A Day in the Lab with Mr. Armstrong

OR:  TOUR OF THE BONE CAVE

When I tell people that my hubby's an archeologist, I can see it in their eyes.  They think:  Indiana Jones!  Or:  The pyramids!  Or:  Mayan blood sacrifice!  So then I quote trusty ole' Indy, (from one of my favorite childhood movies, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) "70 percent of all archeology is done in the library.  Research.  Reading."

Basically what I'm trying to tell them is that it ain't glamorous.  In fact, the entire time we've been here Aaron has been holed up in his lab ... so ... I thought I'd give you a little tour!

Here it is, in all its Bone Cave Glory:

6 days a week, usually for 8-9 hours a day, he's been here, doing this:

I tease him all the time, about being uber nerdy and bone-obsessed, but the fact of the matter is that he's worked damn hard.  I mean look at the size of the fragments that he's working with:

What is he doing with them exactly?   As I first explained many months ago, Aaron studies the complexity of human diet in the Middle Stone Age, specifically how (and if) we used small animals and how that impacted our diet, economies and culture.

He studies these tiny bones (thousands and thousands of them) under a microscope, looking for evidence of human interaction (butchering, burning, etc.)  When he finds something, he photographs it and catalogs it. 

It's painstaking work, as I've come to learn.  I've helped him a few times in the lab: drawing, sorting, numbering and cataloging bones.  His results thus far have been really interesting, so all the time in the lab has been worth it.  In a few month's time, Aaron will pack up his lab and we'll be heading home so he can finish his PhD dissertation.  I just hope he doesn't have separation anxiety. :p

So there you go, a quick tour and explanation of what it really means to be an archeologist.  It's much more about microscopes and patience than playing in the dirt with all the other dirty kids archeologists.

And I know this is all nerdy.  In fact, quite recently I met someone and explained Aaron's work and got my favorite response ever:  A completely pretenseless, unapologetic and un-ironic, "That's weird."  But that's all right.  I'm weird.  And I'm really, really proud of my weird archeologist dude.