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Cross Post with Josh Gurrero's 15 Questions with an Archaeologist feat. Michaela Mauriello - Ep 25
34 Plays3 years ago
Welcome to the second take over episode! This time Michaela was interviewed for the podcast 15 Questions with an Archaeologist with Joshua Gurrero with the Southeast Archeological Center. This episode aired on his channel 1 February 2021. Be sure to check out his channel and the other amazing interviews he has conducted.
Links
- 15 Questions with an Archaeologist
- Josh and Michaela's episode
- Josh and Michaela's YouTube episode
- Josh's YouTube Channel
Contact
- Show
- Twitter: @idigitpodcast
- Email: [email protected]
- Alyssa
- Instagram: aal.archaeology
- Twitter: Lyssakemi
- Michaela
- Instagram: mm_digitalized
- Twitter: m_mauriello
Affiliates
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to the Podcasts
00:00:00
Speaker
You're listening to the Archaeology Podcast Network. You're listening to the iDicket Podcast, a podcast where we talk about the student perspective of navigating the world of archaeology and anthropology. I'm your host, Michaela. And I'm your host, Alyssa.
00:00:23
Speaker
And welcome to today's episode. If you can't tell, we're doing something a little bit different again.
Podcast Interview Highlights
00:00:29
Speaker
A few episodes ago, we posted Alyssa's interview with Josh Guerrero from the Southeast Archaeological Center. And this week will be Michaela as well. My interview with Josh and his podcast series, 15 questions with an archaeologist. It was definitely interesting to be on the receiving end of an interview as I'm used to giving interviews, not being
00:00:51
Speaker
in interviews. Yes, that makes sense in my head. But Josh is a phenomenal host and I really enjoy looking at his other podcasts and watching the videos and listening to them. And so be sure to check out his website and YouTube channel. And I hope you enjoyed the episode.
Josh Guerrero on '15 Questions with an Archaeologist'
00:01:09
Speaker
Hello, everyone, and welcome to 15 questions with an archaeologist brought to you by the National Park Service Southeast Archaeological Center. I'm Josh Guerrero, and I'm your host. And this is the show where we're trying to collect as many interviews as we can, where we ask 15 questions with an archaeologist. Each podcast episode will feature one archaeologist answering the same 15 questions.
00:01:29
Speaker
I think it's going to be fun and we just might learn something. And joining me today, I have Michaela Mariello, who is one of the co-hosts of the I Dig It podcast and is currently working in CRM at
Michaela's Role and Transition in Archaeology
00:01:40
Speaker
ACOM. So Michaela, thanks so much for taking the time for joining me today and welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. Excited to be here.
00:01:47
Speaker
Yeah, I've been looking forward to chatting with you. I just chatted with your co-host Alyssa a couple of days ago, and I got the two of you kicking off this 2021 season of 15 questions with an archeologist. And I've been looking forward to this because we have a little bit of overlap in our experiences. You and I were both on the ground at York for a time, doing some studying over there.
00:02:14
Speaker
Yeah. All right. So, but we'll get into that, of course, but just to kind of kick things off, I just want to, you know, learn a little bit more about you and, you know, what is it that you do over at ACOM and, you know, what is it that you kind of do as the co-host for the iDigit podcast?
00:02:30
Speaker
Yeah. So at ACOM, I just started back in August, which is great, getting a job in the middle of the pandemic. Nice. Well, congratulations. Thanks. It's my first real like CRM job because it's like having me out in the field doing things, doing surveys, monitoring. And I'm just like, this is all news to me because I focus more on digital archaeology. So
00:02:53
Speaker
being on the ground doing actual fieldwork is so exciting to me, other than just like being on my desk in the computer, doing all the digital stuff there is. And so it's been a fun time so far. It's been a little slump right now because of being a winter season, even in California, there's not a lot happening construction wise and all that fun stuff.
00:03:17
Speaker
But it's the perfect time to do surveys because everything is cold. There's no fires. There actually is a fire in Southern California right now, besides the point. There's like no real fires. It's not a hundred degrees outside. So going out and doing surveys is ideal.
