Last Full Day in Peru : August 26, 2009

Hello Dear Readers,

Today is one of those "ending" days. Valerie and the girls left for Connecticut this afternoon. It was much harder than I thought to say goodbye. I have grown so close to these girls, and it's terribly sad to realize I won't be working with them again. Endings are a reminder of how memorable people/places/experiences can be, and how surprisingly deep they can affect you.

I've met and been lucky enough to work with some absolutely fabulous people. I can definitely say I've been blessed with the "luck'o'the Irish." haha. How else can I explain the amazing experiences I've had and people I've met? I definitely feel changed, but how those changes will manifest, you, Dear Readers, will have to assess yourselves; i can't pinpoint them myself.


In summation, a few reflections:

Archaeology:

You know, I'm not really sure what I expected for the field school. I had no idea that Sacsaywaman was a massive Archaeological Park, or that it was a park at all. I thought we'd be excavating at the base of the fortress itself. The fortress was my laptop background for a few months. Haha! I also thought the trowels would be larger, not sure why. I mean, you'd think I'd have googled an archaeological trowel before I left, but no, I didn't; and was surprise at how tiny they are.
Excavation was definitely more tedious than I expected, and I had anticipated tedium. it was definitely dirtier than I expected. It's much easier to dig as a kid, when you have no purpose but the digging itself. We you're actually digging with the secret hopes of uncovering something hugely exciting, it really dampens the excitement. I mean, I loved digging in the dirt as a kid. Now? It's definitely lost all child-like glamour, if dirt can have glamour, that is.
We rean into a big problem with our original site as well. Basically, the ISIC wouldn't give us the appropriate permits we needed to break ground at the site we're were supposed to excavate, El Balon de Diablo (the Devil's balcony). I guess that's politics for ya. Talk about a bummer. I walked to the site one weekend, and it was absolutely beautiful. So, we were working on a friend of Alexei's site, at Qochapata, which is still in The Sacsaywaman park. It was an Inca ceremonial site. several structures had already been uncovered which was cool because one of the reasons I chose this projet was because I thougth I'd be working near some still-standing architecture. I thought it'd feel like I was really there, not excavating in some empty field.
I also definitely came to this field school with the Indiana Jones ideology.I expected to find something on the Raiders-of-the-Lost-Ark-scale. In actuality, it was the exact opposite. I did one week of digging in a trench & the last 2 weeks excavating an Inca burial. I got set up with the burial because I had a background in human osteology, and as I want to pursue a career in Forensic Anthropology, this was a great opportunity to gain some experience with bones in the field. There was a team of three of us: Me, Christina, & Jose. I'd say it was even more tedious than working in the trench for obvious reasons. We had to go very slowly to avoid damaging the human remains, and to avoid moving anything out of it's original context (we already knew that this had been a severely disturbed burial, totally out of it's primary context, but there are protocols to follow.) Unfortunately, it was a 2ndary burial and the bones were in despicable condition. there were no articulated bones.

In my own personal ruminations about Archaeology, I've decided it's about digging for the truth in the dirt, - oh yea, i know that sounds cliche - digging up the truth about past civilizations and answering questions and maybe finding that those people weren't as different from us as our preconceived notions might have led us to believe. Or, conversely, that they were radically different. I can to Peru with the intention to find "stuff." It sorta blew my idea of what archaeology was when on the first day at the dig site Tom, the T.A., said that Archaeology is about gathering information, not about finding "stuff." Stuff isn't necessarily going to give us the information we want, or need.
Archaeology is also about patience. If you don't have patience, I don't see how it's possible to be an Archaeologist. I also believe that Archaeology is about making connections with the past, and finding "lost" information. To quote Lara Croft, "Everything lost is meant to be found." ( I'm a total Tomb Raider geek.)




over & out.
meg...

