when the weather outside is frightful, and you're looking for something delightful...

Though archaeology-related events and topics may have slowed down slightly for the Christmas season, there's still holiday inspiration to be found in the ancient history.

A prime example is this recipe (courtesy of the folks at the Archaeological Institue of America) for:

Mayan "Hot" Cocoa on the Rocks Cocktail
Serves 4

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper or to taste
4 ounces chocolate vodka
Cinnamon sticks, for garnish

In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, cocoa powder, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper with 1/4 cup of water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Whisk until the mixture is smooth and all the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool.

Combine the cooled syrup and vodka in a cocktail shaker and fill with ice. Shake until very cold and strain into four ice-filled glasses. Garnish each with a cinnamon stick and serve.

Though you can certainly enjoy without alcohol, I prefer the non-virgin variety. Call you arch-list friends in out of the cold (the ground's too frozen to dig...unless you're way up north with the O&G), make them a drink, and swap adventure stories.

here i am...i was hiding the whole time (more photos are on the way)

Holy moley...I wasn't really hiding, but I definitely seem to have fallen off the edge of the planet. Well, what has happened since July of this year? Quite a bit, some of it archaeology-related, some of it not archaeology-related, but all of it interesting, at least to me.

First things first, to bring you, faithful reader, up to speed about the end of the field season in Jordan.

The majority of the staff and myself, having deposited the students safely and with finality on the flight home (the trip to the airport included a multi-car convoy to the airport, one of which I was driving, of which I managed to blow a tyre, bringing said convoy to a stop in the middle of the desert and allowing all our Jordanian friends a prime opportunity to some their considerable pit-stop abilities), were tuckered out and immediately made plans for recuperation from the season.

Now that we were free, we headed south to Aqaba (on the Red Sea, at the convergence of Saudi Arabia, Israel, Egypt, and Jordan) for some much-derserved R&R. A Jordanian colleague had very kindly and generously offered her apartment to us while we were in Aqaba, so we had a very nice base for our adventures...and a nice air-conditioned space to hide in, when we weren't moving very slowly to the air-conditioned car. Did I mention that the temperature managed to hit 54 degrees Celsius? Seriously. The only way to survive is the aforementioned slow-movements, coupled with large amounts of very cold water...

...and scuba diving! Thankfully, when not in the car or the apartment (or some of the nice restaurants or shops in Aqaba), I could be found deep in the Red Sea, with a colleague of mine who also likes to dive. I decided to work on my Advanced Open Water PADI ticket while in Aqaba - and completed it! I did a deep dive, a night dive, a navigation dive, peak performance buoyancy, and a - wait for it - wreck dive to a 80m long Lebanese freighter that had been sunk by King Abdullah (an avid diver) in the '90s as an artificial reef.

Our Dive Master was a lovely Jordanian man, who happened to be from Madaba (the town we were based in for the field season) and, small town that it is, it turned out his sister ended up giving me my traditional end of season manicure and pedicure the day that I flew back to Vancouver. Small world.

In addition to our Dive Master being a great instructor (he helped me to completely overcome my fear of taking off my mask underwater, putting it back on, and clearing it), he also had BACON. Now, to most of you readers, this might not sound remarkable, except for the fact that Jordan is a Muslim country and, as such, pork products are not to be found in every market. As some of you may know, I am addicted to bacon. When I heard that my new friend had frozen slabs of bacon in his apartment, I drove him there, waited outside in the dark while he collected bags of the goods, and drove him to our apartment, where we all sat together and enjoyed smoked and cured contraband, cold beers, and vegetables. A really great night.

The drive back to Madaba, now that we were relaxed and fed and watered, took us through some of the driest climes I have ever been in, back up through the region of Wadi Rum. We took the road back into Madaba that brought us right beside the Dead Sea, well-timed (accidentally) to be at sunset.

When we arrived back in Madaba, all our friends there were happy to see us, and plans began for leaving and heading back to Canada. The night I left, my friend had not only persuaded his sisters to cook a large meal of mensef (rice, goat, goat milk, eaten by hand off a shared platter on the floor), but had also persuaded his cousin to lend him his old '80s green diesel Mercedes, for me to drive to the airport. What a treat! It was pretty exciting to be driving through the desert in another convoy, driving this huge beast of a vehicle, and it was a wonderful and thoughtful gift.

Once at the airport, there were lots of tears (mostly mine), and stalling at the gate. It is so hard to leave all our Jordanian friends at the end of the season. They welcome us fully into their lives, homes, and famillies, and they are what makes the experience so special. They still believe in the Bedouin principles of hospitality and generousity, and the Western world could certainly benefit from the lessons they have to teach.

Since arriving home, things have been busy, busy. Mostly it has been professional, as I have begun a new career and a new professional phase, which I hope will actually complement - and not supersede - my work as an archaeologist in both Canada and abroad. I received a job offer to work as a Historical Research Consultant soon after arriving home, and have fully immersed myself in this job. Without going into details, I am more than satisfied with this new position, as it answers a few needs I have found I need of late: it helps under-represented people, I can see the results of my work almost immediately, and it is part of what I hope is a changing trend in how people are treated.

I have also moved and seen my family grow since I arrived home, which proves that life really is what happens when you're making other plans. A very exciting time, and more exciting times to come, I hope.

My next adventure abroad will take me back to Central America in the New Year, for a trip around the Yucatan to Mayan sites and some more diving...I'll keep you posted.

the end of it all

Well, faithful readers, I must admit that I have not been much of a faithful poster, though I feel secure that my reasons are good enough to excuse this slip-up. The end of the season is always a bit of madness, finishing excavations, working with students on their notebooks, shutting down the houses, etc.

I just came back from a much-needed mini-vacation in Aqaba, on the Red Sea, where Jordan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt all meet. It was absolutely fantastic.