Starting the iDigit Podcast
00:03:33
Speaker
For the iDigit podcast, this was an idea that I've had for a couple of years now. I kind of started the beginning of the pandemic.
00:03:44
Speaker
back in March and I really wanted to start an archaeology podcast and I was looking at microphones wanting to start doing it and like actually having a whole session like a whole series rather than just like making one posting it on SoundCloud and I was like who who can I do this with I can't just do it by myself I'm terrible at like keeping myself on track
00:04:04
Speaker
And I was like, Alyssa, duh, like my best friend that I made at my master's. Okay. So then I messaged her saying, Hey, what would you think about doing this? And she was totally for it. And we got started on that almost right away. And we'd like created all our social media accounts and got in touch with the archeology podcast network, like even before the first episode came out.
00:04:27
Speaker
And so with that, I also edit the podcasts and record them and all that fun stuff. And yeah. Okay, cool. And it is helpful, I imagine, to have a co-host doing the podcast with you because, you know, I host this podcast and I also host my personal podcast that I run. And when you're doing it solo, it's like, not only are you the host, but you're also the editor, you're the producer, you're the marketer.
00:04:58
Speaker
It's a lot of work. And then it's just like, well, oh, I can just not do it. And then it's like few months later and you're just, I forgot that I wanted to make this a series. Whoops.
00:05:08
Speaker
And then with the Archaeology Podcast Network, when they took us on there, basically our producers now, and they've like, we just give them ad space in our episodes and then they take it. They put us onto the website, put us on all the streaming platforms. It's so nice and so convenient, but it's like takes so much pressure off my plate. And that just for me, it's just like setting everything up and editing.
00:05:31
Speaker
and editing takes a few hours depending on what happens. It's like, I can't even imagine how it is with videos and having to do all that too. Someone's like, Oh, that's a whole other spectrum. Yeah. Well, it's, it's a little bit straightforward to, um, more or less, I just got to overlay audio with, uh, video and, you know, just some basic, uh, software. So it's not quite as complex as like,
00:05:54
Speaker
full blown YouTubers who have like, you know, floating texts and, you know, all these like effects and all that sort of stuff. So, but it's still either way, though, it still takes a good while.
00:06:06
Speaker
So yeah, you kind of have to have a little bit of a passion for this. Yeah. For sure.
Passion for Digital Archaeology and VR
00:06:12
Speaker
All right. So you mentioned a little bit about digital archaeology in there. And so that kind of makes me curious to ask you this next question. And that is if money were no object whatsoever, what type of archaeology would you do? Do you think you would kind of focus more on this digital archaeology as you are now or might you actually pursue something different?
00:06:32
Speaker
I think it would still be digital archaeology because there's still so much money that can be invested into it, especially like I go more into virtual reality and like video gaming, archaeo gaming. And so with this cost a lot of money and being able to do a bunch of reconstructions, 3D modeling and
00:06:55
Speaker
It can take a lot of time and a lot of labor involved and not just from the person like me, the individual, but like a whole team of people putting all this together. A lot of things can happen. And so having no budget limit, no money, that would be great. And especially with like underwater digital archeology.
00:07:19
Speaker
That I think is the dream right there. I've never done underwater archeology. That's always been a goal of mine, but that with the digital.
00:07:28
Speaker
It's at the tip top. Oh yeah. I would actually love to see some good digital reconstructions of like some of the shipwrecks that I've dove in the past. That would be pretty amazing. Lots of lots. I think we're going to get some ideas coming forth in this conversation, Michaela. All right. Good. I like them with good thinking. Back and forth right here.
00:07:49
Speaker
All right. Right on. All right.
Educational Journey in Digital Heritage
00:07:51
Speaker
But what I have for you next is I want to ask you a little bit about your education. As we mentioned at the start of our conversation that we both spent some time in York studying there. So tell us a little bit more about what your education journey has been like, where have you studied, and why have you chosen to study at the locations that you went to?