2nd to last day in Peru: August 25, 2009

Hello Dear Readers,

Today, Adriana, Diana, Megan, & I wandered around Cusco for the last time. Endings are always sad, but it was great to just walk around with them for a last time with no agenda. We wandered in to the hip barrio (neighborhood) San Blas, which is off the Plaza de Armas. We ended up in this little coffee shoppe called La Paccha. The other girls had lattes, and I had iced tea. it was so refreshing & my first glass here in Peru! It actually had foam, definitely not like iced tea in the USA. Diana and Megan played chess, and Adriana and I played several games of Rumi. It was so fun to just hang out. The place had some great Ambient music, and a charming atmosphere. It was a great way to spend one of my last days in Cusco, relaxing in a country that has come to feel like home.

Last Day in the Lab : Monday, August 24, 2009

Today was our last day in the lab! We were done with our last burial, and had everything packed up by 10:30am. We finished a whole day and a half earlier!! We're all really proud of ourselves with our progress. It was exciting to finish, but sad at the same time. I've enjoyed this project so much. I wonder what I'm going to do when I get back home...i mean I've been working with bones for 8hrs a day for 4 weeks...I'm going to be really bored. haha. It's weird to be done. Analyzing bones has been my entire life, and I'm happy to find that I'm eager to pursue more endeavors like this. It makes me realise that I'm heading in the right direction with my major and future career. After switching my major multiple times, and feeling the anxiety that comes with indecisiveness, it's a relief to have found the right path for me.

We finished the research with a subadult. The picture associated with this post is the last burial we analyzed. As you can tell from the cranium, it's been modified. This is an extreme example of cranial vault modification at a young age.

I feel such a huge sense of accomplishment now that I'm done with the research. We analyzed over 60 individuals, and washed/ did bone inventory on an insane amount more!! Talk about a busy summer. This is such a huge part of Andean Bioarchaeology, and to realise that I've contributed a significant amount to furthering our knowledge of how past Andean peoples lived and died, is such an excitig feeling. And, to be able to participate in this as an Undergraduate is even more staggering. If you had asked me a year ago what I thought I'd be doing, I couldn't even being to formulate an answer, much less an answer involving Osteology research.
W

Working in the Lab : Sunday, Aug 23, 2009

Well, today we worked in the lab again. This makes 7 days in a row. Not that I'm complaining; on the contrary, I'm trying to illustrate just how dedicated we all are to this research! Since our time in Peru is coming to an end rather quickly, we're all a little worried about getting all of the burials analyzed before Wednesday. Honestly, us girls might be more anxious than Valerie, which is saying something! haha.
We made some serious progress though, and just whipped through several burials. We've all improved so much over these past weeks, that instead of doing 3-4 burials a day, we're hitting 8 burials a day!! That shows fantastic progress. It's exciting to realise how much we've improved, especially for me. I feel like I was at a disadvantage at the beginning of this research. I mean, I hadn't taken Osteology for awhile, and I didn't know how to identify various pathologies...and now, I'm an expert! haha, just kidding, but I'm an expert compared to where I was at the beginning of August.

August 21 - 22 2009

August 21, 2009

Today we were back in the house-lab, analyzing as many individuals as possible. We had a full day, working from 9am – 6pm! We, of our own volition, decided to stay more than a half hour later. We are the best students a professor could ask for. ☺ Us girls are, honestly, slightly anxious about finishing all of the analyses on time. We have a lot of individuals to get through.

August 22, 2009

Today we worked a half-day in the lab. What?! Working on a Saturday!? I know, but that’s how dedicated we all are. We decided to do some photo-ing of various pathologies (i.e. fractures, bone infections, etc) & do the Data Analysis of 2 individuals, just to get a bit ahead…we ended up doing 3 individuals! We just blew through them. We all have improved so much; everything is becoming second nature.
Arranging Bones anatomically? PuhLezzz. As easy as breathing
Siding bones? I could do it blindfolded.
Distinguishing perimortem vs. Postmortem fractures? No problem.
Identifying bone infections & diseases? Eazy peazy.
Personally, I’ve advanced from a 1 to a 10 as far as my bone knowledge is concerned. It’s exciting for me to realize how much more I know after only 3.5 weeks of doing this research. But, it’s exactly what I needed to do to become better- immerse myself in Osteology for 8hrs a day for 22 days.

