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A (less serious) Portrait of the Archaeologist as a Young Woman. The more substantial blog is here: http://middlesavagery.wordpress.com

Ceiling tile patterns from Egyptian tombs

egypt archaeology anthropology
"

Thou shalt not lie about resources in reports.

Thou shalt remember the economics of the situation (archaeology is not the only consideration when dealing with limited development budgets).

Thou shalt focus on one project at a time and not spread thine resources too thinly.

Thou shalt meet deadlines.

Thou shalt work with other professions as a team and with mutual respect.

Thou shalt finish what thou startest.

Thou shalt decide together with the public what is significant.

Thou shalt not forget that archaeology is exciting.

Thou shalt know the laws.

Thou shalt create a climate for enforcement of ethical conduct.

Thou shalt keep an open mind and continue learning.

"
The Ten Commandments of CRM, Melanie Atwell and Tom Wheaton
archaeology crm archaeology crm
“Pottery image of a child. Arms Missing.” 

“Pottery image of a child. Arms Missing.” 

archaeology artifact
“To get to the bottom of this deep pit was no small achievement and we were thankful to come out of it alive, except the workmen who thoroughly enjoyed the job and assumed that it was perfectly safe. (…) Looking back on this pit, we remember it with some pride as a considerable achievement and it is certainly the deepest sounding ever made anywhere in western Asia.” - Max Mallowan, recalling digging a wildly unsafe deep sounding (~27m) at Nineveh.

“To get to the bottom of this deep pit was no small achievement and we were thankful to come out of it alive, except the workmen who thoroughly enjoyed the job and assumed that it was perfectly safe. (…) Looking back on this pit, we remember it with some pride as a considerable achievement and it is certainly the deepest sounding ever made anywhere in western Asia.” - Max Mallowan, recalling digging a wildly unsafe deep sounding (~27m) at Nineveh.

safety first workmen abuse nineveh mallowan archaeology
Max Mallowan, Barbara Campbell Thompson and Agatha Christie visiting Nimrud.

Max Mallowan, Barbara Campbell Thompson and Agatha Christie visiting Nimrud.

archaeology mallowan nimrud agatha christie
"After all these years I still have a vivid memory of entering the house which was to be my home for the next five months. Surrounded by barbed-wire fences, as a protection against marauders, the approach was through a walled open courtyard flanked by the Antiquities Room and the Architect’s office; the entrance was shielded by a veranda. The bright light of the hissing pressure lamps held up by our two lean Arab servants revealed a welcoming house, compacted with ancient burnt bricks gathered from the surface of te mound. The youngest brick was twenty-five centuries old, but of such quality that after we had finished the dig at Ur the house was picked up piecemeal and moved bodily to Eridu, twelve miles away."
Max Mallowan
archaeology dig houses architecture ur eridu
"Archaeology is not a science, it’s a vendetta."
Sir Mortimer Wheeler 
mortimer wheeler wheeler archaeology quote
richiedcruz: Realities of the job: Campfires No matter how smelly and dirty I feel. Or how rough the day. There is nothing like a job that lets you end the day by sitting around a campfire drinking beer.

richiedcruz:

Realities of the job: Campfires

No matter how smelly and dirty I feel. Or how rough the day. There is nothing like a job that lets you end the day by sitting around a campfire drinking beer.

archaeology crm camping camp fire beer
"Time’s wheel runs back or stops: potter and clay endure."
Robert Browning, “Rabbi Ben Ezra,” 1864
pottery quote archaeology
"I have heard it said, by serious-minded archaeologists, that the perfect excavation would be one in which nothing at all was found."
Geoffrey Bibby, Looking for Dilmun
archaeology quotes