I don't think I've spent more than an hour studying at any point this semester until today. Long live the lame-o Friday night study session...*sigh*
I successfully created an ArcView map of this summer's field school area around St. George, Utah. I'm looking forward to getting down there on the ground--especially now when it's snowy and miserable up here. But in the meantime, I still need to find a high res. topo to lay under my sites. For now, it's only an ortho., though aerial shots are always cool.
I've got 500 pages to read and summarize this weekend to keep up on my readings course, so I best get gone. But Look Mom, I'm a Blogger =) (Note: if Mom ever actually makes it on here to see this, the earth will likely shake, and now you'll know what's happening and won't have to worry about any apocalyptic advent! You're welcome. "Please leave a contribution in the little box!")
Friday, January 27, 2006
Monday, January 23, 2006
The Southwest Symposium
I just posted this on Friends of the Fremont, but for those of you who are archaeologists, I'll add it here as well. You should probably just go to FOF, though...
I figure I better hurry and post just in case Holly decides to do something brash and actually post--wouldn't want to be branded as she has been.
That said, all I'm gonna say about you sceptics and your anti-historic attitude is...well...ok, I got nothin', but it's still cool. Pass your rust to me, I'll gladly take it--maybe it's my practical side reacting to the number of uncontrollable variables in prehistorics. But don't get me wrong, I'll take a pretty lithic scatter over a pile of cans any day of the week.
Now, to the Symposium...
First of all, even now, days later, I can feel my tailbone. The drive was LONG. I tried keeping the 'hey, we're bonding' perspective and that made it slightly more tolerable. 1776 was really enjoyable even though it came in such large blocks.
The first session was definitely the highlight for me, despite its comparative lack of historic discussion, but when it came down to it, I enjoyed the Pueblo talk a lot more than I did any of the Euro-American junk. Traitor to my own cause.
Christine Ward's discussion of lithic procurement. Definitely interesting stuff--a great way to start the conference. Aaron has already discussed it, so I won't except to say that it was definitely one of the more useful presentations.
Donna Glowacki's was a little soft around the edges, but I enjoyed the basic concepts. She discussed The Social Landscape of Depopulation in the northern San Juan. I resonate with ideas that go beyond what's strictly represented on the ground and really try to bring in our inherent understanding of humans, but getting too post-processualist can rub me the wrong way. In this case, some good points were made and I'll just choose to ignore the rest. Ultimately she suggested that movements in the region, particularly between the east and west, were caused by social differentiation in addition to drought. The east became more ritualistic than the west and that affected the equilibrium.
Does anyone know of any positive demonstration of the southwest "ball courts"? I mean, yes, they're big flat community areas with seating around, and yes, they're very similar to what we see in Mesoamerica, but do we have associated gaming artifacts? Just curious. I wonder if we tend to just follow along with traditional terminology and let previous biases (such as the standard south to north movement) cloud our ability to read the ground. Ball courts were mentioned, mostly in passing, in a couple of the presentations.
Wendy Ashmore was the discussant, as Aaron mentioned. Her broad discussion of landscape theory was certainly more useful than anything any of the other discussants shared. Her nine factors to be considered were: (1) use of ethnography, (2) consideration of the spatial scale, (3) physical visibility, (4) time, (5) decision making and strategy use, (6) social relations and interaction, (7) movement/pilgrimages, (8) power, and (9) citation circles/networks. I appreciated her inclusion of no. 9—that we need to acknowledge the work being done on the other side of the Atlantic and the Euros need to do the same.
Well, I’m long-winded. The point is that the conference had a lot of good points. I got to see a few token rusty things, particularly in Carol Griffith’s trash talk. Interesting history bites about waste disposal. Did you know there’s a landfill in Fresno that’s eligible for the Register under A, B, C, & D?! The fire talks were interesting, but I think more could have been done. My particular interest in the fire venue is maybe better saved for a separate post…I’ll probably do that one of these days.
In the meantime, it’s oddly nice to be back to the bubble, though I’m still hoping for a giant pin to come along someday. Looking forward to the Great Basin Conference, now, or whatever may come before that.
I figure I better hurry and post just in case Holly decides to do something brash and actually post--wouldn't want to be branded as she has been.
That said, all I'm gonna say about you sceptics and your anti-historic attitude is...well...ok, I got nothin', but it's still cool. Pass your rust to me, I'll gladly take it--maybe it's my practical side reacting to the number of uncontrollable variables in prehistorics. But don't get me wrong, I'll take a pretty lithic scatter over a pile of cans any day of the week.
Now, to the Symposium...
First of all, even now, days later, I can feel my tailbone. The drive was LONG. I tried keeping the 'hey, we're bonding' perspective and that made it slightly more tolerable. 1776 was really enjoyable even though it came in such large blocks.
The first session was definitely the highlight for me, despite its comparative lack of historic discussion, but when it came down to it, I enjoyed the Pueblo talk a lot more than I did any of the Euro-American junk. Traitor to my own cause.
Christine Ward's discussion of lithic procurement. Definitely interesting stuff--a great way to start the conference. Aaron has already discussed it, so I won't except to say that it was definitely one of the more useful presentations.
Donna Glowacki's was a little soft around the edges, but I enjoyed the basic concepts. She discussed The Social Landscape of Depopulation in the northern San Juan. I resonate with ideas that go beyond what's strictly represented on the ground and really try to bring in our inherent understanding of humans, but getting too post-processualist can rub me the wrong way. In this case, some good points were made and I'll just choose to ignore the rest. Ultimately she suggested that movements in the region, particularly between the east and west, were caused by social differentiation in addition to drought. The east became more ritualistic than the west and that affected the equilibrium.