August 20, 2009

August 20, 2009

Today, Thursday, we had the day off! This was because Valerie was getting interviewed for a program that National Geographic is filming about Machupicchu, called “Machupicchu: Decoded.” Yea, it’s definitely cheesy. But that’s not the point. So, Valerie talked about the Machupicchu burials she’s worked on and the trepanations found in those individuals, etc. The program will air in February I think. It’s so exciting! I can’t wait to see her when it airs!
Also, Elva, the head of the INC bone lab – the one we worked at for about a week and a half – took us out for tea as a thank you for all of our hard work. Without us, she’d be left to wash and inventory the bones with just one other person, so she was definitely grateful that we were there. We went to The Tea Rooms, this really neat restaurant here in Cusco. The restaurant was divided in to several adjoining “rooms” that were differently themed. It was so unique! The tea we had, Darjeeling, was absolutely wonderful. We also had a three-tiered dessert tray filled with mini sandwiches, cookies, regular&chocolate cheesecake, carrotcake and strawberries! (see picture. Warning: Pavlov response might be triggered.) Everything was PERFECTION. It made for a great, unexpected end to our work in the INC Lab.

August 17 - 19 2009

August 17, 2009 – August 18, 2009

Monday and Tuesday of this week we were still at the INC washing and inventorying more bones. We were supposed to return to the home-lab on Monday, but there were more burials that we had to get through at the INC first.

August 19, 2009

Today we were back at the home-lab. I’m not going to lie, it was nice not having to wash bones for 8 hours a day. After awhile, my back would start to ache from bending over all day.
The goal for the rest of the time in Peru is to finish analyzing the Chokepukio burials. We have about 35 more to do…and it takes awhile to get through each one… we’re going to have to work rapidly.
Today I also tried my hand at cranial reconstruction. The picture associated with this blog is the result of my hour of labor. It's much harder than it looks.

August 14, 2009

August 14, 2009

Today, we “got the day off” from working at the INC. Instead, Me, Adriana, and Megan accompanied Tofa and Melissa to Chokepukio – the site of the burials that we’re analyzing in the house-lab. They basically devoted half their day to walking us around the site! Take about two awesome women.
Melissa and Tofa are ceramic experts that are sharing lab space with us at the lab-house. They’re colleagues of Valerie. Tofa, I found out, is an author, who has her first book coming out in October! How exciting! We had a fun chat in the car to Chokepukio about the Writing-World. Melissa was one of the lead excavators at this site, and the site had been excavated for the past 10 years.
It was about a 35min car ride – we rode in an old VW van, driven my our resident “chauffeur” Froy – to the site. It was amazing to be able to actually walk around the site the burials we’re analyzing are from. What’s more, we essentially got a private tour of the ruins from one of the excavators WITHOUT all the tourists! It was just us 5 out there. Melissa took us through all the rooms/units, explained everything, & showed us where the burials had been found…and an area where the found the remains of several sacrificed children!! It was determined that they were child sacrifices based on the fact that all interred children were of the same age & buried at the same time. I guess it’s possible that there was a plague/disease that struck the area, but the fact that several children of exactly the same age were buried communally, makes that hypothesis less plausible. She was such a wonderful tour guide.
One of the characteristics of this site were all the burial niches in the ruin walls. Some were high up, well above my head! We each took turns getting our pictures taking in one of the burial niches, crouched like the mummies that were found in them. I will say the niches weren’t that large, so I, being 5’11’’, did NOT fit comfortably into it. Lol.
Being at the burial sites of these individuals sort of “humanized” them more. As bad as it sounds, it’s easy to ignore that the bones we analyze belonged to people who walked the earth 500 years previously. It does much for shaping your perspective on ethics when dealing human remains, and served as a strong reminder for me that these are people, not disassociated skeletons, and should continue to be treated with respect. They were also interred with – most likely – some ceremonial rites. They were loved and their deaths were something the Inca did not take lightly. Sometimes I wonder if some Inca were alive now, and knew that their ancestors had been removed from their place of rest, if they’d be upset….
Anyway, it was an excellent day filled with excellent sights & information. What better way to explore ruins than with the excavators themselves.

