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Huaraz
In Huaraz right now, which the other crew chiefs have dubbed “The City of Dreams”….spent a couple days in Hualcayan getting acclimated and helping to setup the test units.
Hualcayan hasn’t really changed. Things are much greener now. The rainy season held out longer than usual, so things are prettier than I remember. Its also slightly colder.
I’m not sure if last year I broke myself in with altitude because it hasn’t been affecting me this year as much as it did last year. I was sick for 4 days throwing up last time. This year it was just last night. Hopefully I will continue feeling okay when we go back up to Hualcayan. Luckily Huaraz and Hualcayan are at a similar altitude so I can continue acclimating in a real city, with internet and a bed.
So far travel has gone well. I had a hiccup at the Miami airport but thats to be expected. I went straight from a 5 hour plane ride to the bus station, then a 10 hour bus ride from there. After spending the night sleeping in Caraz, I took an 1 1/2 car ride up to the site.
The students wont arrive till Monday — which is why Beth, Kathryn and I have taken the weekend off to relax in Huaraz. We have 10 students this session, plus a few more crew chiefs coming in. Excited to get back to Operation 1! The same mound I worked on last year. The operation has now been dubbed “The Labyrinth” because of all the crazy walls and rooms we were finding! Can’t wait to see what other secrets Hualcayan will expose.
Will try to post again before leaving Monday morning! Chao!
Hello Everyone — in case you’re interested, plugin these coordinates into google earth (or google maps if you don’t have earth). Zoom into where the green arrow pops up, see that light green “circular” shape, that is literally the temple mound I will be continuing to excavate this summer.
if you zoom out just a little more, you can see the houses from the village of Hualcayan where we’ll be staying.
8°53’38.68”S, 77°47’53.60”W
Upcoming Adventures in Ancash
I’m going to test and see if I can access and update tumblr from my kindle. If so I may use this little blog to attempt to update people on the excavations and my travels in Peru. My kindle seems to be the only reliable (though archaic) internet access I have at the site. I’ll post pictures when I can. 2 weeks to go till I land in Lima and take a 10 hour bus ride to Caraz. Then its up to Hualcayan for 10 weeks (with a 2 week break in between (June 21-July 4th). If I don’t have the opportunity to update on my kindle. I’ll post pictures and stories during my break and when I return.
The majority of my trip will be in Ancash — which is the department (similar to a State in the US) which encompasses Caraz, Huaraz, the site of Hualcayan, and my LSU advisor’s site(s) in the Nepena valley. I will also take a side trip to Cusco to visit my dad and attend the Inti Raymi ceremony (the Inca festival of the sun). All and all it’s going to be a good summer.
As always the cow is coming with me…the Peruvians seem to get a kick out of a “gringa” and her vaca suitcase. And who am I to disappoint?
Plane ticket purchased! 17 days till I fly out for Hualcayan. Peru I am coming for YOU and all your goodness.
Pitt
Just Got Admit letter from the University of Pittsburgh! WHAT?!
Floating on cloud 9 right about now. Also I think it is odd that out of all the schools I applied to, the ones with large cat mascots are the ones that accepted me.
Hmmmmmmmm…I’ll take that as a crazy cat lady sign for a bright future!
Peru. NOM NOM NOM!
Today I received an email telling me I was accepted to Louisiana State University. On top of that I was awarded the Huel D. Perkins Fellowship in Diversity, which will supply me with 4 years of full funding. I can finally exhale and know that everything I’ve worked so hard for is falling into place. Thank you Pachamama and the Apus. <3 Andean Archaeology I’m coming for youuuuuuuuuuu!!
Part 4 of the Peru Series is out today in Popular Archaeology!
http://popular-archaeology.com/issue/march-2012/article/ancient-peru-the-early-intermediate
This. Book. How could anyone not want this book? If you tell me that you will never come across human and faunal remains together EVER in your entire career as a bioarchaeologist, well, I will probably have to call you a liar. This book is amazing and outrageously expensive. Make sure to write this bad boy into a grant!
Need to get this, not only for myself but for Craig. He’s always sending me pictures of deer or bear bones and asking if they’re humanz!
Title: Human and Nonhuman Bone Identification- A Color Atlas
Author: Diane France
(via zomganthro)
Oh little town of Hualcayan….
Photo is of me this past summer working as a teaching assistant at an archaeological field school in the Cajellon de Huaylas, Peru. The site was called Hualcayan and our excavations focused on the Early Horizon and Early Intermediate Period. I took a hike up to Ragapunta, a site that was located on the mountain top over Hualcayan (11,000ft). This photo was taken from about 3/4 up to Ragapunta, near the top of where the ancient Hualcayainos built their canal. The little town of Hualcayan is seen down below
For more information on the dig, or upcoming field school (of which I will also be working this summer), checkout the PIARA website: http://www.piaraperu.org/