00:08:14
Speaker
So I guess starting with my bachelor's, I guess, I guess that's the first degree. And so I went to my bachelor's right out of high school. I went to California State University, Long Beach in California. And basically I went there because it was the easiest option for me because of the Cal Grants and FAFSA and stuff like that. And I'm like, for a bachelor's, I would want to stay more local. And
00:08:40
Speaker
Like I don't want to take out loans for it basically. And I knew the Cal State Long Beach had a good anthropology program. I was like for a bachelor's, but for everything else after that, oh yeah, I'll take out money if I can't get funding. And like 18 year old Michaela just didn't know anything about funding or anything like that. Cause my high school like didn't tell us anything about anything about college. So it's just like, okay, let's go off into the world. It's like what wings we have wings. That's insane.
00:09:10
Speaker
And so I went to Cal State Long Beach and they had an amazing, I really liked their anthropology program. And so that's why I started to pursue them. And I went in there into archaeology and kind of was dissuaded because of the lectures and just didn't work out too well. So I went mainly into virtual anthropology, sorry, visual anthropology.
00:09:36
Speaker
So with that, I was going more visual side and making films, podcasts, a 3D film, sorry, not 3D, 360 films, and just being able to discover anthropology in that light. And then I was thinking of,
00:09:52
Speaker
This would be so interesting as archaeology. I don't know if this exists. You see like those 3D reconstructions of these old sites and everything and you can have those like flyover views, but I haven't seen anything VR related. Like this would be really cool in VR. And I went on a field school in Bulgaria in 2017, like right before I graduated from my undergrad. I was like graduating in December 2017, so this was
00:10:23
Speaker
uh July and August and on the way there I went into Bulgaria. I took two weeks prior to that and I traveled around like eastern central Europe just
00:10:34
Speaker
because it's like, oh, just like a little road trip. I'm going to take myself to Bulgaria. My brother came along with me, taking little sister to school. And he was asking me all these like archaeology questions being like, why do you want to go into archaeology? I'm like, I don't even know. This is kind of like my last effort. Like, do I actually want this? Should I go more anthropology? And then I had this like brain blast of I'm going to look up virtual reality and archaeology and using it in museums and archaeological sites, yada, yada.
00:11:04
Speaker
And so I did that and the first thing that came up in my Google search was the University of York.
00:11:10
Speaker
And so then that's when I looked into the program and was like, this is insane. This is their digital heritage program for archeology. And the proof, the director at the time, Dr. Sarah Perry was the, her email was there. So I'm like, I'm going to, I'm going to send her an email. I've just found this program. I'm very interested. So I sent an email being like, this is what I'm interested in. How is this looking for this university? Is this what this program offers? Like immediate response within like the next day. Obviously it helps because I was.
00:11:40
Speaker
in Europe at the time. So it's like the time change was fine. The time difference, there we go. And she was saying, yeah, that sounds exactly what this program has to offer. And then we kept corresponding and a few months later got accepted to the University of York. And then I went on from there just right out of my undergrad a year later from December, but yeah.
00:12:05
Speaker
Right. Well, you're definitely in good hands because, you know, Sarah Perry's amazing. And, you know, she's been a guest on this podcast before and her and I have became friends since my time at York as well. So you definitely in good hands. And, you know, and I think she's actually transitioned. I think she's at museum of London archeology now. So they've got a valuable asset under their wing now. So
00:12:29
Speaker
I'm so proud of her. Yeah, right on. All right, so very cool. So you've come a long way. And of course, you've gotten to study in some pretty amazing places. You also mentioned field school in Bulgaria, and then of course your time at York.
Field School Experience in Bulgaria
00:12:44
Speaker
So I'm curious to ask you about some of the most interesting sites that you've gotten to work on so far. And I guess I could apply this question to either sites that you physically went to and were digging at.