Also, several of the burials contained bones that were so well preserved, the soft tissue was still attached! In some cases, some bones were still articulated ( meaning attached as they are in your living body) vis-à-vis the associated soft tissue (i.e. tendons, muscles)!! There was one individual that had the pelvic area still articulated! The thoracic & lumbar vertebrae, sacrum, and both pelvic bones were connected as they are anatomically in the body my the preserved soft tissue! They were basically mummified.
The most exciting one was a crania that had cervical & thoracic vertebrae, and both clavicles attached by the soft tissue. PLUS you could see the ears!!! I kid you not, imagine a stone bust of some Greek god…now imagine that statue is made of bone and dried muscle tissue. That’s what it looked like. The preservation is THAT good most likely due to the climate around this area of Peru. Also, I believe the individual was found in a cave. So, the air in the cave was likely dry, coupled with the naturally dry air and protection the cave gave from the elements…you have a wonderful combination of factors to aid in exceptional preservation.

The work we did at the INC is different what we did at the Lab across the street from the house I’m living in.
At the house-lab, we are doing an in depth data analysis of different burials.
Like I stated before, the Skeletal Data Analysis sheets are about 12 pages long.

Aug 10 – 14th 2009 INC

Many of the burials we inventoried at the INC Lab that had associated cranial also had trepanations. Valerie said that she hasn’t seen this many trepanations in one site before. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, a trepanation is the surgical removal of part of the cranial bones, usually in a circular disk-shape. The interesting thing with trepanations is that many of the ones that we saw, and many that Valerie has previously studied & published an article about, were healed, meaning that the bone had started to remodel around the hole left from the surgery. This means that the individual survived the procedure. This sheds light on how advanced the Inca were. The Inca who performed the trepanation were skilled, they were specialized. In short, they knew exactly what they were doing. Most were clean, neat cuts. Some individuals even had several HEALED trepanations!! It’s really mind blowing, especially when you consider that Novocain & other anesthesia did not exist. They had coca leaves, and whatever the common alcoholic beverage was at the time ( it was likely Chicha: corn beer). So, if you can imagine the scalp being cut & peeled back, and then some sort of knife cutting a circular disk out of the cranium, while the person was likely conscious….yea, it sends shivers down my spine.

Aug 10 – 14th 2009 INC

Aug 10 – 14th 2009 INC

All of us were at the INC for the second week of the research. The INC office is located a short distance off the Plaza de Armas (government square).
Our job this week was to wash and do inventory on burials from Patallacta & Ccotoccotuyo , Peru. We washed and inventoried over 60 burials!
Here’s a brief overview of how to wash bones. It’s pretty simple.

BONE WASHING:
Tools: basin, toothbrushes, dental tools (to pick out dirt), gloves, trays

Part one: WASHING
The burials were in individual bags. This did not mean that there was only one individual in the bag. We had burials from caves and tombs. The tumbas (tombs) & cuevas (caves) were co-mingled, so there would be more than one person per tomb, or cave. Obviously, the bones were covered in dirt, and the first step was to dry brush off as much of the loose dirt as possible. Then, using toothbrushes, we’d wet the toothbrush in the water, and scrub the bones. Then we’d lay them out on trays to dry. Pretty simple, eh? Well, yea, but monotonous. Imagine washing bones for 8hours. Yea, that’s what we did for 4 days.
Since there were 4 of us students, we generally washed in teams of 3. One person dry brushed, while the other 2 washed. This was the most efficient and speediest way to get the job done. We rotated daily. The 4th person did Bone Inventory on other burials with Valerie. This consisted of laying out each burial on trays and doing a basic one-over of all the bones. We’d log how many bones were present, how many crania were present and if there were any sub-adult bones. With the crania present, we looked to see if any exhibited trauma: fractures, cranial vault modification, or trepanations. We’d also determine the sex from the crania. In summation, we’d log the MNI: Minimum Number of Individuals present in each tomb from the long bones and the crania. The long bone MNI was determined by whatever bone had the most duplicates. So, if there were 8 Left femurs, and that was the bone that had the most duplicates, then, logically there’d be [at least] 8 individuals present in that tomb. Crania MNI was – obviously – determined by the number of complete crania/partial crania present.
All of the 60+ burials that we washed/inventoried will be looked at in depth next summer.

