Chaco! Catwalk! Another whole pot!

I must admit: I have really enjoyed supervising a field school, and I also really enjoy going on field trips... but I'll be supremely happy when I return to Tucson next week and no longer have to drive a 15-passenger van.  Last weekend we went on a mondo-sized field trip, which included visits to Zuni Pueblo, Chaco Canyon, El Malpais Nat'l Monument, and Acoma Pueblo.  It'd been years since I'd visited Chaco, so this was pretty exciting for me... AND Josh came to visit and join us on the trip, which made it even better!

Of course I had to take the obligatory Chacos-Over-Chaco photo, and there was definitely some red wine in a nalgene, although unfortunately that did not make it into the photographic record.  We had beautifully dark skies for star-watching, and slept under the stars without tents (which is the only way to go when you're at Chaco, if you ask me).

Josh stayed around for an extra day after we returned to camp, and I tried to ensure that he finally got a basic idea of what exactly it is that I do out here in the dirty dirt.  He screened for artifacts and helped us around the site, and also produced this really awesome time-lapse video of my crew and I working all day long.  Check out the video, it's very cool.

Yesterday we had a day off, and I took some of the students up to a place called The Catwalk.  It's an old mining operation set back into a beautiful canyon, and the historic trails and log flumes have been turned into hiking paths.  We found some deep pools and spent the morning lounging in the cold water-- I probably could have stayed there for the entire day if we'd not had to go into town to do our bi-weekly laundry.

And... drumroll please... I found another whole pot!  Yep, that's right.  This is officially the coolest hole-in-the-ground that I have ever dug.  I'm not going to post a photo of it right now, but I may do so later.  Just know that it is beautiful, completely intact, and awesome.  And considering that today was the last day of digging in my unit, it was the best way possible to close things off.

The next few days will be busy with paperwork, maps, and cleaning up camp; then we head home July 5th.  I've had a blast out here, but I have to say that I'm looking forward to getting back to my shower and my bed and my dogs and my boy.  And probably after about a week of being home I'll be ready to do it all over again.

Mustaches, Karaoke, and Whole Pots. Makes perfect sense.

It's been a fun few days out here at Mule Creek.  Last week all of the girls decided to join the men in their quest to avoid shaving for the entire field school by showing up to work in the morning with a fancy assortment of mustaches.  It's amazing what you can have shipped out here to the middle of nowhere...

Friday night, I organized a Karaoke Night for everyone at camp, and it was a great success.  Unfortunately I was too busy forcing students to sing so I didn't get any great photos of it, but we partied late into the night and I of course broke out my best rendition of 'Come Sail Away' just for the occasion.  Saturday was my first (and only!) day off during the duration of the field school, so I took advantage of it by going for a long bike ride, taking a nap, and attempting to relax.  But then I tried to run away from a dust devil and tripped over some nasty broken tent stakes and manged to seriously mangle my right big toe.  Oh well.  At least the day was mostly relaxing.

Today was probably our most exciting day in the field thus far.  Every time I think that my excavation unit can't get any cooler, it does!  Today we found... drum roll please...

A whole pot!!!!

This baby was just hanging out in our burnt room, and undoubtedly has lots of good stuff still inside of it (we don't take out the fill inside, we leave it so that the analysts back in the lab can get to the pollen and figure out what kinds of things were in there 800 years ago).  My crew and I all took turns working to dig around the vessel until we were able to easily lift it out (we also removed the nicely preserved burned roof beam next to it), and aside from a couple of cracks on one side, the whole thing was completely intact when we took it out.  These students have no idea how lucky they are to have dug some of the things we've found in this room.

More archaeology! And a bear!

It's been an exciting few days!  We took a field trip to the Mimbres Valley last weekend to visit some other archaeological sites, and camped out at a nearby ranch.  And two bears decided to come check out our dinner!  I only got a photo of the baby, but the mom was close by.  They retreated quickly and never showed up again, but it was a strange combination of scary and awesome to see them up close.

AND... we are digging through a room filled with burned corn!!  And we found some pieces of a basket!!  These are both pretty spectacular things that very few people ever get to see underground, so I feel pretty lucky We dug through the floor of the second story, and are now digging through the fill of the first floor room below.  Apparently this first floor room was filled with corn cobs (probably as a store room), and then at some point it burnt down, carbonizing everything in the room.  So everything is very fragile and crumbly, but very well preserved and sparkly!  This rocks.

Pile 'o corn

A piece of a basket!!

My job rocks.

Some more photos from around camp and the site.

(By the way, I have had only one Diet Coke since leaving Tucson on May 29th.  And I'm still alive!)

Checking out the site at sunset.

Amy Gail tried to take my spot driving the van... but her legs were a little too short.

Leftover from mutton stew the other night...

Getting her started early.

"The blower will make for a good photo."  (We use the leaf blower to clear out the loose dirt from units so that we can take prettier photos of the surfaces.  Sometimes we also use them for fun.)

Yes, I am checkered, flowered, AND polka-dotted... it's the field, I'll dress how I want.

Learning to flint knap in our new amazing fire pit.

Mule Creek!

I'm apparently a pretty crappy field correspondent, for which I apologize.  But I finally took some photos!  And I promise to take more this week.  I'm dirty, and exhausted, and having a blast.

My minions.

A big hole!  With some chunks of fallen roof!  And rocks!

Students hard at work.  We've got five crews working on different areas of the site.

Gorgeous morning bike ride on my day off. (This gives you no idea how hilly it is here.  It's REALLY hilly.)

I know this is going to freak out Mom, but this is our camp snake and he's (supposedly) harmless.  The students named him Bubba and have been carrying him around every now and then.

Our hosts cooked us dinner last night... which consisted of a freshly butchered sheep.  I ate homemade tortillas and peach-blackberry pie and left the mutton to everybody else.

Here is the link to our field camp blog.  Hopefully we'll have photos and updates on a semi-regular basis, so check it out if you are interested.  I'll post more of my personal photos soon- which will mostly consist of more holes in the ground and maybe some pics of the alpacas and goats.