Field Safety Part I: Strenuous Work in Harsh Conditions

When I wrote the first iteration of this blog several years ago, I included a post about field safety, detailing the various hazards and perils faced by many archaeologists during the course of their everyday duties. That post was a lot more popular than all my others, but it had a fatal flaw—while I had described the various safety incidents that are likely to occur in the field, I failed to explain what to do after those incidents inevitably occur. And no matter how cautious you are, health and safety incidents are going to happen. So I decided to rectify that mistake with a newer, better post about the dangers of cultural resources management (CRM) archaeology.

After a decade of experience in the field, I’ve found that the one aspect of professional archaeology for which new field technicians are the least equipped is the matter of field safety and physical fitness. Physical fitness is inextricably linked to field safety, because CRM archaeology is physically demanding, and technicians cannot attend to their duties without a certain level of fitness. For many anthropology students, who might imagine fieldwork to entail gingerly brushing dirt crumbs away from fragile potsherds and bones, the level of physical fitness required by professional archaeology may be surprising. To be fair, that kind of delicate fieldwork does happen (and is rewarding), both in academic archaeology and CRM archaeology. But the fieldwork usually seen in CRM archaeology is far more strenuous.

Many anthropology students and new field technicians fail to appreciate the strenuous and dangerous nature of professional archaeology. And so do their parents, many of whom seem to think they are paying tuition so their children can “play in the sand” all day.

Academia does little to prepare students for the physical rigors of professional fieldwork. In fact, I suspect that many archaeology professors are unaware of the physical rigors of professional archaeology outside academia, given that they spend most of their time doing academic work, and when they do engage in fieldwork, it often tends to be of the “brushing dirt away from delicate potsherds” variety. Even professors with CRM experience tend to focus on the cognitive aspects of archaeology—because, well, that is the entire point of archaeology. Whether you work in academia or CRM, the whole purpose of your profession is to use your brain to gather new information about the people of the past. I’m not trying to undermine the cognitive aspects of archaeology. I think field techs should be more engaged with the cognitive aspects of their profession, which is why I decided to start writing this blog in the first place. But you can’t perform the intellectual duties of your position if your physical duties injure or kill you, and many students and field techs don’t understand how much of a concern this is.

So let me explain what professional archaeology in the United States actually entails. Professional archaeologists in the United States spend most of their time surveying tracts of land for previously unrecorded archaeological sites. Some of these surveys can extend for hundreds of miles, across all manner of rugged terrain and treacherous vegetation, from steep mountains to sweltering swamps, and from dense woodlands to open prairies. Archaeologists must walk across their survey areas—on foot—while carrying all the food, water, and equipment they need for the day.

Figure 1. Equipment you should be able to carry by yourself in remote, rugged terrain, including a shovel, screen, tarp, and pack full of food, water, and other supplies

Many surveys require some form of subsurface testing, usually in the form of shovel testing, which means that the archaeologists periodically stop to dig holes by hand and sift the excavated soil through hardware cloth screens. They have to carry their shovels and screens with them as they trek across their survey areas.

If you want to become a professional archaeologist in the United States, this is what you can expect as part of your routine duties: you will have to walk for miles, over various kinds of terrain—including up and down steep mountains—while carrying all your food, water, and shovel testing equipment (shovel and screen) on your person. You won’t have access to shelter. You may have to walk miles away from your work truck, and if you are injured or have some kind of health emergency, you will have to walk back to that truck before driving to the nearest hospital. You will be exposed to whatever hardships nature has to offer on that day, whether that be extreme heat, extreme cold, rugged terrain, dangerous weather, dangerous animals, dangerous plants, and other miscellaneous hazards.

Throughout all of this, you still have to be a scientist, so you must maintain the mental wherewithal necessary to conduct scientific research. Physical fitness should not be the true measure of an archaeologist. But if you can’t handle the physical hazards of the job, the job can kill you.

Now, it’s time to examine these hazards in greater detail, and find out what to do when you encounter them.

Strenuous Labor with Hand Tools

Sometimes I forget that this is an issue for a lot of students and newer field techs. I spent my college years working as a machinist and welder in a fabrication shop, and I had to use a variety of hand tools and power tools well before adulthood. But if you’re not experienced with tools, or physical labor in general, you should understand that you will have to know how to use a shovel—safely—to do your job. These shovels are often sharpened so they can penetrate roots and sod more easily, but this also makes it more likely for you to cut yourself. Even if you use your tools correctly, you will probably get blisters at some point. Gloves help prevent blisters, but when you do get blisters on your hands, there’s not much to do but apply an antiseptic, bandage them, and wait for them to heal.

Rugged Terrain

Archaeological surveys cover all kinds of terrain. You will have to walk up mountainsides and trek across open deserts and agricultural fields. If you trip and break a bone, you will have to find a way to walk back to your truck, or at least, to the nearest spot that is accessible by vehicle (we often have to hike into places that are not accessible by vehicle).

Many companies and agencies recommend (or require) boots with ankle support to prevent injuries on uneven terrain. These boots can help prevent you from rolling your ankles, but keep in mind that they make your ankles weaker, because you don’t have to use your own strength to maintain stability. I’ve taken to wearing hiking shoes with no ankle support and found that this has made me less likely to injure my ankles in the long run (of course, this is against the rules in many places, but I’ll talk more about that later).

If the terrain is rugged enough, you’re at risk of doing much worse than simply rolling your ankles. You could fall off a cliff or roll down a steep mountainside if you’re not careful. Even on flat terrain, you can trip over stumps, logs, or fallen branches.

Figure 2. Rugged terrain where I've done fieldwork in northeastern Wyoming

Extreme Heat, Dehydration, and Sun Exposure

To office workers, summer heat can be little more than an inconvenience encountered while walking to and from their cars. But to an archaeological field technician, outdoor heat can be life threatening.

As of the time of this writing, a young archaeologist has recently died while participating in fieldwork in Louisiana. Her death was heat related. The dangers of heat are not hypothetical—heat has killed people, and will continue to do so. However, I hope that a greater awareness of the dangers of heat in CRM archaeology—and knowing how to treat heat exhaustion and heat stroke—might prevent some future tragedies.

Extreme heat is not limited to Louisiana or other parts of the Deep South. When I lived in Belle Fourche, South Dakota—which is a lot closer to Canada than it is to Louisiana—summer temperatures often exceeded 100˚ F. The best way to prepare yourself for the heat is to acclimate yourself. It doesn’t matter where you live—if you spend all your time in air conditioning, you simply won’t be prepared to spend eight hours a day in extreme heat with no shelter.

