Week 3: Big Questions
The people who I work with in the field all have very different personalities which creates an interesting team dynamic. Although this is the case, our continuous sarcastic quips and collective humor allow us to connect with each other and create a fun productive environment that I look forward to being in everyday. Dr. Jones, our supervisor, also takes part and helps to keep a laid-back feeling in the field while still pushing professionalism and discipline. Caroline, his assistant, graduated from Wake two years ago. Her young age makes us 19-23 year old students more comfortable to ask questions when we may not know how to do something or what something is that we find while digging.
The highlight of my week was that I finally was able to have a full week in the field and by doing this have solidified my love for archaeology and have further confirmed for myself that this is what I want to continue to do after graduation. A major reason why I decided to attend this field school was to make sure that field archaeology is something that I want to do as a career. Through this week I have very much confirmed that it is, and hopefully the next few weeks will further affirm this.
However, a major question that I had related to continuing a career in archaeology this week was why I am doing it in the first place. An unsettling feeling came over the field school as we uncovered a Native American house floor from 600-800 years ago. Who are we as descendants of colonizers to step foot in the ancient homes of the colonized who’s descendants continue to suffer from our ancestor’s actions? How can I as a white male come to terms with scientifically studying a past culture through their remains while their descendants have little claim to this place since it is now all farm field owned by a white family? Although these big questions are likely unanswerable, they are important to ask so that modern Native Americans are given rights over the way that their past is viewed and studied. It is important to keep modern descendants involved at every step of excavation as to make sure that their ancestor’s stories are respectfully told. One of my favorite things about the field school is how diverse it is. We have many students with different backgrounds, genders, sexualities, and ethnicities which allow us to look at these ideas from different perspectives. Through looking at these ideas through different lenses, I believe that we will become more conscious of what we are doing in the field. I believe that the importance of archaeology is that we are able to tell the stories of those who have not been able to do so before, whether due to colonialization, oppression, or discrimination, but it is important to keep the people themselves involved in the work so that these stories are told accurately and not from a colonizer point of view.
