Dr Jay's Musings

 I think every archaeologist walks around plagued by the curiosity of what lies underfoot!      Increasingly we are seeing archaeological features left in situ with modern surfaces constructed from transparent materials to allow the casual passer-by to experience that sensation of the history that lies beneath their feet. One of my mentors, Martin Carver, published Underneath English Towns: Interpreting Urban Archaeology  in which he explored the dimensions of archaeological data that underlies our modern world.  It is easy for us to live in the moment and forget that we work and live upon a foundation made of ghosts of past lives and lost ages. England has always been a leader in integrating archaeological discoveries as part of the urban geography, but it is perspective that is catching on globally.            The tradition of urban planning has been to destroy, bury, or relegate archaeological sites to a fenced off tour...

  The Museum entrance with Aurelio Diaz Flores (left), me, and Adolfo (right). The logo of my doctoral study below the museum name, Proyecto Oztuma-Cutzamala, with the ancient glyph name Oztuma featured (the Cave of the Hand, Oztomon, the cave monster with a hand on his nose)          Yesterday, a long-time and dear friend and teacher from the town of Arcelia, Tierra Caliente, Mexico, Raymundo Lopez posted on Facebook that he was teaching the history of his town in class and that my 1998 research was now part of that history.  I swelled with pride. It was a project years in development as I sought out the perfect place in Mexico to apply archaeological methods to the study of frontier formations. It culminated with some  9 months of fieldwork in one of the starkest, most grueling, most challenging, and most dangerous parts of the world I have ever worked. I lost 45 lbs by the end of my survey.  We covered an area of 2500 sq. miles of what had...