2022
12
Apr
Archaeology Southwest at the SAAs—Recap
Karen Schollmeyer, Preservation Archaeologist and Director, Preservation Archaeology Field School
(April 12, 2022)—In early April, a handful of us from Archaeology Southwest attended the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) annual meeting in Chicago—in person! After a few years of cancell...
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2021
16
Jul
An Old Cultural Anthropologist Goes to Archaeological Field School
Jason Roberts, University of Texas at San Antonio
(July 16, 2021)—Like so many during the COVID-19 pandemic, I had to make many social and economic adjustments I was unprepared for.
In the spring of 2020, I was finishing up my first year teaching cultural anthropology at a small liberal arts...
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2021
06
Jul
People Questions
Sam Rosenbaum, Montana State University
(July 6, 2021)—Archaeological sites can often be wondrous and mind-boggling attractions. Angkor Wat, Göbekli Tepe, and Chaco Canyon are impressive to behold, inspiring many to imagine a rich and colorful past. Although the Gila River Farm site is not as ...
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2021
05
Jul
Cottontails, Skunks, and Scorpions—Oh My!
Guinevive Halstead-Johnson, George Mason University
(July 5, 2021)—The first animal I saw in the wilds of New Mexico was a scorpion. We were on our first day of excavation in our unit, and we were digging a trench along a known South wall of Room 454, all the way down to the bottom cimientos (b...
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2021
03
Jul
My Journey
London Booker, Howard University
(July 3, 2021)—During the fall of 2019, I felt very indecisive about my future career path. I was a rising junior majoring in History at Howard University, unsure of what I was going to do with my undergrad degree. Originally, I majored in History to pursue law,...
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2021
02
Jul
Gaining Confidence
Mason Bolaño, Franklin and Marshall College
(July 2, 2021)—If I had to describe myself, I’d say that I am a chronic overthinker. My brain tends to fire off thousands of thoughts a minute, anxious about the small and large alike. Before I even arrived at the Preservation Archaeology Field Sch...
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2021
17
Jun
The Transcendent Experience of Preservation Archaeology
Ruijie Yao, University of Arizona
Mr. Yao’s first language is Mandarin.
(June 17, 2021)—I have trained as a Mediterranean archaeologist, so Southwestern archaeology and its field methods are new to me. I had many ideas about archaeological fieldwork before I came to the field school, but I...
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2021
15
Jun
Renewal
Megan Eigen, SUNY Albany
(June 16, 2021)—It may not come as a surprise, but I—like many others—was first introduced to the concept of archaeology by watching Indiana Jones movies as a child. Although there is much to be said about Indiana Jones and his practices, the films drew me into the ...
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2021
15
Jun
Diversity Across the Landscape
Ray Mills, University of Maine
(June 15, 2021)—When I first came to the Southwest, I was expecting an arid landscape scattered with sparse, scraggly vegetation, and lots of sand. I was not expecting the high level of biodiversity that I have observed over recent weeks.
Immediately, as I step...
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2021
10
Jun
The Ins and Outs of Survey
Gabby Pfleger, Glendale Community College
(June 10, 2021)—Over the past week, I’ve been learning the processes involved in archaeological survey from the field school’s survey director, Michaelle Machuca. In theory, this work sounds like the dream—hiking and searching in the name of archa...
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2021
09
Jun
A Nonrenewable Resource
Taylor Cole, Arizona State University
(June 9, 2021)—Within anthropology, archaeology serves as a tool to understand and piece together how cultures have changed over time and how material culture—things people make and use—helped us become one of the most widespread species on Earth. By ex...
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2021
04
Jun
Field School in the Time of COVID
Beatriz Barraclough-Tan, Fordham University
(June 5, 2021)—I think field school would feel a little like an island at the best of times, but COVID-19 has made everything even more isolated. It’s a bit weird, because for some of us, this is the biggest group of people we’ve been around mask-...
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