Once you’re in the heat, you need to remain hydrated. You will sweat a lot, and you will need to replace the water you’re losing. Keep in mind that you will probably need to carry all your water for the day on your back, because you won’t be near your work truck. If you run out of water in the field, miles from your truck or the nearest water source, you could die. So this may be the most important lesson to take from this post—always carry enough water. You could die without it.

Many older field techs will say that the most important rule of the field is never to get separated from your lunch, but I would argue that it’s more important to make sure you always have water. You can last about a week without food, but in some environments, you will die in a few hours without water. You may have to work in those environments. I always carry at least four liters of water, and sometimes more, and I’ve found that on long, hot days, I end up dehydrated even after drinking four liters or more.

Keep in mind that, as you sweat, you lose more than water. You lose electrolytes (specifically sodium and potassium), and you need to replenish them. Electrolyte drinks can help, but it’s also useful to eat salty snacks in the field.

Extreme heat in humid environments poses different threats than extreme heat in dry environments. To understand why, you need to understand that your body’s cooling mechanism relies on the evaporation of sweat from the surface of your skin. But in humid environments such as the Southeastern United States, your sweat may not evaporate because there is already so much moisture in the air. No evaporation means no cooling mechanism. No cooling mechanism means potential overheating.

Figure 3. Typical humid environment in the Southeastern United States

In my experience, the best way to cool down your core body temperature in humid environments is to drink cold water. When I was a child, I was taught that drinking cold water on hot days will make you sick, but as an adult, I frequently do so with no ill effects, as does everyone else I know. You won’t have access to a refrigerator in the field, but you can refrigerate your water before you go into the field (or freeze it, if your hotel room has a freezer), and you can keep water in a cooler in your truck so you can drink it at the end of the day.

In dry environments, such as deserts, your sweat will evaporate very quickly, so your body’s cooling mechanism should work (in theory). The downside is that dry weather dehydrates you more quickly, so you may need to carry a lot of water, and you might die if you run out. Deserts tend to have fewer trees than humid environments, resulting in less natural shade. In fact, deserts and prairies typically offer no shade at all. This means you will have full exposure to the sun all day.

Figure 4. Typical desert environment in the Southwestern United States

Full exposure to the sun makes it more difficult to stay cool, because it’s usually cooler in the shade. It also introduces you to the threat of a painful sunburn—and eventually, skin cancer. To avoid sunburns (and skin cancer), it’s advisable to cover as much skin as possible, by wearing long sleeves, a wide-brimmed hat (I find cowboy hats useful), and possibly a bandana on the back of your neck. One of the benefits of long, loose-fitting sleeves is that they can keep you cool when they become drenched with sweat (long sleeves also protect against thorns and other hostile plants, but that’s another topic).

It’s also advisable to use sunblock or sunscreen, which are not the same thing. A sunblock sits on the surface of your skin and physically blocks solar radiation. A sunscreen is absorbed into your skin and undergoes a chemical reaction with the solar rays that penetrate your skin. Sunblocks protect against Ultraviolet B (UVB) rays and sunscreens protect against Ultraviolet A (UVA) rays. Both UVA and UVB rays contribute to sunburn and cancer, but UVB rays are more powerful, and are thus the main cause of sunburn and melanoma. If you’re looking to prevent sunburn or skin cancer, a sunblock designed as a barrier against UVB radiation might be the better option. Whether you’re choosing sunscreen or sunblock, you should pick SPF 30 or higher, but there’s probably no need to go as high as SPF 100. SPF 50 blocks 98% of the sun’s rays, so SPF 100 is only slightly more effective.

Extreme heat, dehydration, and sun exposure are closely linked with one another, and as such, many of the same protections can be applied against them: drink plenty of water (with electrolytes), stay in the shade when you can, and cover your skin. But even after taking these precautions, you and your co-workers may find yourselves suffering from dehydration, sunburn, or a heat-related illness. This is how you treat those conditions when they occur:

Sunburn

Sunburn is fairly evident to most people once they have it, but sunburn looks different on different skin tones. People with pale skin will turn red after being burnt. People with dark skin won’t see their skin turn red, but they will feel the discomfort and sensitivity associated with damaged skin. Once you feel the discomfort, your skin has been burnt, and peeling is likely to follow. If you have sunburn, take cold baths and apply aloe products to the skin.

Heat Exhaustion

Symptoms:

• Headache
• Dizziness and confusion
• Loss of appetite and feeling sick
• Excessive sweating and pale, clammy skin
• Cramps in the arms, legs, and stomach
• Fast breathing or pulse
• High temperature of 100˚ F or more
• Being very thirsty

Treatment:

• Rest in a cool place (you won’t find any air conditioning in the field, except in your truck, but you might find shade under some trees)
• Drink cool fluids (no soda or alcohol)
• Try cooling measures (soak towels in cold water and apply to skin, or sit directly in a cold stream)
• Loosen clothing

Heat Stroke

Symptoms:

• Confusion, altered mental state, slurred speech
• Loss of consciousness
• Hot, dry skin or profuse sweating
• Seizures
• Very high body temperature
• Death

Treatment:

• Call 911 immediately (but be aware that it takes time for emergency responders to reach remote areas)
• Apply ice packs to patient’s armpits, groin, neck, and back (you may not have ice packs in the field, but you should have some ice in a cooler)
• Immerse patient in cold water
• Be aware that unconscious patients cannot safely be given water to drink

Extreme Cold

Fieldwork can occur in extremely cold weather as well. I’ve assisted with a magnetometer survey in a windy field in eastern Iowa in the January of 2013, when the wind chill temperature was -20˚ F (not an exaggeration), and I’ve dug countless shovel tests in cold, wet snow.

When it’s cold, the best advice is to bundle up. Wear layers, so you can remove some articles of clothing as you get warmer. Wear a coat, hat, gloves, and waterproof boots. Keep extra socks and gloves with you in case a pair gets wet from the snow.

One of the hazards of fieldwork in cold weather is often overlooked—we often have to remove our gloves to write on our field paperwork or use our GPS devices. Removing your gloves exposes your hands to the cold and increases your risk of frostbite.

