Day 16, June 18

Research and discussion were the main events of the day. It was tiring in the way that long meetings are, but we got quite a bit accomplished that was necessary. The professors met us in the morning at the barn to finally start talking about our personal projects. Some of the ideas worked others needed tweaking. It’s a very difficult challenge to come up with a question that is both interesting and doable with the time and resources that we have. I was able to stick with the question that I presented about the context and form of the walls lining the southern slope. It was interesting to see the plethora of different perspectives and idea that were formed. It is helpful to have people of many different backgrounds within the group. Scott is working on some underwater bathymetry and archaeology and Jeanette is mapping the cliff faces looking for caves, both of which are projects I considered. I’m glad that someone is doing them and am excited to see what comes of it. I have a feeling I’ll take a few moments to look over their shoulder as they work on their cool projects. I also hope to see the GPR in action even if I’m not personally using it.
Dr. Wechsler gave me a tool to measure angle as well as a range finder to use, both of will be very useful. Jessica and I will still be able to work together even though we have our separate projects, they complement each other well. I am very glad to have her to bounce ideas off of. Feedback is critical in being successful in my opinion. The discussion process took a considerable portion of the morning. After lunch we reconvened in order to do some more talking, this time about more technical and clerical matters. We spoke about the different file naming conventions, picture storage methods, geodatabase management, and metadata standards. It’s not exactly the most titillating topic but it is something that had to be discussed. Data management is extremely important in order to keep things running as smoothly as possible. I’m so grateful that we have Greg and Kerry around. They do so much work for the group and I know that everyone really appreciates it. They always take on extra side jobs to add to the common resources.
The rest of the evening was spent researching and deciding on a methodology to follow. I will probably have to create a new data dictionary for my own personal project separate from the common archaeology project one I have been using up to this point. Finding and reading some supplementary literature and collecting some relevant shapefiles to add to my geodatabase was also a big part. After dinner and a small fridge fiasco I decided to take a walk as usual. I certainly needed to stretch my legs after being indoors all day. I am now finishing up my research design proposal write up and am hoping to make it an early night.