It really depends on what type of site one is working on. On a historical
archaeology site (from Spanish Colonial up through the Anglo period here in
the Southwest), ther is something exciting coming up almost every five minutes
or so. I enjoy working in the dirt and seeing items that were handled by
people over 200 years ago.

Unfortunately, the age of explorers doing archaeology has not ended. Thor
Heyderdahl is apparently currently excavating a site. I do not believe that he
is an archaeologist (though I have been known to be wrong from time to time).
8-)

And, alas! It is not only the public and Hollywood that cannot keep
paleontology separate from archaeology. many of the CD-ROM catalogs I have
looked at over the last year lump the dinosaur CDs in with the archaeology
ones. We still have a long way to go in educating the mainstream public.

Anita Cohen-Williams; Reference Services; Hayden Library
Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ  85287-1006
Tel: (602) 965-4579              FAX: (602) 965-9169
[log in to unmask]  Owner: HISTARCH, SPANBORD, SUB-ARCH