I head home in three days and, once I am home and over feeling both elated to be home with family and friends, yet very sad to have left Jordan, I will post pictures and tales.

keeping up with the fshekats...er, joneses

Another ten days, another ten crazy tales...well, I'm not exactly sure how many crazy tales there are, but there certainly are a few.

The craziest part is certainly how quickly time is flying by. Our mid-season break came and went over a week ago, I am closing up the two squares that I worked in both this season and last, and am getting ready for final top plans and balk drawings (already almost finished), and taking final photos. Whew! Where has the time gone?

The mid-season break was a tremendous success...even more fun than last year, and those of you who were here last year know that is a real feat.

On Friday, June 29, we left for Petra (now on the list of "Seven Wonders of the Modern World", most deservedly), via detours to Karak (a wonderful Crusader castle with the most impressive example of a glacis I have ever seen - break out Wikipedia for that one, it's well worth it), and Shobak castle, which is probably my favourite castle that I have ever been to, mainly because of it's "uninstitutionalized" preservation. Let's put it this way: you would never visit a Heritage site in Canada where it was still accessible to crawl down poorly preserved steps inside the castle, in the pitch black, without safety rails, to pop out down the mountain, about 400 steps down. Needless to say, I packed a lamp in my bag and we played an MP3 version of the "Indiana Jones" score as we descended...super tacky or super cool...? Definitely the latter.

We stayed that night in a hotel in Wadi Musa, a town just five minutes from the gates of Petra. That night, we prepared for our day in the former Nabatean capital by going to "The Cave Bar", a converted 2,000 year-old Nabatean tomb, for some drinks, argileh, and dancing with the locals. Back to the hotel, a swim, a great shower, and early to bed in preparation for...

...Petra! This was my second time there and, truly, I think I could visit one hundred times more and still be impressed and find new things to discover. A little background: Petra, the "Rose Red City" is the Nabatean capital of a people who ruled over the Trans-Jordan region over 2,000 years ago, controlling trade in the region and developing engineering feats such as dams, extensive drainage and supply, and wonderful architecture built directly into the sandstone cliffs surrounding their capital. By 106AD, they had become annexed by the Romans. All the writings we have about the Nabateans, to date, is from the Roman period and is written by the Romans.

We ran in as early as possible, quickly passing the 1km to the beginning of the Siq ("sook"), and then another 900m to the Treasury, of Indiana Jones III fame. After sitting there and resting for a while, listening to the ornery camels, and watching the other early-bird tourists come trickling out of the narrow mouth of the Siq, we headed up to the Monastery, pausing to grab some donkeys to take us the 900+ stairs to the top (cheeky, I know, but I climbed it myself last year and, to be honest, I preferred walking, both because of the guilt, and the extreme terror as the donkeys all seem to prefer clinging to the shoddy stairs with their miniature hooves than walking in the centre of the path).

After lunch, we climbed high above and behind the Royal Tombs, along sandstone stairs worn to veritable chutes, and eventually following cairns to the edge of a cliff high above the Treasury. This place is definitely one of my happy places. No one else around, the tourists far below and forgotten, and a real sense of the enormity of the city and the topography. The sand was blazing hot, and we carefully made out way back down and out of the city, after some more pictures at the Treasury. The night was spent at the Movenpick hotel, listening to live music, smoking argileh, and watching fireworks from the roof.

The next day, we headed to Wadi Rum, where we picked up some Jeeps and a Bedouin guide and headed out into the desert for a rough and tumble tour of the region and the dunes. The highlight? Our guide let me drive! Pretty fantastic. I think he could see me sitting antsily in the front seat. Obviously, I jumped at the opportunity to shoot along small dunes and soft sand tracks with the others in the back. Too much fun.

After Wadi Rum, we headed to Aqaba for a few hours of shopping (my bartering skills are getting really good, I have to admit) before heading back to the bus and the long ride home.

Speaking of long ride home, it became us being lost in the desert near the Wadi Arbah - read: in the middle of nowhere. As it was Canada Day, we spend the next 3 hours roaming around the desert by the highway, looking at dead goats, rolling around in abandoned tyres, and singing songs (including 'Oh Canada' of course) as the sun went down in a beautiful sunset. When dark came, the military showed up in a pick-up truck with a huge automatic gun of some type mounted on the back with sandbags. Evidently, they had heard a bunch of giant white people were by the edge of the highway in the middle of nowhere, obviously dehydrated and delirious as they were dancing and singing all over the place and not looking the least bit put out, and so they showed up to protect us, though from what we don't know.

Unbeknownst to everyone by myself and one other person, our workmen were back in Madaba, suits on and food and tea at the ready, to surprise us with a Canada Day party. We had to call and disappoint them, but they understood. We arrived home eventually, very weary and ready for bed, but glad of the adventures.

The next day we even managed to have the surprise Canada Day party. We all had a great time, eating and dancing. Definitely one of the best Canada Day's ever.

And now, work continues. I have started teaching the students object drawing, which is a lot of fun, though I am a bit rusty. I am honestly never so busy as I am when in the field, whether it is working, catching up on paper work, meeting with students, hand washing laundry, running to the Internet, finding postcards, going to great mensef meals. Don't get me wrong - I'm certainly not complaining. Simply put, I love it.

another whirlwind moabite week

The first thing you should all know before you read about all the activities of the past week is that most of them occurred in weather that was often 51 degrees, 44 degrees in the shade. The trick to not dying? Move very, very slowly, and drink water constantly, every five minutes or so. Then it's no problem, believe it or not.

Alright, let's begin at the beginning and come up to today.

