I love archaeology. I love watching TV shows about archaeology or reading fiction based on archaeology. (Of course, I love Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody books, which are set primarily in Egypt around the turn of the century (late 1800s/early 1900s--yeah, that century!).) If I had been encouraged as a teenager to go to college, maybe I would have become an archaeologist. But maybe not, since I really didn't enjoy--back then--the basic science classes. I think a "D" in high school biology says it all, especially when you consider that the only reason it wasn't an "F" was because of a cute boy who seemed to want to help me improve my grade. (Darn kid went on to become a doctor too!)
Anyway, Yahoo caught my attention today with a story captioned: "130-Year-Old Outhouses Yield Treasures." I guess archaeology isn't all that glamorous after all. Or maybe those archaeologists are the ones who got "Ds" in high school biology. In any event, this exciting dig is taking place in Ventura, California, so all you SoCal gals may want to hustle your own selves over to Ventura to see what's being unearthed, doncha think? Here's what they're saying:
"They uncovered a pistol, a knife, whisky flasks, a set of false teeth, two dog skulls and a blade from a set of sheep shears. 'It might be an early crime scene,' project archaeologist John Foster said. 'It looks like the two dogs were decapitated. Then whoever did it dumped the skulls and the blade, thinking the women probably wouldn't be looking too hard into the bottom of the privy.'"
Have I mentioned that I also love forensic/crime stuff? Sounds like a good cold case to me! But tell me this: What were these people eating that it could be confused with rotting dog corpses? Too gross a thought? Okay, sorry! Then tell me this: Why do you have to know how to dissect a frog and memorize the periodic table of elements before you can dig up Inca ruins? Or Egyptian mastabas? Or an outhouse?
Talk about ironic...Rachel read me an email today that was from her friend, Hannah, who is temporarily living in Italy. Hannah's parents are dismayed that she wants to become an archaeologist when she has so many feminine qualities. Rachel really got a good laugh out of that one.
ReplyDeleteWe have an outhouse on our canyon property that everyone hates to use. Over the 4th of July holiday my 20-something niece reminded me of something that happend to her about 8 years ago. She was helping her little brother in the outhouse and when he got of the pot she happened to glance down and found a LIVE skunk staring up at her. No one knows if/how he ever got out, so maybe some archaeologiest will find a skunk skelton in our outhouse. lol!
I think I'll stay right here in Corona if you dont mind. LOL!!! I'm not into "outhouse digs". I used to have to use an outhouse when we were younger. I was scared to death to go into that thing.
ReplyDeleteKim, you're too funny! Such deep questions? Really, it's summer I don't think deeply until Sept rolls around and even then, it's for grades only! lol Yea, I love archeology.
ReplyDeleteKim, I guess I could ask my DH why you need to disect frogs and learn the peroidic table as he taught Biology in HS for close to 30 years. That table got me down in Chemistry. I'm sure you're much better in what you do right now than out getting dirty digging in old priveys. Eileen
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