First week of research Aug 3-7 2009

August 3 – 7th 2009

My first week of working with Val and the girls was really exciting. Well, exciting for me because I like everything that has to do with bones, as morbid as that may sound.
Monday – Wednesday we worked on individuals from Chokepukio, Peru. Since Valerie’s overarching goal is to create an extensive data base, we do data analysis on each individual.
We start by choosing an individual and laying the bones on a tray in anatomical position. Then, using the approx12 page packet for Human Skeletal Data Analysis, we fill out each page. We start with inventory: we log every bone that is present. Then we sex the individual based on various standards: shape of mandible, size of certain features on the cranium and pelvic bones, long bone lengths & diameters. Next, we age the individual based on suture closures, and various epiphyses fusions of the bones, and dentition: I.e. if the third molar has erupted, we know the individual is at least 18 yrs. Then we go through and look at all of the vertebrae present and see if there is any evidence of spinal joint disease. Finally, we go over the bones again carefully, picking up and examining each one to see if any Skeletal Pathologies are present: i.e. :trauma, fractures( (un)/healed), periostitis, osteomyletis, hypoplasias, Harris Lines, etc…

I also worked with Beth, the physical anthropologist who is going to be doing Isotopic Analysis on the teeth and ribs of the individuals to determine diet and possible evidence of immigration when compared with the provenance of the individuals. I would look at the teeth of the individuals, filling out a Dental Pathology & Inventory sheet. I’d fill in all the teeth present, determine the extent of wear and plane of wear, look for carious lesions (cavities), calculus, alveolar resorption, etc. Beth needed to take a tooth to sample. She preferred the first mandibular molar or the first mandibular incisor, (although the maxillary/upper first molar and first incisor were acceptable) because they are some of the teeth that form first. If these teeth weren’t present, another tooth would be used. Then, using a purple casting “goo” made out of a vinyl silicone derivative, she coated the tooth in it, let it dry, and removed the cast, which makes a perfect impression. Sometimes if all molars were present, a cast would be made of the occulsal surfaces of the teeth, to later look at the cast for the extent of microwear of the teeth. She also sampled rib fragments. Ribs are good for giving evidence of the last 10 years of a person’s life. They are fairly stable, as they are not weight bearing bones, and will not be affected by that type of wear and use.

Thursday and Friday, Adriana and I went to the INC, Instituto National de Cultura, to take samples from the Lucre and Wari individuals that are housed there.

JULY 17 - 18 2009

July 17 2009
Today, the group went to see the ruins at Ollantaytambo. I'd been there before, but did not go into the ruins. Ollantaytambo is one of the most beautiful towns. It's nestled in the valley of the Andes. Ruins speckle the mountain sides all around. The main ruins are HUGE. They consist of seemingly neverending terraces. When I get better internet and can upload pictures, I will, but until then, you'll just have to take my word when I say they're impressively massive. We wandered around for awhile, and stayed the night in a little hostel, Hostel Tambo.