Something I forgot to add to the last post regarding out trip to Amman (see the previous post for details): I forgot to mention that we also went to the King Hussein Mosque. I really enjoy the architecture and feel of mosques, and have visited quite a few in different places in the world, but this one stood out, not for the architecture (though it was certainly beautiful), but because of the covering that was provided. Most mosques require that all visitors dress conservatively, namely long pants and long-sleeved shirts for men and women, and a head covering for women, but this is the first mosque I have visited where they required that all the women wear full robes with little hoods. Though I know it is an inappropriate comparison, it was like we were at a black-tie KKK cross-burning. No guff. Not to mention that mine was very restrictive for my long strides, and could have used a slit right up the side. Again, inappropriate, but very accurate.

The work week went well and, work wise, we are making terrific headway and I hope to be able to close excavations in the Iron Age section of this part of the Tell for good in about a week, not including mapping, cleaning, etc. The pits are getting much too deep, and I am a bit worried about the safety of the students and, to be honest, myself. The balks are almost 10m tall in places, and are kind of sketchy. And, the access and egress is wobbly at best, attested by my fall down the boulder stairs last week, a stairs which I kindly donated a chunk of my shin and shoulder to. I'm nothing if not a giver.

Alright, here it is, the information you have all been waiting for: The Wedding. On Thursday afternoon, we decided to skip lab and head to the wedding of the brother of a close Jordanian friend. All us female staff (five in total) got dolled up in glitz (the four others) and an electric blue tube top (me), then layered conservative covers over top and headed to the compound of the family of the groom. As soon as we arrived we were ushered onto one of three fringe-laden buses to head to a town about 20 minutes' drive away to collect and primped and frightened-looking bride. The procession to her house, I should mention, included about thirty additional cars of family members, and paid not a whit of attention to stop lights, emergency vehicles, or other cars. It did, however, care a lot that we made a lot of noise and clapped until our hands were numb. Good anthropologists that we are, we obliged.

Once at the bride's house, all the women went into a small room where the music and drums continued. The bride was sitting ramrod straight on a giant green-upholstered chair at the front of the room. Eventually, after a very hot 15 minutes, her male family members came in and "gave her away", by giving her kisses and gold jewelry. Then, we were all ushered outside again, where handguns were fired off in celebration (they scared the bejeesus out of me, I won't lie, especially when they were about one metre from my left ear and unexpected), and we all jumped back into the vehicles for the procession back to and through Madaba to the compound that we started at.

Once back there, the women were all immediately herded up to the tented roof, past the tent in the yard where all the men and a live band were. Up on the roof, the real fun began. We all stripped down to our super-fantastic-Jordanian-style outfits and got to dancing to the huge ghetto blaster that had been hauled up to the roof by some unfortunate young male family member. The dance floor consisted of the area not being taken up by the 200 or so women and children on the roof, mostly in front of the bride (who had managed to arrive just before us, complete with green chair, which whizzed by our bus en-route, precariously balanced in the back of a small Mitsubishi pick-up, held in place by two young males, who were attached to the outside of the pick-up garbage-man-style), and along the space cleared through the crowd as the aisle to the bride. An 11-year old girl immediately spotted my super sweet Western dance moves and showed me, in no uncertain terms, how to really wiggle my hips and twist my wrists, much to the delight of the viewers watching the giant white woman in the electric blue tube top trying to dance.

Eventually, after a couple of hours of dancing with the students (who all came) and staff and locals, the groom and his male family members came up to take the terrified-looking bride away. The mad rush for coats and head scarves was unlike anything I have ever seen before when the men came up, and saw me still dancing in my tube top, with some of our male workers who had come up, until I remembered to cover up and my friend gave me my cardigan. It brouught a mixture of amused and annoyed looks from some of the women, but the guys didn't seem to notice, so no harm, no foul.

With the bride gone, the party quickly dwindled in size, and we headed home to have a couple of beers on the patio.

The following day, Friday, I drove to Amman to get some groceries for all at the local Safeway, which was a field trip in itself, then headed to meet the groom and bride for a big Jordanian mensif lunch, at which the bride looked much more happy and relieved. The rest of the afternoon was spent smoking argileh and relaxing until about 23h30, when I headed to the airport to pick up the last of the staff members to arrive - now we are complete!

On Saturday, we headed to Pella (a great site down in the Jordan valley with evidence of almost every occupation phase for the region), Jerash (a huge Roman site about 2 hours north of Amman, which has a huge music festival every summer), and the castle of Ajloun, built by Saladin's nephew. I visited all the same sites except for Pella last year, and they were just as amazign this year. Pella was incredibly hot, but it is buiilt around a natural spring, so we saw some much-missed greenery and grass. There is also an amzing rest house there, overlooking the valley, where we went for some cold drinks. It was an extremely hot day (uncomfortable by 09h00).

Back at work, on Monday, I went to the nearby town of Ma'in to survey. It was a great break from site and really enjoyable, as I love to survey. We found a few cisterns and carved bedrock, which is what we have mostly been finding out that way, along with a ton of pottery from several occupation phases.

This weekend, we head to Petra, Aqaba, and Wadi Rum for our mid-season (already!) long weekend. We're all really excited...Petra is definitely one of my happy places. I'll post photos next week, so come back and check them out...

this post is brought to you by...desert castles, stratigraphy, arak, and hydration

What has happened since last I posted? Lots, to be honest.

Work-wise: we are going through stratigraphy, though not as quickly as I would like (to be fair, we have less students per unit this year, and I had to give a bit of leeway the first couple of days). But, we've gotten the lead out. Yesterday was the official "please give me all your small tools, especially trowels, and I will give you only big picks, gufas (baskets made out of recycled tyres, sued to haul dirt and rocks), and hoes in return day". I think it was a big success, and I have decided to celebrate how much fun it was by making most days the same. I'm such a slave driver but, as I promised the students, the quicker we dig the better the stuff that we find.

