lots of archaeology talk lately, have you noticed?

i hope the pictures i chose do an adequate job telling you my archaeology story.

if not, maybe this article on the utah dept. of transportation blog will do the trick.

{i'm published!}

YOU GUYS, THIS IS COOL.

i did a cool thing.  a never before done, once in a lifetime, part of history thing.

we invited the public to visit the site and see the archaeologists in action.

... all in preparation for the construction of a new, major road.

media-palooza.

state-wide fox, nbc, and npr stations... as well as local st. george media peeps.

see,

we're building a new road through the red rocks of utah.

this new road also happens to be in the middle of culturally sensitive areas of ancient native american dwellings.

we've spent the last two years investigating these spots, avoiding as many of them as we can, all the while, designing a functional engineering plan that gets that road up and over some of these crazy red hills.

to mitigate the impacts {that's such an engineering buzz phrase.  my apologies.}, we hired an archaeology team to work in the trenches - literally - and collect as many artifacts as possible and document their finds, to be added to the state registry of historic places.

but then there's this whole public outreach aspect.

and that's where i came in.

i advertised, press-released, and coordinated {with the help of my very capable and reliable team whoiappreciateverymuch} the logistics to get the interested public up to our secret spot.

WHO KNEW so many people would be interested in watching people dig in the dirt on a hot day?!

i had no idea.

and i pretty much planned it in real time.

and it was a thrill.

through and through.