Exposure to extreme cold can result in frostbite or hypothermia (or both). The symptoms and treatments for these conditions are detailed below:

Frostbite

Symptoms:

• Cold skin and prickling feeling
• Numbness
• Changing skin color
• Hard or waxy-looking skin
• Clumsiness due to joint and muscle stiffness
• Blistering after re-warming

Treatment:

• Soak skin in warm (not hot) water (105-110˚ F) for 20 to 30 minutes
• Don’t apply direct heat (such as a stove)
• If frostbite is severe enough, the patient will need professional medical help

Hypothermia

Symptoms:

• Shivering
• Exhaustion or feeling very tired
• Confusion
• Fumbling hands
• Memory loss
• Slurred speech
• Drowsiness

Treatment:

• Call 911—unlike frostbite, which only requires professional medical attention when moderate to severe, hypothermia is always a medical emergency
• Be gentle; do not massage or rub the patient or cause sudden, jerky movements
• Move the patient out of the cold
• Remove wet clothing
• Cover the patient with blankets, but leave the face exposed
• Insulate the patient's body from the cold ground
• Monitor breathing
• Provide warm beverages (no alcohol or caffeine)
• Apply warm, dry compresses to the neck, chest wall or groin (never to the arms or legs, because this will force cold blood back to the core and cause the core body temperature to drop)
• Don’t apply direct heat

Dangerous Weather

Weather is unpredictable, and if you work outdoors eight hours a day or more, you will get caught in bad weather. Sometimes bad weather is inconvenient, but it can be dangerous. You could be caught in a thunderstorm, hailstorm, blizzard, or tornado.

In the event of a thunderstorm, the greatest threat is lightning. If you see lightning, find shelter. Go to your truck if you can. At the very least, don’t stand in a wide open field or on top of an exposed mountaintop. The heavy rain that accompanies many storms can be dangerous if it causes a flash flood. If the rain is coming hard and fast, don’t stand in a stream channel at the bottom of an arroyo or canyon. Seek high ground.

For other advice about saying safe in the field, please see the following two posts.

Updated on April 9, 2023

Compass Reading

Figure 1. Sighting compass

 

Multiple people have recommended that I write a post about using a compass. I was reluctant to do so at first, for a couple reasons. The main reason is that reading written instructions in a blog is not the best way to learn how to use a compass. The best way to learn how to use a compass is to hold a compass in your hand and figure it out on your own, not read about it online. The other reason is that one of the main purposes of this blog has always been to provide field techs with useful information they are not likely to get from their crew chiefs or university professors (I started this blog with a post about geomorphology because all my former crew chiefs have had a severe lack of understanding about the topic, and when they did try to teach younger field techs about it, all they did was spread misinformation). But most crew chiefs can teach you how to use a compass perfectly well. And it would probably be more effective to have your crew chief teach you in the field, rather than try to learn from this blog post.

But the archaeologists who have recommended that I write a post about compasses are more seasoned than I am, and I still learn new things from them. So I will defer to their judgment and honor their request.

For the uninitiated, let me back up and explain why archaeologists use compasses. Archaeologists survey parcels of land for archaeological sites by following arbitrary transect lines across their survey areas. We use two main survey methods: shovel testing and pedestrian survey. During a pedestrian survey, we walk across the parcel and look for artifacts on the surface. Shovel testing entails that we search for subsurface artifacts by digging small holes at regular intervals and sifting the excavated soil through hardware cloth.

Both methods may require the use of transect lines, especially on relatively flat terrain. During a pedestrian survey, each field technician will follow a transect line across the parcel, and these transect lines will typically be parallel to one another, spaced apart at regular intervals. This means that the technicians are spaced apart from each other, walking in the same direction along imaginary lines. The interval between each transect line varies by state—in my home state of Illinois, pedestrian survey transects must be spaced no more than five meters (16 feet) apart, but in many Western states, such as Nevada and Wyoming, these transects are spaced about 30 meters (100 feet) apart.

In areas that require subsurface testing, such as a forest or pasture, the technicians will place their shovel tests at regular intervals along imaginary transect lines. In Illinois, and many other states, these transects are spaced about 15 meters (50 feet) apart. Western states such as Wyoming and Nevada don’t really have standards for shovel testing transects because archaeologists in those states don’t use shovel testing to find new sites (they only shovel test after the sites have been found).

You don’t always have to use arbitrary transect lines to conduct a survey. On rugged terrain, many archaeologists prefer to conduct landform-based surveys, in which they follow natural features of the landscape. In mountainous areas, I’ve found that it’s much more effective to walk along the ridgetops and look for artifacts there, rather than single-mindedly follow imaginary lines up and down steep slopes and over treacherous cliffs and gullies.

In the field of statistics, a transect-based survey and a landform-based survey correspond to different sampling methods. Setting up arbitrary transect lines across your survey area is an example of systematic sampling. A landform-based survey is an example of judgment sampling.

I prefer judgment sampling, when it’s applicable, and I think it’s important to know how ancient people used the landscape in different ways. I like to inspect arroyos for bison traps, and I often walk along rock faces in search of rockshelters or petroglyph panels. Even when I’m supposed to be part of a transect-based survey, I frequently wander off my transect to walk up an arroyo or follow a rock face, much to the consternation of my crew mates and supervisors. When I’m supervising other archaeologists, I don’t care much about the precision of transect lines myself.

But some landscapes are so flat that a landform-based survey is basically impossible, and you have to follow transects. In these cases, one of the main challenges for any field tech is staying on transect. That’s not always an easy task, given that transects are completely imaginary lines.

There are two ways to follow an arbitrary transect line in the field. The easiest and most effective is to use a GPS receiver to keep your bearings. A Garmin GPS unit can tell you your current UTM coordinates, which makes it easy to follow a transect line, as long as that line is following a cardinal direction. Tablets and smart phones have internal GPS receivers as well, and they can download a variety of navigational apps, such as Avenza. Avenza is the bane of my existence, but it is very useful because it allows you to draw transect lines at weird bearings that don’t follow cardinal directions.

The more traditional method of following a transect line is to use a compass to follow a bearing. This is essential for all archaeologists (and other outdoorspeople) to know how to do. You may not have access to a GPS, or your GPS receiver may end up lost or broken.

Some archaeologists will berate younger field technicians for making errors while reading compasses. I don’t think this is always fair. Some environments are not conducive to following a compass bearing, and it’s not reasonable to expect one person to stay close to an imaginary line over the course of a mile or more. I’ve used a compass to follow transect lines through dense pocosin forest along the North Carolina coastal plain, where I could not see past 20 feet through the foliage in any direction. It was not possible to sight my compass along something in the distance; I was wobbling randomly through the woods. On at least one of my transects, I’m pretty sure I placed my last shovel test far, far away from the transect’s projected endpoint—possibly on the wrong property. I’ve also participated in a survey in the mountains of northeastern Wyoming, where my transect lines were interrupted by steep slopes and sheer cliffs. Fortunately, I was issued a Garmin GPS receiver, which allowed me to end each transect line at the correct spot.