July 18 2009

A few of us hiked up a mountain with some other ruins on it. You didn't have to pay to get into these ruins; it's probably because it's a hike and not child-safe. It was fantastic because we 4 were really the only ones on the mountain side at these ruins. The view from them is fantastic. you can see all of Ollantaytambo and the main ruins. I got to sit ontop of a building...something you definitely couldn't do if you needed a tourist ticket to get in.
Then, Georgia and I went Pisac, another town in the Sacred Valley that has ruins.
We took a bus there, and wandered around the HUGE open market they have every Sunday. Then we took a taxi to the ruins. The ruins were fantastic! They were spaced out pretty far, so it took us about 1.5hrs to get through them all. They spaced out along a mountian. We got there around 4pm. so the sun was beginnig to set. it was the perfect time to see these ruins. There weren't that many tourists, which made the trip that much better. At one point, we got sorta lost in part of the ruins, and it was rather funny trying to find our way out of the maze-like structures.

August 1st - 2nd 2009

August 1, 2009

Today I left the villa to move to the Peruvian house that I’ll be staying at for the next 4 weeks to do the Osteology research. It was bittersweet leaving the villa. It had become like a home to me.
The Peruvian house was only a few min cab ride from where I had been staying.
THE HOUSE:
The man who owns the house I’m in, Romero, basically owns all the houses on the little cul-de-sac that we’re on. The house is gorgeous! It has tile and hardwood flooring…something I never thought I’d see in Peru. I’m living in one of the houses of one of the richest families in Cusco. They even have servants. We’re served breakfast and dinner at the house. It’s weird to be served. I mean, obviously you’re served in a restaurant, but it’s different when it’s in a house; it’s more formal.
The house I’m in is 3 stories. The living room, kitchen, bedroom where Valerie – my new field director – sleeps, and the dining room are on the first floor. The second floor has about 4 bedrooms, and a sun room, that opens up onto the roof of the first floor. We eat our lunches out there.
I’m on the third floor and share a bedroom with another girl who’s working on the project. We have our own private bathroom, like I did in the villa, which is nice. The rooms are nice sized, and have large windows that have stunning views of cusco.

HOW I GOT INVOLVED:

I had talked to Alexei several times before I left for the archaeological field school back at UCLA. I had wanted to find out a little more information on it. We then chatted about my academic interests, and I told him about my interest in Osteology and Forensic Anthropology. He mentioned that he had a colleague, Valerie Andrushku, who was working on an Osteological project, shortly after the Sacsaywaman field school ended, here in Cusco. He said that she might have room for another undergrad. So, he gave me her contact information and I sent her an email expressing my interest. And, to be brief, I was accepted. This is actually a very small field school, as the other undergrads are getting college credit for this.

THE PEOPLE:
Valerie : She is Alexei Vranich’s colleague, and a professor at Southern Connecticut University with a Ph.D. in Archaeology. She teaches Human Osteology, Ethics in Anthropology, Forensics, and other courses at the university. She has been working in Peru for the past 10 summers, or thereabouts. Firstly as a student in a field school excavating some of the remains that we’re analyzing, then as a T.A., then as Field Director. She essentially inherited the project from her professor. I couldn’t have asked for a nicer professor to work with.
Diana & Adriana: Both are 4th years like me at Southern Connecticut University and students of Valerie. They are sweet and fun girls.
Megan: My roommate at the house, and recent graduate of Southern Connecticut University and former student of Valerie. She’s a super nice person.
Beth Turner: She’s a professor at Georgia State and friend of Valerie. She is here working with the human remains that we are, taking teeth and rib samples, and casting teeth to do isotopic analysis on them. She’ll be looking at diet and evidence for migration based on the results. She’s really funny and great to work with.
Romero: Owner of the house we’re staying at; a very large man, for a Peruvian and very accommodating.
Edgar and Alex: The servants who clean our rooms daily and serve us food. They ‘re very sweet young men.
Seraphina: The cook. Her food is 5 Star quality. I’ve yet to have a meal I dislike. Her soups are TO DIE FOR!

