| Entry: | Today Maxime and I worked again on unit 14224 and took out most of the soil except for a small area that was harder material and from which we were pulling many bones. We found a rather large humerus, and this, combined with the clavicle, scapula and sternum, as well as the rib fragments that we kept finding, convinced us that it was probably a burial. We finished up the unit sheet for the most part for 14224, and assigned two new unit numbers to the burial context (14237 for the cut, 14238 for the fill).
Before we actually started digging, Peter asked if I would like to work up nearer the structures with Alex, so I traded places with the other Katie right before lunch. Up there, we are in unit 14217. At first, we were digging in what looked like fill near a midden. However, we also kept finding large areas of mudbrick and mortar, so instead of digging down anymore, we are trying to understand where all the mudbrick goes. It looks like there is a grave nearby to the northeast slightly. It was very helpful working with Alex, since he was able to point out differing types of materials and so I think I have a better idea now of how to distinguish between them.
Today I was going to try to write something with a more philosophical bent, because I find myself missing being able to sit around on the couch with Ben and have 4 hour discussions. However, having read his thoughts about aesthetics as well as critical reflexivity, I have come to the conclusion that what I need to work on is the idea of reconstruction after deconstruction. I think this applies to me both personally and also to the discipline of archaeology. To explain further: I have a personal aesthetic about what constitutes a good archaeologist/good student/good person, etc. I think in some sense my own ideas about this aesthetic limit me, especially when having to act in a public forum, because I constantly find myself picking apart everything, including what is written in this diary. I feel like I constantly mentally deconstruct everything I could possibly say- for example, right now I am trying to decide whether I should simply delete this paragraph because I don’t quite think I’m getting everything across that I am trying to, and I am also thinking about the possible interpretations of every single person who might be reading it. I don’t know if that means I am slightly neurotic, or simply a product of the “post-modern” era. I am inclined to think that people have always been this self critical, however. On the other hand, the ideas of post modernism obviously have impacted our culture in many ways. Anyhow, what I am trying to say is that I think I need to get past the point in which I stop at deconstruction and create something else from the shambles that is my thought process (while of course continuing to engage in critical reflexivity).
Archaeologists have always been in the business of reconstruction after deconstruction. However, I think now this is taking place in the theoretical arena. I hesitate to write that, because I do think when we talk about theoretical paradigms in archaeology, they are grossly oversimplified and the nuanced understanding that archaeologists of the past have had is completely dismissed. Instead, many archaeologists learn theory in soundbites (this statement is also probably grossly oversimplified). In general, though, I think that Ben is right when he talks about all these archaeologists who have no particular allegiance to a certain paradigm, which is good. I think we have reached the point as a discipline where we have deconstructed archaeology theoretically and practically and now are figuring out ways to negotiate the issues with the discipline that were criticized. I think of Catalhoyuk as a type of experiment in operationalizing some of these concepts. I also think that the generation of up and coming archaeologists have an important task in front of them, which is to find ways to do archaeology while taking these criticisms into account (even when they don’t have much money, which can really work wonders). On a whole, I think we are doing fairly well, since the process of reconstruction has had to take place while we were deconstructing it.
It is now a few minutes past six and I have been extremely verbose, so I will stop now.Entered By: KJK |
