In the field

Due to my injury I had to cancel all my fieldwork plans for this summer. As you might imagine, fieldwork is the most exciting part of being an archaeologist. Getting outside, getting dirty, looking for the answers to research questions, finding things, and making new friends are just a few of the things that make fieldwork so much fun. Today I had an opportunity to go into the field to observe a magnetometry survey. I was planning to do the same type of work this summer but my leg will not allow it. Even so, it was nice to be in the field, high in the still snow-capped mountains, enveloped in the scent of sagebrush. I sat in the back of the truck and watched from afar, venturing out every now and then to practice putting weight on my leg and to chat with my friends. At one point we tested the magnetic properties of my steel implants by removing all my metal-bearing accessories (crutches, brace, and shoes) and walking over me with the magnetometer. Good news: my implants did not affect the machine’s readings, which means that even if my they are still in place next summer I can do magnetometry without worrying about interference from the screws and plates.

As we drove up and back to our field site today we passed frozen lakes and crossed high mountain passes covered in snow. I felt an eerie sense of going back in time, back to the winter, back to the day I broke my leg. If only I could turn back time by driving higher and higher in the mountains then I could undo my fall and rewrite the story of my life. On the day I broke my leg we were supposed to go to lunch with some friends but they canceled so we kept skiing. I wonder, what if the lunch was not canceled, would I have broken my leg anyway but on some later ski trip? It is no use to ask such questions but they arise from time to time. At least for a while today I felt like my old self, arising early to go into the field, traveling to a remote location, wearing all my field gear, getting dirty, and returning home exhausted but happy.