THE PROJECT: We’re doing data analysis on three groups of people: Wari, Inca, and Lucre. Valerie’s main goal is to create a large data base with these people where lots of factors can then be further analyzed. A smaller goal is to determine the extent of empire-organized migration among the places these people occupied in Peru.
A TYPICAL DAY:
We have breakfast at 8am, and meet in the foyer at 8:50am to walk across the small cul-de-sac to one of the other houses Romero owns, to work with the bones. We work in a room on the second floor, and share the house-workspace with two other women who are doing analysis on ceramics.
We have boxes of human remains to go through.
We take one box, and set up the bones of one individual on trays on tables in the room. We organize the bones anatomically, and fill out a Skeletal Remains Data Analysis packet. There’s about 10pages. We go through inventory of the bones that we have, then age and sex the individual based on very factors. We do dental pathology, assuming there are teeth. We’ll look to see the extent of wear on the teeth, if there are any abscesses, carious lesions, etc. We take measurements of the long bones, determine the completeness and condition of the skeleton. The last 2 things we look at are spinal joint disease (only if the individual is an adult) and skeletal pathology: so, evidence of periostitis, extensive porosity, trauma, fratures, eburnation, cranial vault modification, etc. Then we’ll color in the bones that are present on an outline of the skeletal system, and if there’s a modified cranium, we’ll draw the different shape over an outline of a “normally shaped” cranium. Then we put it back into its bag, box it, and move to the next one. We usually end around 5:30pm.

Another long day in transit to Cusco: July 31 2009

July 31st 2009

I left Machupicchu today after lunch. But before I left, I played a card game with some of the geomatics group called, “I Hate Paul Harmond”. It’s a name that Alexei gave to the card game awhile ago because the group he played it with couldn’t remember the game. It was actually really fun and very easy to pick up.
While I thought that the living conditions at the museum were… well, undesirable, the food was excellent! They had cooks to make homemade food every day. As some people know, rice is my favorite food, and I didn’t think I could love it more, but Andean rice is delicousss.
I basically spent the entire rest of the day in transit. I took the Vistadome train back to Ollantaytambo. The Vistadome has part of the roof in glass, so you can see the tops of the terribly tall Andean Mountains. It was a picturesque ride back. Unfortunately, I had to sit to a very annoying young man who basically sulked for the entire trip. I’ve no idea what was eating him.
I arrived back at the villa in Cusco around 9pm, and basically crashed. I was pretty tired.

Second time at Macupicchu- July 29 2009

July 29th 2009

I ate breakfast at 7am with the geomatics group and went up to Machupicchu with them in a bus. It was great to get to go there again, as we didn’t get to go many places the first time because the rain increased as the day wore on. So, I basically wandered solo through the ruins. I first trekked to the Inca Bridge. It was a decent length walk and very beautiful.
Machu Picchu is glorious on a sunny day, but as Alexei told me, it doesn’t change. I found that to be true. The ruins look the same from every angle, essentially. But, it was nice not to be trekking around in the rain.
Then I decided I was going to try to hike up Montana (Mount) Machupicchu.
I hiked uphill on these stone stairs for about an hour. I was unfortunately only about ¾ of the way up. The view of the ruins and Andes Mountains from that height were beautiful. But, I had to make it down to meet the geomatics group for lunch, so I had to turn around. I made good time down, due mostly to the yellow jacket that chased me down the mountain. I was booking it, let me tell you. I’m surprised I didn’t fall and hurt myself; the stairs are very steep in places.
After lunch, I wandered around a little more, and then, deciding I didn’t want to wait until 5:30pm for the group to leave, walked down to the Museum from Machupicchu. That was an interesting walk. I sort of felt like I was in the jungle. And the stairs were something else! They were SO steep! It was a silent and long (40min) walk, with only the occasional bird chirp, or rumble of a tour bus bringing yet another load of tourists to the ruins.
The weather was also very different from Cusco. Machupicchu is about…700m lower, I want to say, so breathing was MUCH easier. That worked well for me as it helped me recover from my cold. It was also humid. It all reminded me of South Dakota in the summer, actually. The climate had that feel to it.

