I’m spending this summer working for the Anthropology Department at OU making a documentary about an archaeological dig going on just outside of Athens as part of an Anthropology Field School.

Now, the first half of the dig is over, and I have learned so much. I feel as though many people, even photographers themselves sometimes, don’t appreciate everything that can be learned from various photo assignments and stories. From this experience, I have learned that archaeology is not as glamorous as Indiana Jones makes it out to be. As my boss for this project, Dr. Elliot Abrams, said, “Archaeology can be quite humbling when you start a new site.”

This first part of the summer has been unseasonably hot for southeastern Ohio, some days reaching 100˚F. The students dig and painstakingly file away layers of earth and time in a shadeless field, hoping to uncover the culture of the people who lived there about 1000 years ago. They scrutinize over exact measurements to map out the site. As much as archaeology is an adventure through time and a mystery about people and cultures unknown, above all, it’s a science.

I look forward to continuing to document this dig and getting the lab results, and hopefully, when it’s over, being able to understand who these people where, why they lived there, and convey that information to others.

Some of the (very few) artifacts found:

They brought in a bulldozer to make the job a little bit easier.