Archaeology-wise (a section mostly dedicated to Andrew): we have removed the IR II pillars (both of them) in (unit) U4, which was a much longer ordeal than I expected, but it is done, and the sediment from below is all down. There is a beaten earth floor in the SE quadrant which cannot extend past the continuation of a N-S IR I wall running into the southern balk. The area where we uncovered the amphorae (very large, 1.5m tall storage jars) is not being touched for now, and the subsidiary balk that area shares with V3 is being kept as a balk for the time being (about 60cm wide) for safety, as we excavate to the east of it, in V3. In V3, the IR II pillars have also been removed, and the IR II/squatter debris to the north is on its way out. We are excavating down to the same level as the amphorae stratum in U4, then excavating the section in U4 and V3 (which will join as there is no wall separating them) concurrently. Today, in V3, we excavated an ashy layer, clear small boulder/large cobble tumble, with the remains of large pithoi below, with associated clay (to support them). Tomorrow: more deconstruction of IR II architecture, and more mad digging. (Andrew: I will take photos of the units to date tomorrow morning and post them asap.)

Health-wise: I feel great! Huzzah! Sadly, the same cannot be sad of all the students, though most are fine. We have had a couple of cases of dehydration, especially after the field trip to the Desert Castles (more below). Also, one of my students had a boulder drop onto her finger, bruising the joints pretty badly and cutting her a bit. I tape it to her ring finger 2x a day, and it seems to not be infected, so I'm pleased.

Fun-wise: the Desert Castles (in the central-eastern area of the country) were amazing. I missed that same field trip last year due to a horrid case of food-poisoning. We visited the Citadel and Archaeological Museum in Amman, which shows the material evidence of occupation in the area since the Neolithic, and houses some restored plaster figurines (some of the earliest 3-D depictions of humans) from Ain-Ghezel, which were definitely my favourite, along with some pages from the Dead Sea scrolls (no photos of these, sadly).

As for the Desert Castles themselves, we visited the UNESCO site of Qasyr Amra, famous for the wonderful non-Islamic tradition frescoes covering all the interior surface. The "little castle" was built by Wahid I, possibly, and was perhaps used as a retreat during the 7th century. Absolutely gorgeous, though sadly in need of serious restoration.

We also visited Azraq, a small fort-like place made from black basalt, and most famous in recent times as the place Lawrence of Arabia wintered in 1917-18, during the Arab revolt. He complained that the "roof leaked" apparently. I could see why: all the stone roof beams were originals. The original single-slabbed basalt door was also really impressive.

I have also gotten my house into the habit of smoking argileh for hours on end, though it took little persuasion and now they all just run with it, along with cold Arak (like Sambuca, served with cold water). One of the students is Lebanese, and he was thrilled to see I had a small stash of Arak in my room (thanks, Andrew). Now he provides the bags of nuts, and we enjoy a drink, Middle-Eastern style.

Time off work is spent either thinking about work, planning logistics are around the house, sneaking away for a drink or a cheese sandwich at the Ayola, and reading. All good times. The crew is fabulous, and the students are fantastic, so it makes for fun and relaxing evenings and lab time (2 hrs every afternoon when we all get together and wash pottery and bone, have pottery readings, catch up on the excavations, etc.).

On Friday, almost all of the staff sneaked away to Amman and went crazy in the Mecca Mall, a huge Western-style shopping mall with 5 floors. We were on the hunt for racy tops for the traditional Jordanian wedding coming up this weekend, for the brother of Mashur, Sile, and his "habibi", Maram, with whom I have been made to speak broken Arabic on the phone every time Sile sees me. All the women will be segregated to the roof in racy clothes which are hidden under long robes, to dance around to the wee hours of the morning to Arabic pop on a ghetto blaster, hopped up on tea and Coke, while the men do the same in a tent in the yard below. Don't worry, I'll take photos.

Other than that, we are headed to Jerash this weekend, and we have a full week of digging before then. Keep the comments and emails coming!

first day on-site

Another fantastic day! We were supposed to start digging on the Tell yesterday but, due to some unforeseen and minor problems with permits, we had to delay it by one day. Instead, I gave a tutorial to the students on excavation practices, forms, techniques, recording, history of the excavation, etc. It seemed to go over well and was (mostly?) understood, so I am a happy camper. I do love to talk about archaeology.

The students arrived on Saturday and we have been giving them tours of the town, showing them where the internet cafe is (strangely named "The Iron Rod", for unknown reasons), where our friend, Youssef, is located (he is the "go-to" guy for gifts and things, and a very nice man, always ready to chat and have a cup of lovely mint and sugar tea). They all seem to be settling in nicely and I can honestly say that I find them to be a great group overall, very enthusiastic, excited, willing to work and learn, and trying their best to learn Arabic words and phrases. I am quite impressed by them so far.

Yesterday was spent by the pool lounging, much deserved due to all the hard work the staff has done since arriving, setting up house, finding and arranging field equipment, going back and forth to the airport, among other things. We went to a pool that we haven't been to before, at Arnon, about a 10-minute drive out of Madaba. All four pools there were largely empty as the kids are not out of school yet, and so we enjoyed some beers and argileh and got a bit of sun. A very nice day.

Today, the first day on site, as I mentioned above, was one of those physically-exerting days that leaves you with a most satisfying numbness and ache in your limbs when you sit down after work. We hauled away three-quarters of a rock pile that has accumulated over the years, rock that has been removed during the course of other excavations. All the staff were extremely satisfied with the work that the students did alongside us, moving all the rocks and boulders chain-gang style about 50m out of the way so we can open three more units under where the rocks had been laying. We also cleaned away all the weeds so we could begin with a clean slate. Today, we managed to accomplish much more site prep than we had thought was possible and we will be able to start marking out the new units tomorrow, in sha'allah. Happily, my two units will have the Iron II architecture removed tomorrow, which will involve bringing a lot of stone up 4m out of the units. Once all that is removed, we will be able to start digging to see what lies beneath. The below photo shows my two units, pre-weeding (they look a lot cleaner now). The stone architecture that is visible is mostly Iron I and II, and there is a huge fortification wall in the background.

