Hello World!

Clinging for dear life, I bounced around in a passenger van. . . which was certainly not prepared for these types of roads -- or rather lack of road-- I couldn't help but stare out at the scenery and think: "This is it! I am Indiana Jones." There was no denying it. I was living the life of the great adventurer I'd enjoyed watching so many times on TV. True, I was lacking the fedora and whip, but I was armed with the first of my archaeology degree classes under my belt. We were rapidly approaching Mayan ruins in the jungles of Belize: Lubaantun. It was pretty un-belize-able.

Then we had to get out of the van and I was smacked with the realization that all this was NOT as glamorous as it seemed. A layer of perspiration and sweat immediately covered everyone without  much physical activity and then the flies descended!  Being food for flies and swimming in your own sweat don't really make the list of things a person thinks about when it comes to Indiana Jones -- or archaeology. Reality hits hard on that first dig.

But the view, oh it was wonderful! The jungle canopy opened to reveal mounds upon mounds of stone rubble and in other areas, reconstructed ball courts and walls. Thinking back now it still takes my breath away. It was more than just the awe-inspiring monuments that surrounded us on all sides; it was about being a part of history. We were a part of uncovering and paving a path for others to learn from what we had documented on our trip (and the valuable knowledge we gained from archaeologists like Keith Prufer). Now THIS was archaeology.

To be honest, this is how it has been for me since I lifted the veil on the field of archaeology. The journey has never been disappointing it has been full of surprises and more complications than you'd initially think (kinda like booby-traps). You learn to take those trade-offs of sitting in the sun, baking, hours on end, the back-breaking work of shoveling or sifting the dirt you shoveled just in case you missed some microscopic nothing (which could actually be something so huge that it could be THE thing to make your site or research unique) in order to find that new site or even just brush some dirt off of an old stone. . . because hey, you probably are the first to see it since the place fell to ruin. And that's when you know you've got the bug.

This blog will focus on some of the moral and ethical questions facing archaeologists and the future of archaeology. Surprise you? What kind of ethical issues could possibly be associated with good ole Indiana Jones? Well I've got some news for you! The ethics associated with archaeology are a lot more complicated than you would imagine. It really seems so straight forward; I mean outside of the "bad guys" and Nazi's trying to steal your artifacts what other problems could you run into? Through looking at current and past news articles, and even citing some of my own personal experiences, my blog will explore the current hot-button issues of archaeology. I will address looting, the black market and artifacts, cultural and burial practices versus excavation, targeted attacks of World Heritage sites and use of archaeologically protected sites for military camps, as well as museum displays built by stolen and controversial artifacts (like the Getty Villa).


Last semester I was introduced to the ethics of archaeology for the first time. In that class we used the book by Jason Felch and Ralph Frammolino "Chasing Aphrodite": The Hunt for Looted Antiquities at the World's Richest Museum," as a case study. Their research into the Medici and other black market ties with the Getty Museum became a spring board for us as we were catapulted into a semester long adventure attempting to find controversial archaeological issues. And then we would discuss the ethics of how we (as the future of archaeology) thought these situations should be handled, or to applaud the work of those who had made good decisions.


Anyway that's about it for now! I hope you got a good hold of your whip and fedora because this is going to be bumpier than Disneyland's Temple of the Forbidden Eye.