Digging in the Rain

If you couldn't tell by the title, its raining.

Now depending on the type of dig you are on will depend on whether or not you will be digging. If its CRM and you have a deadline, you can dig in all sorts of weather. If its academic, maybe not so much. Rain can hurt a dig. It makes it hard to see different strata levels. You don't notice the change in the soil (because its all mud). Basically its generally harder, and things are more easily lost when adding rain to the mix. This isn't always the case, of course, every dig is different, but its pretty normal.

Our dig is certainly, "special", with air quotes. We got there in the morning, it was raining, so we hung around base waiting to see if the rain let up. It didn't, and we returned to the camp for lunch. When we returned it wasn't quite raining, more of a light mist. Still, because it had been raining for most of the day, and everything was wet and muddy no one guessed we'd be sent out. Which, of course, tells you that we were.

Now for the Americans at zone 4, our instructor/head is Issac. He is a PHD candidate at ASU and his background is in geology, so he brings a lot of the science aspect of archaeology with him. Something the Spanish don't really seem to understand (they looked at us like we were crazy when using measuring tape and a level). Because of this Issac has been pretty frustrated from the get go. There is literally a clash going on here between archaeology practiced as a science, and archaeology practiced as history. So when it started raining again, and the Spanish told us to get down in the mud and clean the walls up (called cleaning the profile), Issac told us not to get wet and muddy, and gave us something else to do (no less helpful mind you, still something that needed to be done, but allowed us to be dry).

I would not call it a fight. I would call it a disagreement. We are living in tents, we hand wash our clothes, if we get wet and muddy we will not dry. And keep in mind that on the American side, most everyone is here for field school. They have paid for this, and we're supposed to be learning, not just labor. So Issac and the two Spanish heads talked for a long time while the rest of us put our heads down and dug (in silly yellow ponchos).

I feel bad, because the two American instructors were mislead. The Spanish seem to have little intention of this ever being a field school. Now I did not pay like the other students, I came because I needed more dig experience. We are certainly digging, but there is so much more that goes into a good excavation. But like Issac said, this may be a terrible excavation by science's standards (and she is such a harsh and demanding mistress), but this is a huge learning opportunity. We are all seeing first hand why the techniques we learn are so vital. We will never forget this dig.

I also want to say that Issac is one of the most awesome people I know. He stood up for us, and has has made sure that we are learning despite everything that has been going on.

Now for some some pictures of silly yellow ponchos.