Tomorrow has all the elements of another pleasantly tiring and eventful day, so stay posted for what we manage to uncover. We also have a field trip planned to the Desert Castles this weekend, which lie in the central-eastern area of Jordan. I did not manage to take part in this field trip last year as I had a nasty case of food poisoning and spent the entire weekend either lying in my bed or running for the bathroom. I'm optimistic that this weekend's field trip will top last year's...

safe in madaba, jordan

What a week! I have only spent two nights in my house (the same one as last year, an early- 20th centruy house owned by the family of a famous early-20th century poet that I can't remember the name of, but will find out). Previous to this, I was staying at a friend's house, in the beautiful village of Faysaliyya, about 10 minutes drive from Madaba, which had the most wonderful view of sunsets over the Dead Sea and the West Bank. Fantastic!

We have also already enjoyed the traditional, communally-eaten dish of mensev, which is a chicken or goat dish, served over rice, and eaten with the hands. One of my favourtites, especially the roasted pine nuts that are served on top. Very messy, but well worth it.

Deb and I were here for a few nights by ourselves, but the rest of the staff have since arrived and, after a week of hard work moving and setting up house, sorting field equipment, getting permits, renting a car, etc., we are on track.

I gave went to another friend's house and gave the children frisbees and lip balms (thank you Krista from Moody Bees!), which they absolutely loved. They love anything from the west, and they are so much fun to play with. We also had a few pick-up games of soccer, which brought out the locals to watch the "large white people."

I've also been enjoying the most readily-availble beers on hot nights - Amstel (thanks Nancy!). We had a great movie night last night on floor cushions, and with candles. We all fell asleep watching Zoolander, though, thanks to all the hard work this week.

We had our staff orientation and trip to the field this morning. Such a large amount of work to be done, but it will be so worth it. We are opening up five units in the same area that I worked in last year. I will continue work in the two Iron Age units I worked in last year, and an additional three units will be opened, which will begin with the remnants of Nabatean architecture.

I apologize for the largely-disjointed nature of this first post from Jordan, but I am extremely rushed and will make up for it next time. Until then...

let's get acquainted with....jordan

Amidst the madness of packing, I decided to take a minute and acquaint all of you with Jordan. Not that I don't have full faith in you all to know where it is etc., but I went to the bank on three separate occasions last week and on all three, when asking for Jordanian dinars (CDN 1.00 = JOD 0.600), the conversation went like this:

ME: "what is the exchange rate for Jordanian dinars?"
TELLER: "hmmm, Jordanian dinars...it looks like about 0.6...where are they from?"
ME: (incredulous pause) "Jordan"
TELLER: "Great! Where is that?"
ME: (another pause) "The Middle East"
TELLER: "Fantastic! Are you visiting family there?"

Sigh. Not that I couldn't be from Jordan but, people, look at my face: I have the map of Eire written all over it. Sheesh.

Fast facts (all info taken from Lonely Planet _Jordan_ 2006. Map from: www.lonelyplanet.com):

• Land area: 96,188 sq km
• Population: 5,759,000 (July 2005)
• Human Development index: ranked 90th out of 170 of world's countries (Egypt: 120th; Syria: 106th; Palestinian Territories: 102nd; Israel: 22nd)
• Religion: 80% Sunni Muslim, 15% Shi'a Muslim, 5% Christian
• Only 4.5% of Jordan's land is cultivated
• Around 1.7 million Palestinians live in Jordan
• The Dead Sea is the lowest point on earth at 408m below sea level
• Over 80% of Jordan is desert, and 95% of Jordanians live in the remaining 20% of land
• Jordan has just 140 cu metres of renewable water per capita per year, compared to UK's 1500, Israel's 340, and the Palestine Authority's 70. Jordan's figure is expected to fall to 90 cu by 2025. Anything under 500 cu metres is considered to be scarcity of water

For a basis of where to locate me on the map (above) I'll be living and working in the town of Madaba. Madaba has a population of 50,000 and is best known for its Byzantine mosaics, which are absolutely incredible. There is also a mosaic school there, for students to learn the production of, and conservation of, mosaics using little pieces of tile called tesserae. The region around Madaba has been occupied for around 4500 years, and is thought to be mentioned in the Bible as Medeba. It's also mentioned on the famous Mesha stele, raised in about 850 BC by the Moabite king Mesha, to commemorate his victory over the Israelites.

Enjoy, and stay posted. The next post should be coming from somewhere in the Moabite desert...

graduate school: "frauds...assholes...& self-medication"

I just read an article in the May 15, 2007 edition of The Tyee, and I strongly recommend it for all you, faithful readers and friends, who are currently in grad school, or are currently contemplating grad school. Heck, I even recommend it for those of you who have finished grad school and, like myself, are left wondering, "was it worth it? Am I better off now, with an MA/PhD than I was with a BA?"


Now, I know that a large part of deciding to go to grad school is based upon the actual field you are in, or planning on being in. For example, a future doctor must go to grad/medical school, a future lawyer must go to law school, and a future archaeologist must go to...?

Most aspiring archaeologists will find themselves up &%$# creek without a graduate degree. It really is that simple. Without an MA, unfortunately, you are not qualified to teach, you can't hold permits for ocntract work and consulting (at least in BC, though I know that most of the US and parts of Europe have the same regualtions), and you are left vitrually without any chance to specialize.

