Last weekend we took a field trip down to Pachacamac, a site/tourist attraction to the south of Lima. I’m very familiar with the site: we had a tour there in 2004 and on my second trip I worked there with some of the radiologists. This time I took the students… Read more“A Weekend Excursion to Pachacamac”
Category: anthropology
The World’s Greatest Drug Czar
Coca, though it is a forbidden to even bring a tea bag’s worth to the United States*, is actually a folk cure-all that has no narcotic effects without extensive processing. In rural communities, coca is one of the elements that sponsor social cohesion as well as spirituality. An ethnography, The… Read more“The World’s Greatest Drug Czar”
The First Field Trip
The last few days in Peru have been action-packed and I’ve barely had time to even think about blogging. I have a little bit of free time now, so let’s talk about our first field trip! Bob had arranged for us to tag along with some Peruvian students on a… Read more“The First Field Trip”
I Just Found Something Called Google Earth
Just kidding. But lately I’ve been using it to check out places in Peru. Some of the field school students wanted to know where their hostel is located. I scanned over the city of Lima until I found the right place. I guess you can’t tell much about crime and… Read more“I Just Found Something Called Google Earth”
Back to Peru
This summer I’ll be going back to Peru. Yay! It’s been in the planning stage for a while now but now it’s all coming together. My advisor Bob Benfer is holding two archaeological field schools this summer: on on bioarchaeology (one of my specialities) and archaeoastronomy. I can’t stay around… Read more“Back to Peru”
Archaeoporn!
The Lost Tomb of Jesus documentary that the Discover Channel aired then subsequently countered and suppressed had one upside for archaeology: the popularization of the term “archaeoporn” to describe the documentary. It was actually said on a panel discussion that aired after the actual show. While this new and exciting… Read more“Archaeoporn!”
The High Price of Number Crunching
I do a lot of work in statistics. In fact, almost all of my work involves statistics. I don’t collect data in the field. I don’t do things in a lab. I sit in front of my computer working with data sets and spreadsheets. Lately I’ve been doing a lot… Read more“The High Price of Number Crunching”
5,000 Years to Hold You
The Daily Mail has an interesting article on an archaeological discovery: skeletons of a male and female in an embrace. Since the discovery is near Mantua, one of the locations in Romeo and Juliet, they’re really playing up how romantic and touching the find is. But read a little further… Read more“5,000 Years to Hold You”
Taj Majal vs. The Eiffel Tower. FIGHT!
Kristin and I had a debate over what the seven wonders of the world are. We agreed on the easy ones like the Library at Alexandria and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon but we weren’t sure if one of them was a temple to Zeus (which one was) or to… Read more“Taj Majal vs. The Eiffel Tower. FIGHT!”
Go #54!
My advisor Robert Benfer made Discover Magazine‘s top 100 science discoveries of 2006! He is number 54 on the list, not a bad showing at all. Bob made the list for finding the oldest known site in the New World that was used for astronomical observations. These observations were important… Read more“Go #54!”