I should also point out that many older archaeologists are not as skilled in orienteering as they would have the younger generations believe. In the old days, before the availability of accurate GPS equipment, archaeologists used compasses and topographic maps to plot sites on maps by hand. They usually plotted these sites in the wrong spot. I’m not saying I could have done a better job; I’m saying that orienteering with nothing but a topo map and compass is very difficult.

To give you an idea of how difficult orienteering is, I want to draw your attention to the boundary between Wyoming, Montana, and South Dakota, not far from where I live. If you zoom in close, you can see that the western boundary of South Dakota is crooked, where Montana meets Wyoming. It is often said that this is due to a surveying error in the 1800s. One team of surveyors was working their way south, and another was moving north, and they were supposed to meet in the middle. But they missed each other by about a mile, so they drew a crooked boundary where they were supposed to meet. I’ve never been able to find a reliable source to prove this story is true, but I think it probably is. I don’t think the surveyors would have made the boundary like that on purpose. And keep in mind that these surveyors were working in teams, and they were probably equipped not only with compasses, but also theodolites and survey chains. Now imagine what it’s like for a field technician, walking alone on a transect line over rugged terrain and through dense vegetation, with only a compass as a guide. That transect line is not going to be perfect.

Figure 2. Survey error along South Dakota's western border

With all that being said, you still need to know how to use a compass, for professional reasons as well as for safety. So let’s get started.

Reading a Compass

Every compass that we use in the field is what is called a sighting compass. To understand how a sighting compass works, imagine you are standing in the middle of a circle, and the circle is divided into 360 degrees. If you are facing magnetic north, your bearing is 360 degrees. If you turn around and face south, your bearing is 180 degrees. East is 90 degrees and west is 270 degrees. Choosing any number out of 360 will allow you to follow any possible bearing, not just the four cardinal directions. For example, a bearing of 210 degrees will send you towards the southwest.

Some models of compass have an azimuth ring that must be manually adjusted and aligned with your magnetic needle.

Look at the compass below. Let’s say you’ve been instructed to follow a bearing of 280 degrees. But right now your compass looks like this:

 

Figure 3. Sighting compass with azimuth ring oriented towards 360 degrees

So the first thing you do is manually rotate the azimuth ring, so that the mark for 280 degrees is aligned with the notch at the top of the mirror:

 

Figure 4. Sighting compass with azimuth ring oriented towards 280 degrees

But the azimuth ring is not aligned with the magnetic needle, which is facing magnetic north. So you must hold the compass out in front of you at arm's length and turn your body until the azimuth ring is aligned with the needle, as such.

 

Figure 5. Sighting compass with azimuth ring oriented towards 280 degrees and aligned with magnetic needle. It can now be used to follow a bearing of 280 degrees in the field.

Now, you can look past the compass and see that the notch at the top of the mirror is aligned with an object in the distance. That object is at a bearing of 280 degrees from you. You can walk towards it so that you stay on your transect line. You are “sighting” off that object. It helps to bend the mirror towards you at a 45 degree angle, so that you can see the azimuth ring and magnetic needle reflected in the mirror while you try to sight off an object in the distance.

Not all environments are suitable for sighting with your compass. Some are vast and featureless, like the rolling plains of western North Dakota. Some are so densely vegetated that you can’t see 20 feet in front of your face. In these environments, you may need to “back-sight”—that is, you may need to orient yourself from something behind you.

That’s why it is often useful to have someone else shovel testing on your transect with you. If you are shovel testing across a featureless landscape, you can back-sight off the person behind you on your transect.

That’s one model of compass. Here’s a cheaper compass that’s easier to use. The degree markings are attached to the magnetic needle, so they all spin together; you don’t need to manually align them. Just hold the compass in front of you and sight along whatever bearing you need to follow. Unfortunately, the design of this compass prohibits you from adjusting for declination.

Figure 6. Sighting compass with azimuth ring attached to magnetic needle

This model of compass includes a magnifying glass rather than a mirror. To read the bearing on the azimuth ring while you have the compass stretched out in front of you, you look through the magnifying glass, as shown below:

Figure 7. Sighting compass with magnifying glass adjusted for reading degree marks.

Compass Declination

Every compass points towards the magnetic north pole, but most maps are oriented towards the “true” north pole. “True north” is a term that refers to the place where the earth spins on its axis. This is not in the same location as “magnetic north,” where the earth’s magnetic field is pointing downwards. The magnetic north pole is constantly moving. When I was born, it was located somewhere in northern Canada, but it has been consistently moving towards Siberia over the past three decades.

The angular disparity between true north and magnetic north is known as “compass declination.” At most locations on the earth’s surface, true north and magnetic north will be located at different angles from where you are standing.

For example, I’m currently writing this in Belle Fourche, South Dakota. The compass declination here is about eight degrees east (technically, about 7.5 degrees east, but I’ve rounded up to eight). That means magnetic north is oriented about eight degrees east of true north, relative to the spot where I’m standing. My compass needle faces magnetic north, so if I want to face true north (towards the earth’s axis), I need to face a bearing that corresponds with 352 degrees on my compass (360 minus 8).

It can be difficult to add or subtract your compass declination all the time, so it’s nice to have a compass that allows you to manually adjust for declination. Take a look at the first compass I showed you. Right now, the red arrow outline is facing directly at the 360 degree mark. This is adjusted for a declination of 0 degrees, in which true north and magnetic north are in line with one another. 

Figure 8. Sighting compass that has not been adjusted for declination

You can use a key to turn this red outline towards eight degrees. Now, when you align this red outline with your magnetic needle, the 360 degree mark on your azimuth ring is actually facing true north.

Figure 9. Sighting compass that has been adjusted for a declination of eight degrees east

How do you know what the compass declination for your area is? You can find your location on an isogonic chart, which is specifically designed for showing compass declinations. You can also find that information online, on a website run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Using the Right Map

Not all maps are intended to be used for navigation. Different maps use different projections. You cannot perfectly represent the earth’s round surface on a flat sheet of paper, so every two-dimensional map must introduce some distortion. There are different kinds of map projections that distort the earth in different ways, to allow for some technical usages, but not others.

A conformal projection can be used for navigation, because it preserves angular integrity at the expense of areal integrity. It shows locations as being at the correct angle from each other, so you can use a compass bearing to navigate between two points on the map. The angle between any two points should correspond with a compass bearing you can follow in real life, assuming you always adjust for declination. However, these maps do not show units of land as being the correct area. Every variation of Mercator projection is a conformal projection, including the UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator) projections. This includes all the quadrangle maps made by the U.S. Geological Survey. Historically, archaeologists have used these quadrangle maps for their surveys. This is largely because these maps were designed to be used with compasses for navigation.

