Dirty Diggers: Tales from the Archaeological Trenches PDF
Preview Dirty Diggers: Tales from the Archaeological Trenches
Dirty Diggers Dirty Diggers TALES FROM THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL TRENCHES PAUL BAHN ILLUSTRATED BY BILL TIDY Dedications For Alban and Albert Paul Bahn For Rosa Tidy Bill Tidy Contents Introduction FIELDWORK FUN Incongruous Finds Everybody Hurts Sometimes Eccentric Diggers Falling Down Unpleasant Archaeological Sights Slip-Ups EXCAVATION ENCOUNTERS Dealing with the Locals Men in Uniform The Bear Necessities More on Bones The Green Chair Loonies DIG DIALOGUES Intelligent Comments Stupid Questions Honest Mistakes … Dishonest Mistakes Archaeologists are Cunning Linguists Problems with English FOOD AND GROG AND AFTER-EFFECTS … Food for Thought The Demon Drink Don’t Drink the Water! Hubble Bubble, Toilet Trouble ARCHAEOLOGY AFTER HOURS Archaeologists and Marriage Goings On Archaeologists in the Raw Women and Archaeology Sex in the Field The Wheeler Dealer BACK AT THE OFFICE Mummy’s Boys Archaeological Theses Conclusion References About the Authors INTRODUCTION Archaeology is not a subject that is normally associated with humour, but Time Team and other shows have demonstrated that it is filled with colourful characters and eccentrics, and this was even more so in the past. In preparing this volume we contacted numerous friends and colleagues round the world, and received a few decidedly lugubrious and humourless responses! Fortunately, there are quite a few practitioners who have a good sense of humour, either at their own expense, or more usually at other people’s! A good number of them admitted to knowing stories which would be utterly unprintable for various reasons, and only to be told verbally, over a drink. To our great surprise, we were let down by Australian sources despite their reputation for wildness, while Russian colleagues insisted that their stories could not be translated! One friend wrote: “What a wild idea! Archaeologists are notoriously dull and unimaginative. How can any of ‘em generate anything even approaching a smile, let alone laughter?” Well, we hope that this little volume will prove beyond question that archaeologists do encounter a wide range of humorous situations while practising their arcane craft. As far as we know, all the tales presented here are true although, inevitably, with the passing years, some details will have been forgotten. Some facts get distorted, and some embellishment may well have crept in. But how can one know? And does it really matter? In many cases, anonymity has been necessary, when the subjects are still alive and/or somewhat sensitive about having their shortcomings aired in public! • ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS For contributing material to this book, we are deeply grateful to: Mitch Allen, Jesús Altuna, Nacho Ares, Rodrigo de Balbín, Gina Barnes, Fritz Berger, Caroline Bird, Jacques Blot, Gerhard Bosinski, Will Bowden, Peter Breunig, Luis Briones, Paul Brown, Peter Bullock, Eudald Carbonell, Dilip Chakrabarti, Shadreck Chirikure, Tony Christie, Trevor Cowie, Carol Demcak, Oliver Dickinson, Damir Dijakovic, Jon Driver, Phil Duke, Francesco d’Errico, Dave Evans, Henri-Paul Francfort, Yossi Garfinkel, Yves Gauthier, Santiago Giraldo, Luz Gutiérrez, Anthony Harding, Charlie Higham, Dirk Huyge, Anne-Sophie Hygen, Susan Johnston, Alice Kehoe, Jean-Noël Lamiable, Georgia Lee, the late Tony Legge, Serge Lemaître, Tilman Lenssen-Erz, Jean-Loïc Le Quellec, Malcolm Lillie, Enrique López-Hurtado, Michel Lorblanchet, Rod Mackey, Consuelo Mata, Jane McIntosh, Chris Mee, Roger Mercer, Sidsel Millerstrom, Gina Muskett, Sarah Nelson, Dougald O’Reilly, Marcel Otte, Rog Palmer, Victor Paz, Dan Potts, Campbell Price, Gus Quinlan, José Miguel Ramirez, Chuck Riggs, Avraham Ronen, Anna Roosevelt, José Luis Sanchidrián, Dan Sandweiss, Tim Schadla-Hall, Jordi Serangeli, Gonen Sharon, Bryan Sitch, Lawrence Straus, Matthias Strecker, Peter Sweeney, Matt Symonds, Erik Trinkaus, Val Turner, Claudio Vita-Finzi, Don Whitcomb, Pat Winker, and Larry Zimmerman. For help with translations we thank Mary José Behrend and Conchita García. And many thanks to Mitch Allen of Left Coast Press for showing that some archaeological publishers too can have a sense of humour! Fieldwork Fun
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