A long day in transit to go to Machupicchu

July 28th 2009

Alexei, my field director, needed help getting some computer equipment up to Machu Picchu, so I went with him to help get the electronics there safely. He was working in Machu Picchu with another field school – Geomatics - that is doing a laser scanning of Machu Picchu. The laser scanner, and other expensive equipment had been held up in Customs in Lima for about a month…yeah…Customs is not the most accommodating of travel channels.
We took a night train, which was interesting, but definitely not as scenic.
The group was staying at the Machupicchu museum, in dorms right behind the museum. The dorms left….much to be desired. Let’s just say that I immediately missed the villa.

July 24 2009 - - MACHU PICCHU!

July 24th – Machu Picchu!
first time:

Today the group went to Machu Picchu. We left at 6:30am, bright and early, to get into the Mercedes Van that took us to the train station – Perurail – in Ollantaytambo. The train was really cool; it’s a beautiful ride to Machu Picchu. It took about 2hrs. When we arrived at Aguas Calientes (Hot Springs) – the town below the ruins – we had to get ponchos…because it had started to drizzle. We ate our packed lunches, and boarded tour buses that took us up the 25min, switchback mountain ride to Machu Picchu.
We were basically let loose into the ruins, to go in whatever groups we desired, and were at our leisure ( or 3hrs ) to peruse the ruins. I went off with Colten, Whitney and Georgia.
Machu Picchu was definitely not what I expected; it was more. I mean, I’ve seen pictures, but it’s different when you’re there. If you have enough of an imagination, you can picture the Inca walking amongst the ruins as you pass your had along the well lain stone walls. The heavy clouds and drizzle made it that much more mysterious, I think. The clouds constantly moved among the ruins, and it appeared like the ruins morphed; they changed. While this made the experience thrilling, it made picture-taking somewhat of an art. Once the clouds moved, uncovering some parts of the ruins, you had to quickly span a photo before the clouds moved in swiftly to engulf them in a blanket of grey. It was definitely an experience I’ll never forget. There’s something to be said about ancient architecture that still stands today, and being able to walk, as the Inca must have, through these structures. I think it’s as close to time travel as we can get.

July 25 – July 27st. I didn’t do much except hang around my apartment at the villa. Due to the fact that I was feeling pretty ill. Movement was painful. So, those days weren’t very exciting.

Final Week of Digging

July 20th, 2009

Sitio: P.A.S.
Sector: Qochapata
Subsector: 3
Unidad: 14
Excavators: Meg, Christina, Jose

Continued excavating the burial at unit 14. We began by cleaning the area of dirt and rocks that fell into the burial from the weekend. After we cleaned the unit, we began taking the bones out. first we started with thte skull fragments and put them all in a bag. Next, we began pulling the other bones out and organizing them categorically (i.e. hands/feet, long bones ribs, shoulder girdle, etc). After we excavated all of the loose, exposed bones we began digging deeper to take out the 2 long bones that are lodged in the matrix of the pit. Unit measurements were also taken. Some ceramics were found in the burial pit as well.

July 21th, 2009

Sitio: P.A.S.
Sector: Qochapata
Subsector: 3
Unidad: 14
Excavators: Meg, Christina, Jose

We began by extending the pit on the Wester side of the unit to see how far the long bones extend we found a large ceramic piece on the western side of the unit near the tree root. This might possibly be an indication that we are finally reaching the primary burial area. Jose uncovered an innominate (pelvic) bone. We later uncovered another ceramic piece in the center of the pit, and I identified the corpus sterni, or body, of a sternum.
Interpretation: from what I can see of the innominate bone, - which isn’t much - it appears to be a young adult male, based on the thick subpubic ramus, the robust mandible fragment, and the billowy texture of the pubic symphysis. However, much more analysis needs to be done before a substantial sex can be determined.


For July 22 & 23rd, unfortunately, I was sick and unable to make it up to the site. But, essentially, they closed up the units and did final drawings. Jose, the Peruvian University student who worked with Christina and I on the burial, continued to excavate it, as we did not finish when the project ended for us.