Figure 10. Conformal projection showing contiguous 48 states. This projection can be used with a compass

An equal area projection shows units as being the correct area, but the angles between points are distorted. If you try to use an equal area map to navigate, you might get lost, especially if you are navigating between points that are far away from each other. Most archaeological surveys take place at a fairly small scale, so you shouldn’t have to worry about this too much.

Figure 11. Equal area projection showing the contiguous 48 states. This projection cannot be used with a compass.

An azimuthal equidistant projection is possibly the least effective projection you can pair with a compass; it won’t work at all. An azimuthal equidistant map shows all points on a map as being the correct distance from a single spot in the center of a map. It cannot show these points as being at the correct bearing from one another, or even from the map’s center. Most people don’t see or use these maps all that often. They are mainly used by radio operators or fire watchtowers.

Figure 12. Azimuthal equidistant projection centered on north pole. All points on map are correct distance from north pole. This projection cannot be used with a compass.

Closing Thoughts

Try to remember that the goal of any archaeological survey is to observe and record real things in the field, not to follow imaginary lines for their own sake. Don’t get too caught up in what is arbitrary, and focus on what is real. There’s no reason to follow a transect line perfectly if you’re missing artifacts or features in the process. And there’s no harm in deviating from your transect line to find something you otherwise would have missed.

Updated on April 9, 2023

Landowner Relations

 

The friends and relatives of archaeologists often ask, “Where do you work?” It’s an honest question, but the “where” varies. Archaeologists who work in cultural resources management (CRM) spend most of their time surveying land for archaeological sites, and as a result, they seldom need to visit the same parcel of land more than a few times. Once the parcel has been surveyed, they move on to another location, and generally have no reason to come back. Some project areas can extend for hundreds of miles, across multiple states. I’ve done professional fieldwork in 21 states myself. People who work in office environments seem to have trouble understanding this, because they go to the same building every day, without much in the way of variation.

If you manage to explain this, another question you might be asked is, “Whose land do you work on?” There is no easy answer to that question either, because it varies. We work on a combination of public land, private land, and Indian reservations. The people who actually own the land where we work are seldom the people who hired us, and this can lead to a lot of unnecessary confusion and hostility. Archaeologists and their clients do not have a good history of maintaining positive relations with the owners of the land parcels we’re supposed to survey. This is partially because field archaeologists do not always understand or appreciate the tension between our clients and the landowners, and also because we do not always understand the damage we might cause to the landowners’ crops or pasturage.

This post has little to do with the science of archaeology, unlike the previous two posts, which discuss the applications of geology and cartography within archaeology. Instead, this post is meant to be purely practical. It’s a guide to the different kinds of land usage in the United States, and how archaeological surveys might affect different plots of land in different ways.

 

Where Archaeologists Work

First, we need to go back to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), which requires archaeological surveys before any kind of ground-disturbing construction activity that might meet one of these criteria:

1. Uses federal funding

2. Requires a federal permit

3. Occurs on federal land

Due to the third criterion, archaeologists often have to survey federal land. This includes all land administered by the U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and all United States military installations, including those located in foreign countries. When it comes to federal land, the “landowners” are the members of the public, whose interests are supposed to be supported by the government officials who administer the land. That is, except for Indian reservations, which are sovereign nations administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

When archaeologists work on federal land, there are no angry landowners to worry about, because as members of the public, we are all the “landowners.” We may have to deal with angry locals who do not believe the land should be public in the first place, and this hostility can lead to violence, but I will deal with that later.

Now, let’s go back to the first two criteria of Section 106 that I mentioned: federal funding and federal permits. Any construction project that uses federal funding or requires a federal permit should be preceded by an archaeological survey, even if that project occurs on private land. Thus, archaeologists often work on private parcels as well. The clients who hire us often do not own the land itself; they have merely negotiated an easement to use a portion of the land.

Pipeline projects are a good example, because they have been a prominent source of employment for archaeologists over the past decade. Pipeline projects often require a permit from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and because they need a federal permit, they fall under Section 106, and will require an archaeological survey. Large private companies build underground pipelines that transport fossil fuels or carbon dioxide over long distances. These pipeline companies are usually distinct from the oil companies that actually extract petroleum from the earth. Their pipelines can extend for hundreds of miles, crossing both public and private land. When a pipeline company wants to lay pipe through private land, it does not need to buy the land, but it does need to negotiate an easement with the landowner, in order to use a thin corridor of land within the landowner’s property.  

Some landowners are not willing to allow pipelines through their property. In these cases, a government agency may enact “eminent domain,” effectively seizing whatever land is necessary for the pipeline’s construction, and sending law enforcement to ensure that the angry landowners do not disrupt the construction process.

This is important for field archaeologists to know—sometimes, we are surveying land that has been allocated to a private company’s use through eminent domain. This means that the landowner does not want us there, and may resort to violence.

Of course, pipelines are not the only construction projects that fall under Section 106. Transmission lines, cell towers, highway re-routes, bridge replacements, wind farms, and solar plants may all require an archaeological survey prior to construction, either because they use federal money or require a permit from a federal agency. These surveys may cross both public and private land. In many cases, the client responsible for building these infrastructure projects does not actually own the land where the construction takes place, and must try to work with private landowners. Sometimes the client only plans to negotiate a lease or easement to use the land. Sometimes they plan to buy the land outright, but the survey may be underway before the sale is finalized.

The archaeological survey is usually a very small part of the pre-construction process. Often, the landowners will see a small army of civil surveyors, biologists, archaeologists, and architectural historians marching across their property. Usually, the landowners do not understand exactly who these people are or what they are doing. Even worse, the civil surveyors, biologists, archaeologists, and architectural historians may not fully understand how they are damaging the landowners’ crops or pasture, especially if they are unfamiliar with farm life. This can lead to unnecessary confrontations and bad blood.

Many companies hire land agents or “landmen” to communicate with the landowners, in order to prevent these confrontations. There’s no tactful way to say this, but land agents are usually not very bright. Often, they don’t understand what the archaeologists and biologists actually do, so they misinform the landowners, whether intentionally or otherwise. A competent land agent may be the only thing preventing a confused farmer from putting a shotgun in your face, but unfortunately, many land agents fail to bring their “A game” to work, so you may want to brush up on de-escalation tactics yourself.

Furthermore, many landowners do not even farm or graze their own land, and this can complicate issues. Many landowners lease out their farmland to tenant farmers, and the tenant farmer is responsible for planting, harvesting, and (in some cases) selling the crops. In these cases, crop damage threatens the tenant farmer’s livelihood, and if the tenant farmer has not been consulted about the construction project and the various surveys that must occur beforehand, this too may lead to a confrontation.

