Skele gained, Lessons Learned

So this is going to be a duzie, but here is the cool part...I found a skeleton that was coming out of a burial! And when I say that I found it, it pretty much means that I identified a metatarsal that we found on the surface as human, and then I went to where I felt there would be more of a foot, under an ant hill. So I looked at the surface and immediately identified a phalanx, I kept pushing some dirt aside and found more phalanges. At that point I decided to stop because all of this has to go to the government for assessment. I looked at the surface a little more and found a rib, and then out of no where, right were we were standing was the complete right humerus. It had been uncovered as we had been scuffling around the site.

So, what happens when a burial is found? Well, we contact BLM, because it is on their land. The police and coroner maybe called in if the skeleton is thought to be new. Due to artifacts that we found with the skeleton (brass buttons and buckles) and the site it was located in (frying pan, tin cans, a butter knife), I would think it is historical and therefore NAGPRA won't be involved.

Anyway, I learned that I can be confident that I know what I am talking about. When my crew boss randomly picked up the metatarsal and didn't recognize it as an animal he knew of (being a zooarchaeologist), he was gonna let it go. But I could swear it was human, so I took it from him and pondered it for a long time. I knew it was human the second I saw it, but because I lack confidence in my ability to identify remains anymore, I was still not 100% sure until I found the phalanges.

Another lesson learned on this trip is that I need to speak up when I don't feel well in the field. We had a particularly hot day on Wednesday like high 90's. I was working with an all boy group who survey really really fast. Well, I started to feel a little dizzy and lightheaded, then I could feel a bit of a headache. I began to not be able to walk correctly, always tripping over things and my brain wasn't working the way it should have. I had drunk a gallon of water in 4 hours but wasn't really sweating the way one should. So from all those symptoms, I still had a hard time speaking up. Finally, after 3 failed attempts to allow the word exit my mouth, I was finally able to tell my crew chief that I was desperate and needed to go back to the car, which was now about 2 miles away. Needless to say I had to stay in for 2 days because I had gotten mild heat stroke.

This lesson was that I need to be more active in how I feel, and to not worry about what others are going to think about me being sick. No one blames me for having to stay in because of heat problems. They don't want me to die. So, I need to get over that self consciousness.

We have been surveying in Kobhe Valley outside of Eureka on BLM land for a mining project at Mount Rose. It is really beautiful. Too bad there is so much smoke from the California fires.

Kobhe Valley Floor


Sorry the film is a little fast.

Why Am I So Excited About Staring at the Ground in the Desert?

It is all sorted, and I will be returning to Washington the 30th of May in preparation for the migration.

Just in case anyone is interested in reading a little about the Great Basin, I have a wikipedia page for you.

From what I gathered from my boss, we will be surveying mines and some housing developments.

You want to know why we do these surveys? Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act states (very basically, Sorry Darby) that federal agencies have to acknowledge that historic places exist and are a non-renewable resource (or a cultural resource). Therefore, survey needs to be carried out so an Environmental Impact Statement can be submitted and SHPO (State and Tribal Historic Preservations Officers) can have their way with it...Darby knows all about this...to decide if the place needs to be preserved.

BLM of Nevada

Stuff we look for:

Historical artifacts
We record all kinds of material, as long as it is 50 years or older. I don't know what they are going to do when we get to the mass manufacturing age. It is kinda stupid to record a pop can from the late 1970's onward, plus they are everywhere.

Glass bottles, tins, clothing, leather, nails and buildings are all fair game to be recorded and mapped. The most common historical artifacts we find are garbage pits full of tin cans. Bottles are my personal favorite.
An interesting piece of information to know while staring at the ground in Gold Mining Country, is to look for tobacco tins nailed to wooden posts. These tins were used to mark mining claims. Where you find these posts, you are likely to find small tailings, the piles of gravel left over from the test pits dug to see if the site was worth mining.

Old tins

Prehistorical artifacts
We find tons of obsidian lithic scatters that, every once and a while, yield a nice projectile point. These scatters tell us a lot about the area. For instance, if the site has a high concentration of flakes and is scattered over a large area, it can be assumed that this area was a long term camp and that it was a primary area of tool production. In these areas, we find primary, secondary and tertiary flakes. If there are large stones and pinyon trees around, we may find metates and manos that were used for grinding pine nuts. If you see many bedrock metates...you have yourself a milling camp. WOO HOO!!

Projectile points

Bedrock metate


Now, who made these artifacts? There are a couple of tribes to consider. The Paiute, the Shoshone, and the Ute. I suggest a quick read over this website:
Great Basin Indians

I will now let all of this information settle in your brains and hope that you can see why I am so excited about staring at the ground in the desert this summer.