Spring Break Archaeological Field School

(9am Everglades.)

This past Spring Break, instead of going to the beach and getting drunk like most of my University of Miami cohorts, I opted to attend my first archaeological field school over at the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church Site in Everglades National Park (Chekika entrance). It was definitely a life changing experience and has made me fall in love with archaeology for certain. It was only a week, but it felt more like being away from Miami for a month or more. My professor, Dr. Traci Ardren, is an incredible woman and was both a teacher and a really awesome friend at the same time and made it an amazing experience. I went in to the field school knowing about 2 or 3 of the students from previous classes, and came out with tons of crazy stories, interesting experiences, and very cool new friends I hope not to lose touch with. In between was some debauchery and there's something about working outdoors that makes the hangover worthwhile. We found some bears, lots and LOTS of snake vertebrae, lots of potsherds, a few sea shells, a few shark teeth, and some other stuff. I'll be writing my research paper on the previous owners of the site (rather, the previous owner was a man named Michael Boothe, but before he lived there, the site belonged to the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church, a group of religious individuals who viewed ganja as their sacred sacrament (much like the rastafarians) but were smuggling in so much marijuana through the Everglades that the government eventually shut them down and incarcerated several members. Interesting stuff! Anyway, for now, here's a few choice photographs from the field!

("Lake of Infinite Despaire")


(Inside Boothe's now abandoned house)


(Learning about mapping!)


(Me in front of the lake/pond)

(Bird)


(Rocks. Potsherds. Stuff.)

(Steve, Gaby, and Traci sifting through the dirt for artifacts.)

(Matt being goofy behind me, Gaby looking confused at the camera.)

(Our rockin' professor, Dr. Traci Ardren.)

(Me getting ready to get rained on the day of the Coopertown Air Boat Ride, only to find that it didn't rain.)


(Stratigraphy!)


(Chris Brown digs a hole.)

(Jaw bone!)

(Me and Ali at the End of Dig party @ The Pit!)


Good times.