So, my regular readership (all 7 of you) will recall that on Week 0, I made mention of the blog post "Recipe for Surviving an Archaeological Excavation," by Marielle Velander, specifically that I considered it to be somewhat incomplete in its advice. Certainly, nothing that she said is wrong particularly the point about hydration, (drink water kiddos, if you don't you'll die), but for those with less sunny dispositions as yours truly, I certainly felt that there were a few important points worth adding. I doubt that these will apply to all people in all circumstances, but the following points are, I feel, solid advice for not being miserable for the entire dig.
1: Make sure you're properly prepared: This is the first thing and probably the most important. I'm not gonna go over the standard kit, as your excavation leaders should've given you the info you need in that regard, but I am going to emphasize things that came up a lot for me: There's gonna be a lot of physical wear on your body, especially in the first week or so, so make sure you're properly equipped to deal with it. First, prevention: make sure your shoes and socks fit very well, know where the friction points are and moleskin those places up. Blisters are not an acceptable excuse for absence, and they make the work x1000 worse, especially on your feet. Likewise, make sure you dress appropriately. Long, light and loose (within reason) is your best bet for staying cool and free of sunburns, followed by religious application of sunscreen (even if you're dark skinned. It's not gonna kill ya, and nobody thinks you're tough). Next: antiperspirant/talcum powder: sweating is fine and even good, but you gotta make sure it doesn't stick around after you're done. Finally: repair: bandages, gauze, medical tape antiseptic ointment, rash and burn ointment. Most of the time, you won't need them. When you do, it's a pain to get them after you need them, even when you're in a big city.
1a: Just an addendum: you're going to forget something, or you're gonna need something that you weren't expecting. Make sure you're prepared for your lack of preparation. Yes, that does actually make sense. Just think about it.
2: Know your surroundings: Don't be an idiot like me and take a week to figure out how to feed yourself properly. Scope out your surroundings, know when and where you can get money, food, medicine, toiletries and privacy. Also: make sure you know where to go before you have to be there. Being late on the first day isn't very fun.
3: The work is supposed to suck: If you feel miserable when you're digging for the first time, good, that's normal. Unless you're really in shape or are an obsessive, early morning gardener, the physical and mental demands on your body are going to be very different from what you have experienced in the past. The body is a stubborn beast, and doesn't really like to do things differently than what it normally does or expend too much energy. If you find yourself dying, you look around and all the vets are acting like this is nothing, don't worry about it too much and just focus on making it to the end of the day/break/the next 4 minutes. They felt the exact same thing you are now, probably. Or at least I did, and it turned out alright for me, so you're in good company. Just power through it as much as possible, because at the end of the day, it's really not that hard of work. Your body just thinks it is because it lacks perspective.
4: Pace yourself: Look archaeological with discretion. It's better to slow down, do things properly and stop when you're done than to try to keep up with 3-4th year vets. Be very clear what you're supposed to be doing, and if you don't know don't keep doing things. Learn to use sweeping as a breather. Unless you're sweeping for an actual reason, like clearing the site at the beginning of the day, cleaning during/after passes, or sweeping for photoshoots, then how well you're sweeping isn't as important as keeping yourself warm and limber for when you have something to do. There will be people who can and likely will outpace you and you don't need to keep up with them. My own roommate ran an ultra-marathon over the second weekend. On accident. On an empty stomach. And showed up on Monday fresh as daisies. But for people who aren't insane, the fact of the matter is that once the day ends and all the washing up is done, you don't have to do anything, and most of the time you aren't expected to do anything. Take advantage of this. Your poor supervisors actually have to keep working, so it always could be worse.
5: Drink Responsibly There will probably be some sort of drinking party every day of the week, and if you're up for it, by all means go ahead. From what I've heard, though, digging with a hangover is basically one of the worst things that can happen to someone, so go easy on the bottle during the work week, eh? This is especially true for all you law-abiding underclassmen: just because you can legally drink every day of the week, doesn't mean you should. Save it for the weekend.
5: Hydration: Literally just stay hydrated all of the time. Yes, even now. Yes, right now. Go get a glass of water.
6: You'll be done eventually: Despite how long it feels at the start, excavations don't last very long. I was at it only for two months, and that's a marathon by archaeological standards. If you enjoy the work, savor it while it lasts. If you hate it: it's really not as long as you think it is, and if you stick it out to the end, good ol' effort justification will make you think you enjoyed it. And if you can look past the oppressive blur of hard labor, you'll probably find that archaeologists are a real decent lot. Quality folks, archaeologists.
Well, that's about everything. I for one have enjoyed the time we've shared. Me, rambling in run-on sentences about things vaguely related to archaeology. You, patiently waiting entire blog posts for me to get to the point. It's been real fun, but our little trip down memory lane has ended. So, for the final time, I will bid you farewell. And seriously: dehydration is really bad for you, just get a drink of water already.
Michael
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