I'm supposed to be monitoring for a pipeline project up in Colfax, California right now but PG&E are extremely sensitive when it comes to rain and a slight drizzle has us rained out for the day. I've been looking back on some of my previous archaeology jobs over the last couple years, getting a little nostalgic. Probably in anticipation of me finishing my history MA thesis soon and hopefully moving away from contract archaeology and into another field.
I thought I'd write a little series of posts chronicling the major archaeology rotations I've been on. It's been a fantastic experience overall and I've learned and grown so much doing this weird job.
My first long, out-of-town rotation was in Tonopah, Nevada - maybe one month after first getting hired on at my local office. I had the opportunity to carpool out there with two of my coworkers from my local office, though I hadn't met either of them yet.
I elected to drive up myself, which wasn't easy because I worried it would come off as rude but I had been talking to a therapist about my difficulty asserting myself and prioritizing my wants and needs. So, on his advise, I just said I'd rather drive up myself and of course that was completely fine.
This was about two months after I got out of a long-term relationship in which I was extremely unhappy and treated poorly. Getting this new job and going to Tonopah for a while was a sort of symbolic beginning of the next chapter of my life, where I was free and independent for the first time in years.
I stopped at Manzanar on the way up, the site of a former Japanese internment camp that had since been turned into a museum and cultural center. It was the first time I had treated myself to something I wanted to do in years and it felt nice. However, in the bathroom mirror there I saw all my toxic relationship/anxiety/depression weight I had put on over the last few years and vowed to get rid of it.
I continued on and made it to Tonopah with no issues, enjoying the solitude and freedom. I checked into the hotel and realized I had no phone reception there. For the length of my stay I had to drive out to a Chevron gas station on the edge of town if I needed to call or text anyone. Honestly, that suited me though. My ex was still calling and texting me and I was electing to ignore her rather than block her number. I think I was waiting for an apology that I knew deep down would never come. So having my phone lack reception helped me relax in the hotel room. Also, Tonopah is like two miles long and half a mile wide, so driving to the edge of town wasn't much of an inconvenience.
I got pizza that night (the toxic relationship weight loss could wait) and waited anxiously for the next day, when I'd meet a whole crew of experienced archaeologists for the first time.
I drove to our meeting spot the next day, another gas station on the opposite side of town to my Chevron, and met the crew.
There was:
Maggie and Maria: The two from my local office who I was nervous I'd offend by electing not to carpool with them. Both were a couple years younger than me. They were and are both extremely nice and I've since worked with them on many projects. They were absolutely joined at the hip and practically spoke their own secret language. The looked like sisters and often got mistaken for one another.
Stacey: A quiet, outdoorsy type who had driven down from Boise with her dog Spike. She was about ten years older than me but had a wealth of archaeological experience and I would eventually come to rely on her as one of my primary teachers/mentors.
Randy: A stoic, old-school Navajo guy in his 60s. Randy was the only one there who hadn't gone to school for archaeology but probably had more knowledge than any of us due to his living his whole life on a Navajo reservation.
Bri: A tall, gregarious woman in her mid-30s who spoke Korean and did yoga handstands in the parking lot every morning before heading out to the field. I've never had a large social circle and Bri was the first trans person I've ever personally gotten to know. I've always been accepting of trans people but I still certainly had a degree of bias towards them that was lessened after getting to know her.
Megan: A short, tough, former military woman in her mid-30s. I think I got on her good side when I first met her because I gave her a spare gaiter after she mentioned she wished she'd brought one.
Richie: A nerdy academic archaeologist in his 40s who wore ties and vests in the field and was almost freakishly sweet and kind. We nerd-bonded over Vostok watches.
Craig: An older Colorado hippie who had a wealth of experience and would become another one of my primary teachers/mentors.
Daphne: One of only four(?) archaeologists I've met doing this job that I've disliked. More about her later.
Michaela: I don't really remember her but I remember she was nice.
The Girl Who Was Sick and Spent Nearly the Whole Rotation in Her Hotel Room and I Can't Remember Her Name: Poor thing.
We were randomly split into three or four crews at the initial morning meeting. I ended up with Stacey and Randy with Stacey as our crew chief. This grouping couldn't have suited me better. Stacey, Randy, and myself were all by far the quietest and most introverted of the bunch. I instantly felt at ease around both of them.
The job was surveying a huge swathe of land in the high Nevada desert for an upcoming solar field. There was a Pleistocene-era lake in the area and a high degree of Native habitation from 10-15 thousand years ago up until only a few hundred years ago. Stacey, Randy and I didn't find much on that first rotation but on subsequent work on that same project in Tonopah I've found some beautiful obsidian and chert artifacts.
Every morning, Stacey would pick me up in the work truck and we'd head to the morning gas station meeting where we'd pick up Randy and head out to the field. We'd perform long, one or two mile transects across the desert, flagging and mapping any artifacts we found, usually assayed cobbles and flakes. I'd just put on music or a podcast in one earphone and think about this new chapter of my life as I walked and surveyed.
It wasn't as hot as I expected it to be in the desert due to the elevation, but the surveying was still a little tough because I was pretty out of shape at the time. It was extremely windy a couple days, and we had to leave early once due to lightning. But overall, the work and terrain was nowhere near as tough as I had expected.
Ever day after work, Stacey would drop me off at my hotel room and I'd get in my car and go get some food. Tonopah food was pretty limited. Basically pizza, Subway, Burger King, gas station food, and a sit-down Mexican restaurant.
I barely had wifi in the hotel room, but luckily I had the forethought to put some movies on an external SSD so I could relax and watch a movie each evening.
One evening, Bri invited the crew to her apartment (the Tonopah job was set to last a few months and she got a three-month lease there to stay on the whole time) and, had I not been seeing a therapist at this time, I would have automatically declined and stayed behind in my hotel room. But because of encouragement from my therapist, I forced myself to go even though I was extraordinarily anxious about it. But I went and, of course, everything was fine and everyone was nice.
Stacey and Randy weren't there, so I was forced to leave my comfort zone a little more but I was able to talk to everyone without too much social anxiety and awkwardness and I felt proud of myself for doing so. I told my therapist about it afterwards and I almost cried at the praise he gave me for forcing myself to go.
After ten days of work, I was in my car waving goodbye to Stacey and heading home. It's a little funny looking back because in hindsight this job was extremely easy and I'd do another rotation like this now without the slightest bit of worry. But at the time it was such a daunting expedition. I was terrified to do it and I felt so proud of myself and accomplished as I drove home.
Honestly, I didn't learn much in the way of archaeology on this first rotation. I'd learn and experience much more in subsequent jobs, but I learned an enormous amount about myself. So much of the growth and confidence building I've undergone in the last couple years was jump-started in this first ten days in Tonopah.