Over the years, Archaeology in the Community has welcomed volunteers of all interests and expertise to work with us on the many applications and impacts of public archaeology. From teaching in classroom, to speaking at conferences, to helping set up for the Archaeology Festival each year, there are many ways to get involved! In addition to working with Dr. Jones on the archaeology side, working with AITC also provides volunteers with an opportunity to learn to run a community-driven nonprofit organization. In honor of National Volunteer Week (April 6-12, 2014), AITC intern Julia Moss was happy to speak with two seasoned AITC volunteers, Fiona Lister and Leah Weissburg. There are many ways to get involved with AITC and we hope you will consider lending your strengths in the mission to spread archaeology education across the nation!
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Everyone has a story to tell and so do artifacts. Unfortunately, archaeology rarely has all the relevant historical facts, and that is where storytelling comes in. I wanted to investigate the role creative writing might play in archaeology and came upon a number of archaeologists who have also been intrigued by this intersection. How does storytelling contribute to scientific research and how can archaeologists strike a balance between fact-based reporting and literary storytelling? How can we use fictional stories with factual archaeological research? Is that “allowed?” These are a few questions that James Deetz, Adrian Praetzellis, Mary Praetzellis, Jim Gibb and other archaeologists have exposed to academic thought and critique.
As a recent graduate entering the summer months, I was still emerging from the fog of finals and the excitement of commencement when reality struck: I am in serious debt due to my student loans and I do not have a job. Yikes, this was a smack in the face, but I felt confident because I knew when I got that first job, it would be great. I absolutely love, love archaeology, and I felt certain that my hard work in school, an amazing internship, and good people skills would quickly pay off. Let’s keep in mind that this economy has made things tough for archaeology in general, and with limited funding, I was getting ready to face a potentially shaky cultural resource management (CRM) world. Knowing I had to be competitive, I did not walk, I ran, to my college career center and immediately sought their help. After a good month of working on my curriculum vitae (CV) and doing mock interviews with the fantastic “career developer”, as I like to refer to her, I was ready to enter the job market.
Archaeologists spend a lot of time investigating material traces that are not exactly glamorous. Seeds, bone fragments, broken plates. On one hand, it can take years for the evidence to come together and present a rich picture. On the other hand, a dish of charred grains and some soil microbes can radically change our understanding of a past human experience, which is worth far more than gold. In ten years of fieldwork, I’ve excavated barely a thimble-full of gold and jewels, none of which ever fascinated me as much as bricks, mortar, nails and other industrial crafts. In archaeology, nothing is “just” anything. I love bricks, and here’s why. Bricks are a great example of how archaeology gets down to business. For one thing, they hide in plain sight. Archaeology sheds light on the unseen diversity around us everyday, everywhere. Chances are there are all kinds of bricks where you live, right? Houses, walls, chimneys, sidewalks, paths, garden edging, wells. Look a little closer next time you pass some, and you’ll probably notice variations in color, size and texture. You might see patterns or impressions, streaks of salt, glassy patches. Maybe numbers and codes, which are often used to keep track of placement. Bricks might have traces of paint or color, old holes to fit drainpipes and all sorts of other quirks. If the bricks look modern and clean, well, give them time. Another century of exposure, recycling and demolition will give them all kinds of character.
As a CRM professional, one of the most interesting parts of my job is getting to travel all over the country meeting different people. The real privilege though, is getting to see the amazing collections people have picked up on their farms and backyards, now tucked away into garages, basements, and the occasional coffee table display. But, as wonderful as it is to be able to see these collections, even better would be to know exactly where they came from. Was it on the ground surface? Deeply buried? Near a creek on the property or near an old fence line? In archaeology, context is everything—where an artifact came from can provide us with vital information about what was going on in a specific area at a given time. So, what should you do if you find something on your property? Artifacts that are found on private land belong to the landowner, but you can help contribute to the archaeological record! The first step is to leave it in the ground, so archaeologists can get the necessary information about its context. The next step is to tell us! In DC, you should report artifacts and sites to Ruth Trocolli, City Archaeologist (ruth.trocolli@dc.gov) or Chardé Reid, Assistant Archaeologist (charde.reid@dc.gov).
Welcome, and thank you for reading Archaeology in the Community’s debut blog post!* I’m Leah, and I am the outreach coordinator here at AITC. AITC is an education nonprofit in Washington, DC and we LIVE to bring archaeology to the public. I use the word “we” specifically, because the primary goal of this blog is to incorporate all of our readership into the very fabric of our community. In the academic world, “we” doesn’t get used too often in our ongoing conversation about archaeology. “We” often refers the voiceless majority who might lack formal education and experience, or who are limited by time and location. As a result, formal study in archaeology risks being stripped of the local, the communal, the ancestral and the other personal aspects that make it an integral part of our everyday lives.
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