MSU Digital Archaeology Conference 2015

A few weeks ago I learned of an Institute on Digital Archaeology program, hosted by Michigan State University. I submitted my application materials and I am happy to say that I received word that I was accepted into the program. I am one of twenty participants who will receive funding to attend the conference and complete the program. There are an additional ten participants who will not receive funding.

We will need to develop a capstone project which will utilize various media tools to produce and promote a project that focuses on an ongoing project in archaeology. I am now working on a project located here, which focuses on a historic tavern site in the Pinelands of New Jersey. MSU requires that we provide monthly updates about the status of this project on their blog. Once the website is ready for official launch, I will post an update here. Stay tuned!

CNEHA 2014

This year I agreed to be the Registrar for our CNEHA conference. Boy was that a busy, busy, BUSY task! Thankfully, CNEHA is a smaller conference so it was perhaps the best one to start out with as a Registrar. I collected all of the applications and payment receipts, tracked their check ins and purchases. The registration desk ran pretty smoothly and we had the largest turn out since the conference was held in Williamsburg, pretty great!  Again, saw some great conferences and met some new faces. I was a little busy running between the registration desk and paper session, but it was well worth it. I stayed with a friend in Long Branch and was able to squeeze in some much needed social time.

MAAC 2014

I was really excited that MAAC was only 20 minutes from my house this year. There were several well done papers, including a paper that focused on geochemical analysis on archaeological sites. I didn't buy any books this year because Mike Madden the book salesman was not there. I usually bring home several bags from his table alone, I can't help myself. As always, it was great to recharge my academic and professional thinking with great papers, great conversation and great after-dinner drinks. I had a lovely time. MAAC is a very student friendly conference and we had a great student turn out. It was wonderful to meet some of the new graduate students attending Monmouth and to learn of their experiences in the program. I had never heard about conferences as an Undergraduate, that is probably my only negative critique I can provide about my Undergraduate experience. UVA was a much larger school though and I had a very large anthropology program. It is possible that I would have learned of conference opportunities if I had reached out to an adviser. But, as a student, if you don't know something is available to you then you don't always know to ask about it. I'm glad there are a few undergrads that can start networking early, it's so important these days. They seemed to be having a good time too.

Hazzmat Certified

I completed my 40 hour hazzwopper certification course. This means I can work on hazmat archaeological projects. Thankfully, our level of hazmat will be lower level D which has the least amount of risk. I got to wear the tyvek suit at the end of class with the respirator mask. I looked a little bit like an alien, or like I just walked off the set of ET. It's been a snowy week, I'm happy the class is over with so I don't have to drive on the ice any more.

Learning New Applications

In the last couple of months I have managed to learn more about ArcMap than I ever could in an introduction GIS course. It really is true, what they say about academics and the workforce: you'll learn most of what you need to know on the job. Very true!  I've learned how to use Corel Draw as well, which is similar to a dumbed down version of Photoshop. We have so many maps here, it's unbelievable. I am officially a pro at georeferencing historic maps now. I love seeing where things used to be and how the landscape has evolved over time. I may need to implement some georeferencing in future conference presentations. Hmmm....

GIS Mapping

I'm settling into my full-time position here at RGA. Learning the ropes of mapping and database management. I can only present limited details about my actual "work" since so many of my projects are on-going. I will say, we are very busy in the summertime. People will be taking vacation soon and I'll need to be familiar with all of the programs we use here. I might be setting myself a new record...

ASNJ Presentation

Recently, I was delighted to present a crunched down version of my thesis to the Archaeological Society of New Jersey. I've recently joined the organization and I will be taking over the management of their website. I have quite a few goals in the upcoming year, such as figuring out how to synch our website with Facebook so that every time we update the page- a notice is dropped onto our facebook account for our viewers. I'd like to increase our hits and expand our member base.

I was invited to present on my topic at the last minute, one of the pre-scheduled speakers could not attend. My talk was from 2PM to 2:30PM. I gave a bit of an overview about my project, introduced my typology and provided a few closing conclusions. The presentation was well received and I was very pleased to have such positive feedback. It's good to know that there is an interest in equine archaeology. As an equestrian and archaeologist, I believe I bring a few different perspectives to the table on this subject matter. I would like to expand my interests to include all of equine archaeology in the Mid Atlantic. I want to look at more hardware types, read up on any potential horse burials and research early veterinary practices. I believe there would be a lot of interest in this subject matter. For now, I will take some time off to relax and reflect on my work. I will admit that I'm just a little burned out from the thesis writing process.