Of course two archaeological field technicians can get married, but they’d better be ready for a rocky road. My spouse, who is not an archaeologist, is well-aware of how difficult it can be to be married to a cultural resource management archaeologist. * * * As soon as I learned […]
I nearly lost my first job in cultural resource management archaeology because I didn’t know how to write technical reports. During my first week on the job, my boss asked me to work on an archaeological research design the company was preparing. I spent that afternoon preparing an annotated bibliography […]
Every now and then, I hear from an aspiring archaeologist who is confused by the things they read on social media about the cultural resource management industry. The source of their confusion comes from the following conversation: 1) Somebody says CRM archaeology sucks. 2) Even though archaeology is their dream […]
Whenever I think about how we can transform cultural resource management into a mélange of applied anthropology and heritage conservation that can actually change society, I always think about the candelabra. I remember, as a boy, seeing beautiful candelabras in church around Christmastime and they always filled me with awe. […]
We didn’t choose for things to end up the way they are in cultural resource management archaeology, but we can choose to change them. I’ve only been a CRMer for a decade or so. I’ve seen things change for the worse but, these days, it looks like things are on […]
Who would have ever thought a 5-year-old would be enthusiastic about seeing a pile of rocks in the desert? No toys. No playground. Just an 800-year-old archaeological ruin…and a little sister. This last weekend, I took a National Parks and Monuments tour with my wife and kids through northern Arizona. […]
I just got done watching “The Martian” and, seeing how I’m a Matt Damon fan already, I liked it. But, then again, I pretty much always like any science-based movies depicting humans colonizing other planets (especially Mars). As an archaeologist, it’s not hard for me to ponder the future of […]
I am in the process of creating an online course focused on Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). Even though I’ve been doing cultural resource management archaeology for over a decade, I admit I still have a lot to learn because, in order to successfully navigate the […]
Last week I helped a friend and peer get a good shot at her first job in cultural resource management archaeology. She’d just finished her anthro B.A. and I worked with her this summer. I quickly recognized that she had a lot of talent and promise. She’s the kind of […]
In the book Small Archaeology Project Management, I described a day when I let my entire crew’s shovel probe forms get soaked in the rain. A whole week’s work was compromised. The result wasn’t pretty. I did my best to dry out the forms, but, ultimately, I had to do […]