Does anyone know of any positive demonstration of the southwest "ball courts"? I mean, yes, they're big flat community areas with seating around, and yes, they're very similar to what we see in Mesoamerica, but do we have associated gaming artifacts? Just curious. I wonder if we tend to just follow along with traditional terminology and let previous biases (such as the standard south to north movement) cloud our ability to read the ground. Ball courts were mentioned, mostly in passing, in a couple of the presentations.
Wendy Ashmore was the discussant, as Aaron mentioned. Her broad discussion of landscape theory was certainly more useful than anything any of the other discussants shared. Her nine factors to be considered were: (1) use of ethnography, (2) consideration of the spatial scale, (3) physical visibility, (4) time, (5) decision making and strategy use, (6) social relations and interaction, (7) movement/pilgrimages, (8) power, and (9) citation circles/networks. I appreciated her inclusion of no. 9—that we need to acknowledge the work being done on the other side of the Atlantic and the Euros need to do the same.
Well, I’m long-winded. The point is that the conference had a lot of good points. I got to see a few token rusty things, particularly in Carol Griffith’s trash talk. Interesting history bites about waste disposal. Did you know there’s a landfill in Fresno that’s eligible for the Register under A, B, C, & D?! The fire talks were interesting, but I think more could have been done. My particular interest in the fire venue is maybe better saved for a separate post…I’ll probably do that one of these days.
In the meantime, it’s oddly nice to be back to the bubble, though I’m still hoping for a giant pin to come along someday. Looking forward to the Great Basin Conference, now, or whatever may come before that.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Scheduling...
I sometimes wonder if calendars and time pieces will ultimately mean the destruction of us all. I live by them nearly obsessively, but they don't prevent me from wasting a significant bit of every day doing things like buying a third copy of The Blue Sword and staying up all night reading it which I confess I have every intention of doing...
Still, things are looking manageable as long as I give up some of the sleep I enjoyed last semester despite its difficulties. I'll be working 20 hours a week, a much needed blessing money-wise, but less-than-fun in terms of restricting my day-time hours and therefore requiring more night study than usual. Such is the life of a grad student. If it didn't stretch me, I suppose I wouldn't deserve or appreciate the degree.
Started my Revelation of St. John class this morning at the ungodly hour of 8am. How are we supposed to have a spiritual understanding of the Revelation when we are lying unconcious in our cushy JSB chairs? Still, the professor is passionate about his topic and that makes every yawn worthwhile. I have a feeling I will count it as one of my all-time favorite BYU classes, which, since it's in the religion department, is saying something considering my previous experience.
Still, things are looking manageable as long as I give up some of the sleep I enjoyed last semester despite its difficulties. I'll be working 20 hours a week, a much needed blessing money-wise, but less-than-fun in terms of restricting my day-time hours and therefore requiring more night study than usual. Such is the life of a grad student. If it didn't stretch me, I suppose I wouldn't deserve or appreciate the degree.
Started my Revelation of St. John class this morning at the ungodly hour of 8am. How are we supposed to have a spiritual understanding of the Revelation when we are lying unconcious in our cushy JSB chairs? Still, the professor is passionate about his topic and that makes every yawn worthwhile. I have a feeling I will count it as one of my all-time favorite BYU classes, which, since it's in the religion department, is saying something considering my previous experience.
Monday, January 16, 2006
Bit by Bit
Ok, back from the Southwest Symposium in Las Cruces, NM and glad to have the day off to sleep, buy food, and all that good junk. I'm slowly but surely trying to get my feet under me on this thing, too, so hopefully it'll be useful. I think I've just accidentally posted a bunch of random pictures on here while trying to learn the stinkin' Hello software, too, so I guess there's stuff to look at, though no promises...
Last semester turned out to be survivable, but I only worked 10 hours a week. This semester I have just as many credits (though admittedly, some aren't graduate level) and am working 20 hours plus I've picked up a shift as a worker at the Provo Temple. It'll be interesting to see what happens, but I'm excited about the job. First thing I'll be doing is creating the site location overview maps for field school. Dr. Allison is working on getting ArcView onto a computer for me and then away I'll go. Thanks again to MOAC for spending all that money to train me so I could stop working for the souless contractors and get serious!! =)
Last semester turned out to be survivable, but I only worked 10 hours a week. This semester I have just as many credits (though admittedly, some aren't graduate level) and am working 20 hours plus I've picked up a shift as a worker at the Provo Temple. It'll be interesting to see what happens, but I'm excited about the job. First thing I'll be doing is creating the site location overview maps for field school. Dr. Allison is working on getting ArcView onto a computer for me and then away I'll go. Thanks again to MOAC for spending all that money to train me so I could stop working for the souless contractors and get serious!! =)
Saturday, January 14, 2006
What the...?
"People do crazy things when they're in [New Mexico]...They buy leather coats that are way too expensive, they do not [create random blogs for their love of rusty stuff!]"
Aaahhh...the wisdom of corrupted movie quotes. Just getting started...we'll see what happens with this. In the meantime, check out Friends of the Fremont!
Happy January,
RustLover
Aaahhh...the wisdom of corrupted movie quotes. Just getting started...we'll see what happens with this. In the meantime, check out Friends of the Fremont!
Happy January,
RustLover