By Lauren Butero
Today may have been the crew’s last day in the field, but our
work isn’t over. We spent today completing the end of our on-site recording
both in the field and in our field laboratory, backfilling the last of our
units, recording the last reference points for features, and packing up camp
for the season. However, back in Albuquerque our work will continue. The
in-depth analysis will begin and the group will have maps to make, records to
formalize and finalize, and lots of information to process. While we won’t be
surrounded by the beauty of the Canyon every day, the importance of what is to
come shouldn’t be understated. What happens between now and the end of our
semester (and beyond, in the case of the graduate teaching assistants) is
essential. Our ability to record and interpret what we have seen, photographed,
collected and measured determines whether or not the parts of the past that we
collected and excavated and the knowledge and potential within those parts of
the sites are preserved. If we fail to be diligent with our notations, reports,
logs, and in caring for the artifacts we removed, much of the knowledge
contained in the site we worked on could be lost. Excavation is a destructive
practice, meaning that once it has been completed the site can never be
returned to exactly how it was before. Some information such as relationships
between objects and layers of soils is permanently lost if that information is not
recorded in a way that people will be able to access it in the future. Even for
things that are left untouched by our scientific endeavors, Mother Nature and
other humans can take a toll and wash and erode away information with the ebb and
flow of time. Archeology is the attempt to conserve the knowledge that is
trapped in between the layers of time. Beyond recording, archeology is also
about analyzing and theorizing --- essentially figuring out what all of our
observations and measurements MEAN on a larger scale which will be part of our
continuing work.
Beyond the importance of our records and observations and
theories, the field school also produced a crew that began as students and
finished as a new group of archeologists. While our units are now invisible to
passerby, the knowledge and skills gained by the group cannot be hidden under a
layer of eroded sandstone dust. The field makes the best classroom, where
students learn by doing and by experiencing. It also has strengthened the crew,
and not only our backs and callouses on our palms. It was an unforgettable
opportunity that none of us will likely forget, nor the bond that it forged
between the crew and the canyon and between one another, living and working
together. I think more than one of our group discovered they were made of
tougher stuff than they thought, especially after our record cold nights and
shortened schedule. Others uncovered talents they weren’t aware of and we will
all walk away with wonderful, once-in-a-lifetime memories and stories and
knowledge that we will carry with us as we accomplish more. Beyond that,
hopefully, experiences and friendships forged in ice are as strong as those
forged by fire.
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