Unlike the MDs and lawyers of the world, however, an MA in archaeology is still not nearly as specific as other fields requiring "higher degrees of learning." I can honestly say that most of what I learned of archaeology came from working in, and making mistakes in, the field. Truly. I don't think doctors get that type of grace period.

So, what does it mean? Why get the degree? I was speaking to a couple of friends of mine today, telling them about my usual lofty plans, and discussing the possibility of beginning a PhD next year. At this point, my friends (including these two I was speaking with) know that I love what I do, and do what I do solely because I love it, said, "well, you may as well just keep on going." To which I agreed and replied, "it's kind of like McDonald's: I've already got three of them, why don't I just keep on going and get the whole set?"

The reason for continuing, besides having the academic equivalent of a complete set of "Shrek the Third" collector glasses/tumblers? It allows me the relative freedom to be able to pursue my own line of research (hopefully) with a slight bit more credibility. And, I do love to teach. And, I must admit, though I won't be saving any lifes with the type of doctorate I'll have one day, I will get a kick out of being called "Doctor" while doing something stupid at a party..."hey doctor, get off that bloody table and quit stealing my gin...!" Not that I would or have done that type of thing.

On anther, slightly related note: if you want all the glory and none of the work, check out this website: http://www.fakedegrees.com/fakedegrees/samples.asp I was absolutely astounded to come across this site for creating fake degrees and diplomas. I suspected a site like this existed but, for some reason, I thought it would be harder to find.

And no, I don't condone this site and, no, I am not going to use it myself. For shame!

field logistics and preparation

There's something so necessary and hopeful in having one (or more, if you're really lucky) great thing/talent/possession/understanding that gives meaning to the other daily doldrums of life. Currently, working the rest of my year around the field season is definitely one of those things. It's worth it. Which is why, likely, there are both a lot of people who identify themselves as archaeologists but work at other jobs during the regular work day and make room in the evenings and on weekends for small excursions and research, and even more people who don't identify themselves career-wise as archaeologists, but who spend every season they can volunteering in the field, even if it is only for a few days or a couple of weeks.

Having said that, I don't want to give the impression that only working with 75% effort the rest of the time is acceptable. If you must do something - for whatever reason - choose to do it well, or what is the point?

I will be leaving in exactly two weeks and there is so much to be done before then. As always before a trip, there are last minute things to buy, Canadian dollars to be exchanged into the local currency, matters to be cleared up and put on hold for a few months, people to see, maintenance and tidying to be done, and so on. But all of these things really help to heighten the anticipation.

Field-specifically, there are lists and notes to be written and prepared, whether it is putting together a preliminary grocery list for the Madaba houses, or creating a list of house and field rules and guidelines, or putting together a mini library and extended bibliography to use in the field. So much to do logistically. It's similar to planning a May long-weekend camping trip for yourself and perhaps 6 of your friends, and then times that by 4 for people and 17 for days spent there.

But, then again, I've always enjoyed planning camping trips and outings for groups, so perhaps I have been preparing for this type of work for a long time. Oh, the interdisciplinary nature of archaeological fieldwork logistics...if only the archaeological research could be as interdisciplinary and varied in its approaches.

data gathering on the interior plateau of BC

The field season has kicked off! I just returned from a brief and relaxing trip to the Interior, where I (along with a motley crüe of people from SFU and one from NYU), spent some time measuring up housepits and mapping the site with a Total Station. Both of these things were desperately overdue at the site, and will help to make the data from the site more accessibile and consistent for other researchers. What a relief that will be!

The site itself (for those of you who have had the pleasure of visiting it) is as magical and spectacular as always. The greens are bordering on neon, and the wildflowers are out: the yellow flowers ringing the high edges of the housepits and growing within the depressions, the white flowers clinging to the north-facing slopes, and small purple flowers scattered here and there in smaller amounts. The weather was absolutely fantastic - couldn't have asked for anything better: hot sun, blowing wind, blue sky. Lovely. And, as if this picture I have tried to paint for you wasn't enough, there were three new foals there, still shaky on their gangly legs, who must have just been born within the last two weeks. It also looks like the bears are starting to come out of hibernation, likely due to the warm weather. While we didn't see any bears, we found some scat on the road in.

The data gathering proved to be fruitful and slightly futile at the same time. As often happens, the more you research, the more you realize that there are problems to be solved - it's a very circular process. And, the more I dip my toe in academia - whether through writing, researching, or teaching - the more I realize just how ugly and political it can be. It all comes back to tradeoffs.

Soon enough, these posts will be coming from the Moab desert. Stay tuned...

another day, another interview

Such is the life of an archaeologist, I suppose. I have had more interviews in the last two years than the previous ten combined. And, not for lack of trying, I now find myself working in a sales job that I would have never expected. Having said that, it provides me the flexibility to do research and small amounts of weekend field work during the majority of the year, and enables me to take leave of absences during the "high field season" to do fieldwork abroad. In truth, I am exactly where I want to be, doing what I want to be doing. Lack of lack monetary funds is certainly an issue, but it is by no means the issue.

Today's interview was the most strenuous yet. It began a couple of days ago with a very in-depth phone interview on the site itself (Historic Fort Langley, managed by Parks Canada), national historic sites in general, and the economic history and origins of British Columbia. That initial screening resulted in a group of ten applicants undergoing a group interview today, six-and-a-half hours in length, at the site itself. There were various team-building exercises, including assembling a fur press, making a barrel, and pitching a canvas tent, and - the most daunting part of all - a five minute interpretive presentation, no topic provided, to be presented before a panel of fifteen people (including the three Parks Canada interviewers). Whew!

