SAA2011

#1 Blogging Archaeology

So I'm at the 76th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology in Sacramento and I'm listening to some interesting people give interesting papers but nothing is really blowing my socks off.  On Saturday afternoon, all of that changed.  I attended the "Blogging Archaeology" symposium and my outlook on archaeology and CRM instantly changed.  My goal has always been career oriented with the targeted path going from field tech to crew chief to field supervisor (or project archaeologist or whatever your region calls the lowest level of managing and writing) to principle investigator and/or company owner.  Now, however, I feel that it is equally important that I devote a large portion of my time to telling the public about the field I've chosen to spend the rest of my life in.

I've always enjoyed telling anyone that would listen about my love and passion for my job.  Even when I've had less-than-enjoyable bosses I've still gone home at the end of the day and said, "I did something good today."  I like that feeling and I wish everyone could experience it in their jobs.  Those of us that do feel that way should tell people about it and get others excited.  Enthusiasm is contagious.

We shouldn't stop at just boasting of our love for archaeology. No.  In fact, we should be talking about not only why we do what we do but how we do what we do and why it is important.  A few words from a presenter come to mind.  He commented that he would like to meet someone that saw archaeologists at work in the field, digging holes, looked it up online, and found a blog and all the answers to their questions.  I like that.

Often, the projects that we work on affect the public in various ways.  Even a gold mine on private land in nowhere Nevada affects the public.  They have a right to know, not where the project is, but what we are doing and what our findings are telling us about the history and prehistory of the area.  

So, what is this blog going to be about?  Well, mostly archaeology.  Specifically CRM archaeology.  I'll relate my experiences in the field regarding our methods and what we are finding.  I welcome all comments and suggestions.  I'll also talk about general science occaisionally, as well as astronomy and skepticism.  I'm a member of the Reno Skeptics and really enjoy talking to people about critical thinking and rational thought.

OK.  Let's see if I can keep this going.  Together we can make a change for the better!