Castles and Coprolites

Guest post! Despite having similar theoretical backgrounds, it is obviously clear that the methods and technologies used in maritime archaeology differ drastically from terrestrial research. Though volumes have been written on my particular discipline, I wanted to present a more personal and perhaps more accessible example of what life on the water is truly like.      As with any field archaeological project our day starts early, typically before sunrise. We usually rise somewhere around   5 am and prepare for the day. We arrive at the local marina where our survey vessel is currently stowed, in this particular case we have the luxury of keeping the vessel in the water and don’t have to launch and recover it on a daily basis. Supplies are refilled, boat engines are checked and the equipment is prepped. For the current survey we are utilizing a side-scan sonar and magnetometer, supported by an echo-sounder to gather bathymetric data (water de...

The not-so-glamorous bit afterwards It's been rather quiet for me on the blog front in October especially after the flurry of postings in September. One reason is that I've been away in the US again, not for fieldwork or conferencing (the usual excuses) but to spend some time with my husband, a lovely Oregonion who is currently living in Florida and working along the gulf coast doing maritime archaeology. That means he gets paid to go sailing around on a boat in the lovely warm waters of the gulf, occassionally diving on shipwrecks and swimming with dolphins. Seriously. Suddenly my days in the lab playing with chemicals and ancient poop seems way less exciting. So, not too much  to report from me; I've just been getting on with article corrections for a monster 30 page submission to Geoarchaeology (now accepted, hurrah!), finishing a new article on external areas at Catalhoyuk , and a multitude of writings and data analysis for the Ecology of Crusading project. I to...