I haven't presented formally since my thesis defenses, so I was certainly a bit nervous. I presented on the topic of trade, focusing specifically on the requisite reciprocity of trade. A lot of the public programs at the site, while very interactive and educational, have focused on trade within Fort Langley, and have not looked at the impact of the trade moving out to surrounding First Nations groups. In my presentation, I looked at a couple of options for exploring this aspect through role playing and archaeological "digs" for students in areas representing traditional First Nations settlements. I think it was well received. All the presentations and presenters brought unique aspects to the day and, overall, the day was a success, and quite enjoyable.

I had forgotten the Fort itself, as I have not been there since an elementary school trip. It appears smaller than I remember (as happens the bigger and older we get), but there are just as many activities now as I remember as a visiting child, perhaps even more. Let's put it this way: I could certainly see myself spending the day there with a group of kids and neither the kids or me being bored.

Fort Langley, though it was only established in 1827 and enjoyed a brief "hey day" of only thirty or so years, has made a lasting impact on this province. The Hudson's Bay Company and the Fort brought a new type of economy and international trade to the region, and was instrumental in the establishment of (the future) BC as a British colony. Plus, we can now enjoy those beautiful HBC wool blankets. Gezellig!

mayans cleanse sacred site after bush's goodwill visit

It seems that US President George Bush’s attempts at gaining popularity in Latin America continue to be unsuccessful. In response to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s comments that Bush is “history’s greatest killer” and “the devil”, the US President thought he might bring some of his charming good lucks and irresistible rhetoric to the region. Alas, his seven-day tour of Latin America (during the week of March 11th – 17th) didn’t seem to impress the locals.

In fact, Bush’s visit to Ixmiche (about 48 km west of Guatemala City), the capital of the Late Post Classic kingdom of the Kaqchiqueles before the Spanish conquest of 1524, brought horror and revulsion. "That a person like [Bush], with the persecution of our migrant brothers in the United States, with the wars he has provoked, is going to walk in our sacred lands, is an offense for the Mayan people and their culture," Juan Tiney, the director of a nongovernmental Mayan organization with (alleged) close ties to traditional Mayan leaders, said March 8th.

No doubt that Bush’s visit to the site was accepted only under protest, as the site was already being prepared for the Third Summit of the Latin American Indian, held there March 26th – 30th. Extra spiritual cleansing was required to rid the area of “bad spirits” following Bush’s visit, a decision made by “spirit guides of the Mayan community”, so that the ancestors could rest in peace, according to Tiney.

I hope that the Mayan priests had an extra large store of incense and ritual chanting to placate the spirits of the sacred site, because I suspect the ancestors weren’t even remotely amused.

For the full story by Juan Carlos Llorca of the Associated Press, go to:

http://www.boston.com/news/odd/articles/2007/03/09/priests_to_purify_site_after_bush_visit/
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2936864
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/03/12/bush.guatemala/index.html

or, for another perspective:

http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/2007/03/guatemala-city-guat-mayans-to-purify.html

this afghan life

The Tyee online publication often has interesting and thought-provoking stories and essays. The Monday, April 9th edition was no exception.

This edition includes a wonderful, though sadly brief, photo essay on the lives of Afghan women. In particular, it features a group of women and their families who have persevered under the harsh rule of the Taliban, and who have been running a radio station, Radio Quyaash, in Northern Afghanistan.

At the bottom of The Tyee article, there is also some information on the persecution of men and children at the extremist hands of the Taliban, reminding the reader of the indiscriminate mass killings and brutalization of an entire population. This persecution continues still.

In another article published by The Tyee on March 29th, 2007 (link here), the changing role (yet continued persecution) of women in Iran is covered. This article exhibits how vast the definition of "feminism" really is, as compared around the world.

arabic, or, getting out of a culture what you bring to it

Next week I begin taking Arabic classes, downtown at the Roundhouse Community Centre. Arabic is a language that I have long been enamoured with and threatened by, perhaps because of the beautiful but indecipherable calligraphic characters. Whichever the reason, next week I start my once-weekly courses, 2 hours each, in order to "Learn about the most interesting language in the world: read and write the Arabic language. After 6 weeks you will be able to read and recognize simple Arabic signs and have a basic understanding of hundreds of words."

The course should run right up to the week before I leave for the field season in Jordan, giving me a great opportunity to practice what will surely be a slippery grasp of a difficult language.

Thankfully, I've studied a Semitic language (Biblical Hebrew) before, and so I have a basic understanding of the verb roots and some vocabulary, but I have never learned this type of language in a conversational and "everyday" capacity.

Being able to take the road from Madaba to Amman and read the signs along the way -- whether official directional signs (most of which also have an English translation), or rough signs made by locals selling fresh fruit and vegs, or pamphlets around town -- will be a rare treat and will help to make me feel less like a conventional tourist or visitor.

Reading commercial and vendor signs aside, I'm really excited by the prospect of being able to communicate a little better with the locals, the workmen, and our friends. They try extremely hard to learn bits of English with which to communicate with us, and the least we can do is try our hardest to learn some of their language.

Which brings up the topic of how much effort foreigners should be expected to put into learning the culture, language, and traditions of a place. I am currently reading Paul Rabinow's _Reflections on Fieldwork in Morocco_ (1977) and he notes that Jacques Berque once said that "language, women, and religion [are] the three domains of freedom in which North Africans most fiercely resisted European transgression (27)." Now, I know that I personally am not speaking of Morocco (as Rabinow is) when I speak of culture, "language, women, and religion", but similar sentiments of protection of one's culture appears in almost all geographically- and ethnically-defined places in the world.