 

The Pre-Construction Surveys

In the interest of avoiding such conflicts, I’m going to provide a very brief outline of the different kinds of surveyors who may have to visit a parcel of land before a major construction project. I’m going to focus on what these people actually do in the field, and how these activities might adversely affect either farmland or rangeland. This might be useful information for future or current field archaeologists. It might be useful for farmers or ranchers as well, so feel free to show this to any rural landowners you know.

The Civil Surveyors: These are licensed land surveyors who lay out the project area in the field. In other words, they determine the boundaries of the property/easement/lease area in question, and they usually mark the boundaries and/or centerline in the field with stakes. These stakes have to be in exactly the right spot, and licensed surveyors use precise equipment and years of training to ensure their boundaries are correct. For example, if they are surveying for a future pipeline, they usually plant stakes along the centerline of the pipeline corridor. If they are surveying for a future cell tower, they might plant stakes at the corners of the cell pad lease area.

Land surveyors use a type of modern theodolite known as a “total station” to lay out the project area and collect topographic information. A total station has a small computer situated on a tripod, and the computer shoots a laser at a stadia rod in the distance. The laser reflects off the stadia rod, back to the computer. This tells the computer the distance to, direction of, and elevation of the stadia rod. There is usually at least one person operating the total station, and one person holding the stadia rod.

This process requires a clear line of sight between the total station and stadia rod, across the entire survey area. This means that all the high vegetation between the tripod and stadia rod must be cleared, whether that vegetation be brush, woodland, or crops.

I’ve known land surveyors to clear paths through a farmer’s crops while laying stakes for a pipeline corridor. I assume they needed a clear line of sight for their survey equipment, but regardless of the rationale behind their actions, the farmer was very upset. I don’t hear about this happening very often, so I assume that most land surveyors manage to avoid doing this.

The Wetland Surveyors: These are biologists or environmental scientists who define the boundaries of wetland habitats within the project area.

Many members of the public (especially archaeologists) have trouble understanding what a “wetland” is, and do not understand why they are so important to delineate. A wetland is a specific type of habitat in which the soil is waterlogged part of the year, but not necessarily all year round. Biologists identify wetlands by noticing certain types of plants (such as cattails) that can grow in waterlogged soil. The roots of a plant—unlike its leaves—undergo respiration rather than photosynthesis, and they require oxygen, which can be difficult to find in saturated soil. Wetland plants have special adaptations that allow oxygen to be sent into the roots, even when the ground is waterlogged.

Biologists also identify wetlands by digging small holes to see whether the soil is hydric. “Hydric” soil is soil that is waterlogged during part of the growing season, and it often shows signs of redoxification. Basically, this means that the soil has turned gray, with some pockets of ferric oxide staining. Ferric oxide staining is often evident along root channels. Though wetland surveyors often need to dig some holes on a landowner’s property, they don’t need to dig very many. They typically don't need to dig as many as the archaeologists do.

The purpose of the wetland delineation is to protect wetland habitats. Despite the fact that I’m an archaeologist, I will argue until I’m blue in the face that this is much more important than any archaeological survey. Wetlands are among the most important natural resources we have. They remove toxins from the water supply and serve as a buffer against flooding.

The Cultural Resource Surveyors: These professionals fall into two groups—the archaeologists and the architectural historians.

Architectural historians locate standing structures (houses) within the project area and evaluate them to determine whether they are eligible to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places. This usually entails little more than taking photographs of old houses. It’s probably the least destructive part of the pre-construction surveys.

Archaeologists locate archaeological sites within the survey area. An archaeological site is any place with evidence of human activity more than 50 years old. This includes 10,000-year-old Native American lithic scatters, as well as historical farmsteads from the mid twentieth century.

Archaeologists use two main survey methods, and the application of these methods depends entirely on the ground cover:

The first method is pedestrian survey. During a pedestrian survey, the archaeologists walk across the survey area and look for artifacts on the surface of the ground. This is only effective in areas where artifacts might be visible on the ground surface, such as in tilled agricultural fields, or dry mountains or rangeland where the vegetation is sparse.

The other method is known as shovel testing. This entails that the archaeologists dig a series of small holes at regular intervals across the survey area, and sift the excavated soil through hardware cloth. The interval between each shovel test varies by state. They may be 8 meters apart, 15 meters apart, 30 meters apart, or even 100 meters apart. Shovel testing is most effective in places where vegetation covers the ground surface, such as woodland, pasture, or even agricultural fields where the crops have fully grown and covered up the earth.

Thus, you cannot tell a landowner exactly what you will be doing to his or her land, unless you know exactly what the ground cover is. Ground cover varies by season, and by how the land is used. A pasture, hay field, or forest will require shovel testing at all times of year. Pedestrian survey is usually effective in agricultural fields from late fall to early spring, when the ground may be mostly bare, but as the crops grow over the summer, they reduce visibility, and this may make shovel testing necessary.

Generally, shovel testing is more destructive than pedestrian survey, especially if you have to shovel test in somebody’s crops, such as a cotton field or alfalfa field. Not only will you be trampling the crops as you walk through them, but you will also be digging them up, and you will be knocking them down to make space for the sifting screen that you need to use for locating artifacts in the soil. I can guarantee you that no farmer wants to see a team of people digging holes and sifting dirt in the middle of his alfalfa field. If he has not been warned beforehand, he will probably become very angry. Unfortunately, many land agents fail to explain this process beforehand, and as a result, many an angry and bewildered farmer has looked out in shock to see an unexpected gaggle of 20-something kids digging holes in his crops.

To give an idea of how much shovel testing an archaeological survey generally requires, I’ve made a map that shows where all the shovel tests would be located in a 10-acre survey area, if the shovel tests were spaced apart at 15-meter intervals. As you can see, there are 144 shovel tests packed into that 10-acre area. Each shovel test will vary between about 30-50 cm. in diameter. Many states (including Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts) require that a shovel test be at least 50 cm. wide. Of course, this is a negligible sample of the total soil volume—less than a tenth of 1%—but it seems like a lot more after you've been digging all day, and it probably seems like a lot more to an angry farmer as well.

Figure 1. Map of hypothetical 10-acre survey area, with locations of 144 shovel tests at 15-meter intervals

This was only a brief overview of the many proceedings that must occur before some major construction projects. Many farmers may react with hostility to these proceedings, if they were not warned beforehand, or if they never agreed to allow the construction project to occur on their land in the first place.

