’s a large and very significant one I needed to be in constant contact and able to send photos back to the people in charge, receive maps, etc. And texts, which I could get on my old phone but hated it. Also I thought they were finally getting to a point of being really useful as far as GPS and mapping and such. I was going to get an iPhone originally since I have Mac computers, an iPad and various iPods, but. . . .I dunno, they seemed ridiculously overpriced. And I thought there was a lot more innovation in the Droid market (I thought about a Winblows phone for a couple of hours one morning but quickly discarded the idea). I gravitated toward Motorola’s Razrs at first, but then decided I should get the most state of the art phone I could reasonably afford, and this was it. I don’t plan on replacing it in two years, will probably hols onto it for at least four, maybe longer, as I tend to use things a long time. So I’m fairly confident it won’t be obsolete right away. Yes, that’s a pink case. Girly, I know, but also very VISIBLE which has already been utilized when I dropped it in the bottom of an excavation pit and a construction worker noticed it within about 3 seconds. It’s an Otter case which is shock, water, and dust resistant, a definite plus for fieldwork! So far, so good. I’ve already gotten a spreadsheet in the field and been able to view it (to make sure I was in the right place), been texting quite a bit (mostly business), and done some web surfing when on downtime when they’re not actively excavating. It’s nice to be able to get email in the field so I’m not totally cut off. And it’s big enough that I can read a book on it, which I do in the aforementioned down times and also on the bus to and from downtown. I haven’t become a teenager with it though, with my head constantly down staring at it walking around, sitting around, doing whatever. Matter of fact, I’m kind of less likely to be checking emails and junk simply because I know I can at any time. It’s really fit seamlessly into my lifestyle. This is really great. I think this may be the first device I’ve ever owned that really screams The Future from what I thought it would be like earlier in life. Yeah, computers are great, but the portability of these is what really grabs hold of my imagination. Like a Star Trek tricorder and communicator all in one! I can be walking around, pull it out nearly anywhere on Earth and bring up a map to show my exact location! I can video Skype to anyone with a similar device nearly anywhere on Earth! I can bring up books, web pages, emails, and voice calls nearly anywhere on Earth! How cool is that? This is what I’ve been waiting for. This is what technology is all about. Still and all, you might find it a bit paradoxical that I was also similarly excited today about a new purchase: It’s kind of a stereo cabinet, though mostly it is for holding records or LPs on either side behind the sliding doors. Really nice shape. I even bought 3 new LPs at the same estate sale. I plan on setting it up in the living room with a vintage receiver, speakers, and turntable, not for everyday listening but mostly for looks and the occasional little dinner party music extravaganza. Loved the house, too, btw, beautiful old thing, very solid, spacious, old but not really old. So here I sit, singing the praises of a newfangled hi-tech toy and ogling my ‘new’ 60-year old furniture and records.

Lost city of Mahendraparvata discovered in Cambodian jungles A lost city that thrived on a mist-shrouded Cambodian mountain 1,200 years ago has been discovered by archaeologists using airborne laser technology, the Sydney Morning Herald reported on Saturday in a world exclusive. Over two dozen temple sites have been discovered on the site, which is thought to have been built around 802 AD when the Angor Empire was founded. It is believed to be the lost city of Mahendraparvata, located on a misty mountain called Phnom Kulen deep in the hinterland of Cambodia. It was thought to be built 350 years before the famed Angor Wat. I’m hesitating to link to that site because of the $_)@*^(_@$(@^$ pop up ads which are populous and annoying. But try to read it.

Sample of Groswater Palaeoeskimo endblades from the Peat Garden site in Bird Cove on Newfoundland's northern peninsula. In each pair, the dorsal surface is on the left and the ventral surface is on the right. These have a "plano-convex" or D-shaped cross section, so the dorsal surface is convex and the ventral surface is flat.Photo Credits: Tim Rast

Do you suffer from Bitchy Resting Face? Sadly, I think I suffer from either Grumpy Resting Face or Creepy Psycho Perv Resting Face. . . . .

Car Lust, that is. The original “Wildcat” was a series of GM “Dream Cars” from 1953-55. Essentially a concept car, the 1953 Wildcat I was a 2-door 2-seat convertible with a fiberglass body. The 1953 seemed a bit sedate, but the ‘54 and ‘55 (photo) went a ways out there with the styling which, although a bit over the top, in essence I find pretty, well, awesome. So awesome, in fact, that I’ve seen these Dream Wildcats appear on various photo montages of Way Cool Cars that get sent around via email every now and then. While the Dream Wildcat never went into production, it gave the name something of a halo effect which GM might use later for an actual production car. Which they did. I actually saw one in Seattle once that looked exactly like I remembered ours being. I kind of wanted to run down the street and take a closer look.

Snagged a few LPs at a recent estate sale. The guy must have been maybe 10 years older than I am, as our vinyl periods overlapped somewhat; had to restrain myself from buying like half of the dumb things. I passed on a few (e.g., Thin Lizzy, Jailbreak) because they looked in bad shape, and others (e.g., Supertramp, Even In The Quietest Moments) because I’d rather have them on CD. And he (I assume it was a “he”) had a bunch of other kinda weird stuff; well, weird as in mellow folkish kinda junk. So I whittled it down to five: I got this one just because I wanted another BOC album. The only live one I have is Some Enchanted Evening. I actually haven’t listened to this one much yet. My first U2 album. Don’t know why I got rid of it, but I did that years ago. I mostly got it for New Year’s Day, and because of the video which looks dated but I think it’s pretty good, fairly simple (and apparently the people on horseback are all girls). Aha, now this one I’d never heard before although a couple of the songs are on other records that I have had. I. AM. LOVING. IT. Where has it been all my life? These go as a pair. Kansas used to be one of my favorite bands; saw ‘em in concert once, too. The first one I never had or heard before, except for a couple of the songs on their live album. Masque I had on tape, I believe, never on vinyl; excellent record, especially Side 2 especially The Pinnacle. Back in my late teens I thought the lyrics were just sooooo deep. Errrm, well, maybe not so much anymore. Total geek band.