Speaking from my own brief experiences in North Africa, Europe, Central America, and even North America, I see these three aspects of society as key when trying to understand and ingratiate oneself within a culture. In short, the more that you can learn, adapt, and respect these particular facets of daily life within the country you are travelling in as a foreigner, the more successful you will be as a guest and be welcomed into the local homes and lives of the area. If you don't attempt to speak the language, you can't begin to understand the whys or hows of daily life; if you don't understand and accept that in most cultures women rule the household and that many rules of etiquette are made in respect to women's privacy (without getting into the ethics of feminist theory), you will always be kept at arm's length and never welcomed into the private sphere of the home and family life; and if you don't respect the religion, you will always be recognized as an outsider, as this is often the defining aspect of cultural ethics, rituals, and traditions.

move through ancient spaces...without leaving your desk

Some graduates of the same department from which I graduated at UBC (Classical, Near Eastern, and Religious Studies), along with various faculty and professional support, have developed a fantastic and fun interactive website: Ancient Spaces. If digging in the dirt isn't your first choice for reconstructing the spaces of the past, but you're still interested in what the architecture and cultural setting would have looked like, this is the wesbite for you.

This group has put together 3-D, interactive virtual spaces that can be moved through by the viewer, by combining archaeological data with video game technology. So far, models have been made of Ancient Athens, the village of Deir el-Medina in Egypt, Machu Picchu in Peru (image, above), and a Nisqa'a village (all of these virtual sites are still works in progress).

Though I suspect it is still not as good as moving through the real sites themselves, these virtual models allow a 3-D appreciation that cannot always be garnered from the archaeological data in situ alone.

"the world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page." ~St. Augustine

To travel or not to travel? I think that humans are naturally nomadic - let's not forget the normal state of human existence and survival as nomads. Our prehistoric movements across huge areas, whole continents at times, were generally done out of necessity, due to climate change or movement of game. And in historic times, very recently, humans still had the idea of "the frontier", "the west", "the Orient", "the East", and "deepest, darkest Africa".

Do these places still exist, or have we travelled (collectively, as species) as much as we are going to? Now that we can travel simply for travel's sake, do we prefer to stay closer to home?

Travel has certainly become economically easier across wider distances - competing airlines, student discounts and fares, group rates - though this has become countered by our greater and more immediate awareness of problems in these same places - war, famine, drought, and crime, to name a few. In actual fact, these problems always existed, the only difference is that we know about them ahead of time now, thanks to the global village, Lonely Planet, Fodor's, and CNN. The element of surprise, both good (realizing there is no one else crawling all over an ancient ball court) and bad (waking up to find a stranger standing over you, holding your wallet, a common thing in this area of town) has become sterilized. Now you get to "choose your own adventure", instead of just accidentally finding it.

A good friend of mine is currently on a several-month-long circumambulation (of sorts, except that it is in a large vehicle) of the African continent. Admittedly, when he first told me about his plans to go on this "package trip", I was skeptical that such a degree of organization would be what he was looking for, as I thought it would be without any spontaneity or flexibility. Since keeping track of his trip (the company he went with, African Trails, has a great on-going transblog of their progress), I have been really impressed by the degree of improvisation that occurs - whether it is side adventures while waiting for Visas, or getting bogged down in the local muddy roads, or changes in plans due to political climates, or the option to leave or join the group at any time. Now, that is not to say that I am converted and I think that group travel is the only way to go, but it has made me think that where there is available forewarnings about a certain area, it would be naive to not take certain precautions, such as a flexible, small group.

This anecdote brings up yet another reason why I love my career: I get to experience wonderful places, generally with the people who live there, and not be a tourist in the typical sense of the word, while working with the locals to help create sustainability through their own heritage. I usually get to spend prolonged periods of time in these places, going to work every day and maintaining a normal schedule, and teaching students who have often not been away from home before. While I get to teach them the joys of archaeological method, theory, and ethics, as well as the history of the area, I also love teaching them about the current culture and traditions.

Alas, it is the only thing for me to do, at least for right now...

To bring things full-circle: it should be noted that though there is certainly no shortage of travel-inspired quotations available, there are just as many that remind us that not all travels are created equal...

"Too often travel, instead of broadening the mind, merely lengthens the conversation." ~Elizabeth Drew

...and, it must be said, that the more I travel (and I have many more travels in me yet), the more I know that when I am ready to come home, it has been a good trip...

"No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old familiar pillow." ~Lin Yutang

the 2007 field season is about to get underway

It never rains but it pours...literally and figuratively, it would seem, here in wet Surrey. Don't get discouraged: the rain won't last all season and, when it rains in the field, though it gets everything sopping, it makes for more exciting stories when you return home.

The word is out: it won't be long until I'll be heading out into the field, in the rain. And, not too long after the rain is dried out of my tent and the mildew is soaped off my gear, my tools will be oiled and ready to be used in Jordan. I should be heading there in early June with the University of Toronto's Archaeological Field School at Tell Madaba (see link in sidebar) to supervise students and instruct them in archaeological practice, method, and theory. The security forms have been filled out and submitted and, once I get my arrival and departure dates, I'll be bouncing off walls with excitement. Tell Madaba is a wonderful historic site, located not too far from the Dead Sea, the Israeli border, and Biblical Mount Nebo, and has been occuppied consistently for several thousand years. The field school has been going on there for a few years and is very well run. I'm very proud to be a part of the project.

a little technology can go a long way

Here it goes. I am undertaking a new challenge: staying connected with friends, family, and colleagues while working both at home and abroad. I am also using this new (for me) medium of blogging to provide information to people about myself and the wide world of archaeology. I like to think of myself as having my fingers in many pies at once, so don't expect to find items on this blog related to one area of the world, one period of time, one school of thought. My plan is for this to be an informal site people can swing by and, all in one visit, can find out: what I am up to personally and professionally, what my immediate plans are, what events are upcoming that interest me and may interest you, what interesting and exciting things are going on in the world, what relevant and interesting articles and books are currently circulating, and what's going on in the field.

I invite you to come back often and get involved by posting comments that will (hopefully) contain information that may be of value to other people stopping by. Almost any type of dialogue is encouraged.

Let's see how this new-fangled contraption runs...