You need to understand what today’s farmers have been through. Many farmers are fairly old, and lived through the Farm Crisis of the 1980s, during which many landowners lost their farms to bank foreclosures. They watched the rise of Monsanto and its growing monopoly on seeds. Today, cattle farmers and ranchers are currently watching as monopolistic feedlots force small family operations out of the beef market. And of course, farmers and ranchers are watching pipeline companies use eminent domain to force their neighbors to surrender portions of their land. Among some elderly farmers I’ve known, there is a fear—not wholly unfounded—that shady banks and pipeline companies are trying to take their land. When they see teams of civil surveyors, biologists, and archaeologists crossing their land, they associate us with those entities. Whether we like it or not, we represent our clients, and some of our clients are less than ethical in their behavior.

 

Crops and Ground Cover by Region

This next section doesn’t have much to do with archaeology itself, but the conscientious archaeologist should still try to understand what sort of crops he or she might encounter during a Section 106 survey, and how those crops might affect survey methods. More importantly, you may want to understand how your survey methods may affect the crops or pasture.

Ground cover varies by region, as the percentage of land that is used for agriculture diminishes with arid climates, and the types of crops vary with climate as well. The Midwest—where I grew up—is virtually synonymous with farmland, as the majority of available ground is used for corn and soybean production. You may encounter the occasional cow pasture or hay field as well. Meanwhile, farmers in the Deep South often grow cotton and peanuts (or sugarcane and rice in southern Louisiana). As you go west onto the Great Plains, wheat becomes more important, though much of the available land is used for grazing livestock, rather than agriculture. And even farther west, in the Rocky Mountains and the Great Basin, the climate is too dry—and the soil too hard and rocky—for any sort of agriculture. All the available land is used for grazing, timber, or mining.

The Midwest

Farmers in the Midwest mainly grow corn (maize) and soybeans, which they alternate every year. Corn has a higher yield per acre, and thus is more lucrative, even though soybeans provide more money per bushel. Farmers often plant soybeans every other year in order to fix the soil with nitrogen, which is depleted by corn.

Both corn and soybeans are planted in the spring, grow during the summer, and are harvested in the fall. As they grow, they obscure the artifacts on the ground, and thus make pedestrian survey difficult. Fully grown soybeans may cover the ground so extensively that you cannot see any artifacts on the surface. Many archaeologists will try to conduct pedestrian survey through fully grown soybeans anyway, but this is usually ineffective, and arguably unethical. Fully grown corn does not necessarily obscure the artifacts on the ground, because you can often walk between the rows and see artifacts on the surface. But you may inadvertently damage the stalks as you’re walking.

The best time to conduct an archaeological survey across a corn field or soybean field is the period extending from late autumn to early spring—from harvest to planting, when the ground is bare. Not only does the bare earth allow for pedestrian survey (which is faster and easier than shovel testing), but there is no risk of damaging crops during this period.

However, there may be other factors that obscure the artifacts on the ground, even outside the growing season. If the ground has not been tilled, the fallen corn stalks or bean stalks may cover the ground so thoroughly that no artifacts are visible. Many farmers are switching to no-till farming to reduce soil erosion. While this is good for the environment, it makes life more difficult for field archaeologists. In addition, Midwestern weather is unpredictable, especially during the winter. A winter snowstorm may dump a layer of snow that does not melt for weeks. Pedestrian survey is ineffective in the snow. Shovel testing may be used in the snow, until the ground freezes.

Figure 2. Tilled corn field in late March, before the spring planting, in central Illinois. This field is ideal for pedestrian survey; the locations of surface artifacts have been marked with orange pin flags. 

The Deep South

Farmers in the Deep South often alternate between cotton and peanuts in the same way that Midwestern farmers alternate between corn and soybeans. Peanuts replace the soil nutrients that have been depleted by cotton.

In some places, fully grown cotton can be so thick that it makes it impossible to see artifacts on the ground, so shovel testing is necessary. At least, that is my experience in southern Alabama, where the cotton grows tall and thick. In other places, such as west Texas, the cotton does not grow nearly as densely, so pedestrian survey could probably be effective. Wherever you are, the ground will be more visible after the harvest, especially if it is tilled—but many farmers in the Deep South, as in the Midwest, now use no-till farming.

The Great Plains

The western part of the Great Plains has a drier climate than either the Midwest or the South. Thus, wheat is the dominant crop in the western Plains, because it requires less water than corn does.

Much of the wheat grown on the Plains is winter wheat. Winter wheat is planted in the fall, after the summer harvest. The seeds sprout in the fall, then lie dormant over the winter, lying under the snow. During this time, the young sprouts resemble regular grass—after all, wheat is a domesticated grass. When I was much younger, I sometimes mistook young winter wheat for ordinary grass, not realizing it was a crop (in my defense, nobody grows wheat where I grew up). In the spring, the wheat resumes growing, and by late summer or fall, it is tall and ready for the harvest.

Because of the life cycle of winter wheat, there is a very narrow window of opportunity during which you can conduct an archaeological survey in a wheat field without damaging the crops. This is the period after the harvest (summer to early autumn), but before the planting (early to late autumn). Any other time, you will be walking through or digging through the growing wheat. Like most crops, wheat obscures more of the ground as it grows, making pedestrian survey more and more unfeasible.

After the harvest, there may be enough ground visibility to allow for pedestrian survey, but often, the fallen stalks cover the ground so much that you won’t be able to see any artifacts. As always, tillage makes artifacts more visible, but many farmers now use no-till farming.

Much of the available land in the Great Plains is not used for agriculture at all, but has been set aside for grazing. The farther west you go, the less land is used for farming. In areas that are used for grazing, you will probably not see artifacts through the sod, so shovel testing may become necessary.

The Mountain West and Southwest

I’m using the term “Mountain West” to refer to everything from the Rocky Mountains to the Sierra Nevada and the Cascades, including the Great Basin in Nevada and western Utah. Not much of the land in the Mountain West or the Southwest is used for agriculture. Most of it is open rangeland used for grazing livestock. The climate is generally too dry, and the terrain too steep and rocky.

Shovel testing is not a widely used method of archaeological survey in the West. Archaeologists usually conduct pedestrian surveys instead. This is effective wherever the grass is sparse or nonexistent. Due to the lack of shovel testing, and the absence of crops through which archaeologists would have to walk, archaeological surveys in the West are generally not destructive or intrusive at all. You likely won’t cause any harm other than spooking a few horses or cattle.

But archaeologists may cause other problems for private landowners—especially if, ironically enough, we are trying to survey public land. To understand why this happens, you need to understand that archaeologists often need to drive through private land to reach the public parcels they are supposed to survey, and this might bother private landowners, especially if you don’t bother to ask for permission first.

