Rancho La Brea Photo Album

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George Crawford's avatarTHE ACCIDENTAL ARCHAEOLOGIST

I was invited to give some talks in southern California and my spare time allowed for an exciting visit to one of my favorite sites in the Los Angeles area, the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits.  Now in their one hundredth year of excavation, the site has yielded over 600 species to date with a NISP of over 3.5 million (not counting over 200 species of bacteria).  It’s a remarkable place and I feel privileged to to have been given an excellent personal tour by none other than Dr. John Harris and Curator/Collections Manager Gary Takeuchi.  Tar still bubbles and oozes and excavations continue, thanks in part to continuing growth of this highly urbanized area.

Although most of the tar seeps are closed off for safety, a couple can still be accessed with a guide.  The surface is just as deceptive as it is described…

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Bike Storage

~ George Crawford ~ 3 Comments

Saw this posted on Facebook:

coolBikeThe ultimate picnic bike.  I like the fact that it is a bar on wheels but you could also pack i full of less fun stuff like food, tools, spare parts, or other flat goodies.  There could be some cross-wind issues but the location is low and centered in the frame.  Good use of space.

Why Anthropology?

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George Crawford's avatarTHE ACCIDENTAL ARCHAEOLOGIST

As this question has come up about half a dozen times in the past few weeks, maybe I need to address it, if not for the inquisitors, at least for myself.

When people ask “Why did you become and archaeologist?”  is it wrong to say “It’s better than a real* job”?  For some people that makes total sense, for others, they think “WHA…!? you don’t make real money doing that!”  It’s tough to make the argument that you want to be educated and have knowledge for knowledge’s sake in a world that equates education to vocational training with the sole aim of making money.  If you are that type of person then please go no further here.  I would suggest you go read Forbes and try banking or insurance as a career.

The real answer as to why I am an archaeologist is, of course, more complicated than that.  First…

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American Nomads

~ George Crawford ~ 3 Comments

I never really classed myself as a “nomad” when I was young and traveled a lot.  It was more like I was just traveling to see things.  I was fortunate.  Though not wealthy, I was able to spend a lot of time in the American Midwest, camping and canoeing much of the Ozarks, bicycling southern California, and drifting around parts of Western Europe, even slipping into North Africa for some exciting adventures.  By luck, my college career sent me back to Europe and my early career as an archaeologist lead me around the western United States into some pretty amazing little corners of wilderness I would never have seen otherwise.

With the far-sighted perspective of time, I can see than I have been on the move much of the time since I left high school.  Being tethered to other, more sedentary people, gives a sense of having a base that may really be a false reality.  Having let go of things has opened my eyes to the freedom that having few possessions can provide.  It’s a big world out there, and it’s always an education to experience it.

Here’s another interesting documentary about modern American Nomads produced by BBC4 in 2011 based on the book by Richard Grant.  They come from all walks of life and choose some very different paths; “Among them are retirees in RVs, teens hopping trains, hitchhikers and rodeo cowboys.”  Check out his other books if you get a chance, they are certainly interesting reads.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/5Ci7DEUks-E]

About the author:

Richard Grant is a British writer currently living in the Mississippi Delta. He is the author of three books, Crazy River: Exploration and Folly in East Africa (Free Press, 2011), God’s Middle Finger (Free Press, 2008),published in the UK as Bandit Roads, and American Nomads (Grove Press, 2003), published in the UK as Ghost Riders. In addition, he writes articles for magazines and newspapers, publishing regularly in the Telegraph magazine (UK), and Port. He is the writer, presenter and narrator of the television documentary American Nomads, broadcast on BBC4 in November 2011, and currently working on a documentary about tribal life in Ethiopia.