In the West, there is a lot of public land administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Private parcels and BLM parcels are often arranged in checkerboard patterns, so that you cannot access the BLM parcels without driving through the private parcels. Some archaeologists drive down private ranch roads on the way to BLM parcels, without even realizing they are trespassing. This irritates the ranchers, who maintain the private roads at their own expense, and are generally not fond of trespassers.

You also need to understand that most Western ranchers hate the BLM (and other federal land management agencies such as the Forest Service). They believe the federal government controls too much land, and they resent having to apply for permits to graze on BLM parcels. These ranchers will not be happy to see archaeologists trespass on their land, simply in order to reach BLM parcels that these same ranchers do not believe should exist in the first place.

I mentioned earlier that this sentiment can lead to violence. This was the mindset of the armed men who occupied Malheur National Forest in 2016. If you trespass on private ranch land near any BLM parcel in the Western states, you will encounter men and women who believe that occupation to have been noble and justified.

 

Figure 3. Federal land in Coconino National Forest, Arizona. The sparse vegetation allows for pedestrian survey.

Livestock

Landowners throughout the United States often raise some form of livestock, and it might benefit archaeologists to know more about the livestock they will encounter in the field. I’ve known archaeologists to make glaring mistakes when working on land with livestock. For example, I knew an older archaeologist who once left open the gate to a horse pasture while working on the property, allowing all the horses to escape. This is the sort of mistake that can ruin your month, and possibly ruin your reputation. In fact, if you take nothing else away from this entire blog post, remember this--do not let livestock escape. If you open a gate to a pasture, close it after you’ve gone through.

Horses

I’m sure you already know what a horse is. What you might not understand is how devastating a leg injury might be for a horse. Horses are very heavy animals that stand on light, thin legs with no muscle support. When a horse breaks a leg, the bone often shatters. Furthermore, horses are active animals that are usually unwilling to sit still during the long recovery process, which makes convalescence nearly impossible. For these reasons, a horse with a broken leg usually will not recover. This is why ranchers and farmers have historically euthanized horses with broken legs. Even with advancements in modern veterinary medicine, most horses with broken legs can’t be saved. If your negligence causes a horse to break a leg, the animal will probably be put down.

If there is a second thing you should take away from this blog post, it is this--make sure you completely backfill your holes while shovel testing in a horse pasture! If your shovel test is not filled in correctly, a horse could trip in the hole and break its leg. If the horse breaks its leg, it will probably be euthanized, and you’ve just cost the farmer at least $3000. The horse farmers I’ve encountered have warned us field archaeologists to be extremely cautious about this, and I’ve tried (without success) to explain this to past supervisors, but most archaeologists seem ignorant of the threat they pose while shovel testing in horse pastures.

The best way to backfill a shovel test is to keep your excavated soil on a tarp, and use the tarp to slide the soil back into the hole. But even if you use this method and manage to completely backfill your hole, the backfilled soil will continue to be fairly soft and loose until it settles. I’ve returned to survey areas where I had recently backfilled several shovel tests, and found that deer had been stepping into the backfill during the night. I could see that their narrow legs had been sinking deep into the still-loose backfill. The same could easily happen with a horse or cow. My point is that you can do your best to minimize risk, but sometimes shit happens. Fortunately, the only ungulates on that particular plot of land are whitetail deer; there were no horses or cattle to worry about.

There’s no guarantee that a horse will be clumsy enough to trip and break a leg. It depends on the horse. The feral horses of the Great Basin are perfectly adept at traversing steep, rocky ground without injuring themselves. But a Midwestern farm horse that has spent its entire life in a perfectly flat, stone-less pasture can easily trip and break a leg, especially if being ridden by someone who isn’t paying attention.

Figure 4. Curious horses disrupting a small archaeological excavation in southern Oklahoma

Cattle

Cattle are not as likely to break a limb, and when they do, they usually recover quickly, unlike horses. If a cow breaks a leg, the best advice is to let it lie around all day, which is something most cows are happy to do anyway. That being said, you should still backfill your holes properly in a cow pasture.

On a ranch or cattle farm, the cows are more likely to hurt you than you are to hurt the cows. During calving season, the female cows may charge you to protect their babies. The bulls may charge and kill you any time of year.

Other Livestock 

Farmers and ranchers will raise a variety of other animals, including sheep, goats, ostriches, llamas, alpacas, and bison. I am not familiar enough with most of these animals to know their specific needs, so you may want to communicate with the farmers or ranchers themselves if you find yourself surveying their pastures.

 

Other Land Uses

So far, I’ve mainly discussed crops and livestock, but landowners use their properties for a variety of other purposes, such as hunting, logging, and syrup production.

Many farmers use their land for hunting, and even let other other people hunt there, for a price. Because hunting has become so commercialized in recent years, these farmers may be upset if you disrupt their whitetail habitat, or if you happen to be surveying while they are hunting.

Also, many landowners raise trees for lumber. As an archaeologist, you may find yourself shovel testing in what appears to be a forest, severing roots with your shovel as you dig, without realizing you are actually surveying a tree farm.

One of my old friends lives on a farm that taps maple trees for syrup, which provides a source of income for her family. A pipeline company used eminent domain to cross her family’s land, and the pipeline company’s property assessors failed to realize that these maple trees were used for syrup production, so they underestimated the trees’ value. My friend’s family was never compensated the correct amount for the maple trees that the pipeline company destroyed.

Keep in mind that, when you are working in CRM, you are more than just an archaeologist. You are a point of contact between your client and whomever owns the land that your client wants to use. Your client may not behave with integrity, and as your client’s representative in the field, you may have to bear the brunt of the negative consequences.

It is not lost on me that, with all this talk of land ownership and property easements and eminent domain, and all the disputes inherent in such a topic, we archaeologists are studying the original inhabitants of the land, who were forcibly removed from their homes through a long process of violent genocide. Nor is it lost on me that the descendants of the original inhabitants are still here, and many of them do not want the material possessions of their ancestors disturbed or collected by anyone, archaeologists or otherwise. That is something to think about, wherever you happen to be working on an archaeological survey. While the current landowners may claim not only the land, but all the artifacts on it, the descendants of the people who made those artifacts are still alive, and arguably should have a greater voice in what happens to those artifacts, and how they are interpreted. I did not add this paragraph as a mere afterthought, but I wanted to give younger field techs or anthropology students something to ruminate over before they go on to their next project. We need to have more respect not only for the current landowners, but also the original landowners. Young college students are always the first to claim that they respect Indigenous rights, and yet are often the furthest removed from Indigenous people, with little understanding of the issues that contemporary Native American communities face.

Updated on April 11, 2024