00:12:56
Speaker
or maybe sites that you've gotten to work with in the realm of creating digital archaeology as well. So what kind of comes to mind? I really want to say Bulgaria, and I don't know if it's just like a, not a bias, it's like I spent the most amount of time there because I was there for a month, which I guess is kind of not that long. But when you're there, it's your first like real
00:13:22
Speaker
field experience. Um, it goes by quick though. You're right. It really does. It's like, wait, it's already over. And since it's split up sometimes in like two weeks and two weeks, or you can say it whole four weeks that the first two weeks people just kind of come and go, then there's like another two weeks and you're just like, who are you? This is fun though. But that one was definitely my, I think it was my favorite. It was my most educational. It really gave me a look into the field.
00:13:49
Speaker
I got to do all sorts of things with waking up at six in the morning, going into the field, digging in the trenches, and working on this hilltop site in Bulgaria. And I had one of the oldest preserved waddle and dob walls in the region. And it was really amazing. And I think also the directors that were there really set the tone. Because you could have really good directors
00:14:16
Speaker
ones that are a little bit stricter. And I haven't had like a really strict director, but I've heard stories. I've heard stories. I'm sure you have as well. Oh yeah, indeed. Yeah. But they're just really cool. Cause they're just like, yeah, take pictures you want. Like everything that you're finding is your effort into this. Like this is your project too. And I'm like, I'm nothing. It's like, who am I to this project? This is my first time here. You guys have been here for five years.
00:14:43
Speaker
And so doing that, and then at that site, they're actually doing photogrammetry of all the layers and artifacts that they're finding, which is exactly what I was looking into for the program at York. And I was just like, this is it, this is my sign, this is where I'm gonna go. And just being there,
00:15:03
Speaker
learning about all these different artifacts and all the processes of analyzing them. And after we would be in the field for the morning to the early afternoon, we would be going into the lab after lunch. And then in the lab, we do all the cleanup and taking photos, categorizing everything and just setting everything up and ready to be sent to the next step, which was at the universities.
00:15:33
Speaker
nearby in Bulgaria and just being a part of that whole program was really cool to me.
00:15:41
Speaker
Yeah, it sure sounds like it. That's amazing. All right. Well, dialing things in a little bit, I want to ask you about artifacts next. I'm sure that this is usually the question that I'm sure most people want to know, what's the coolest artifact that you've ever found, right? So I will ask on their behalf, what are some of the most coolest artifacts that you've ever recovered or worked with?
00:16:07
Speaker
That's always the question. It's like, I've, I really want to say the, um, the coolest artifact was, I think just like being there in like digging things up and especially in Bulgaria, like you're digging things up, you're going to like layer by layer and you find like an almost intact cup and you're just like,
00:16:33
Speaker
This is amazing. You want to hold it by the handle and pretend you're like sipping tea out of it, but you're just like, this is like thousands of years old. Somebody was using this. Somebody was sipping their tea and just kind of being transported back into the past and just imagining this whole entire site as it once was, as you can, as you would imagine it. Like this is how it's supposed to look like. This is what we think it looks like. And then just seeing some random person there just sitting with the cup. And then just that was cool to me.
00:17:03
Speaker
It's like, it's simple, but for me that was my biggest.
00:17:09
Speaker
Yeah, I know exactly what you mean and how unearthing artifacts like that kind of have that sort of, um, I'm not even sure like how, how to, how to describe it. It's like, uh, but as you were kind of describing that, I was sort of thinking of when I was in Northern New Mexico in the Santa Fe national forest, I found a piece of, uh, it was an obsidian projectile point. And I'm thinking to myself,
00:17:33
Speaker
Man, what was it like for whoever just chipped away at this thing to form this projectile point and maybe lashing it to form an arrow and having it notched on a bow to go hunt? And I'm thinking,
00:17:49
Speaker
This is really cool. It's really cool. Yeah. When you kind of transport yourself and travel back in time, figuratively speaking, of course. So yes, I certainly can relate. That's very cool. Right on. All right. So shifting gears a little bit.
Comparing CRM Practices in the US and UK
00:18:06
Speaker
I want to talk a little bit about mentorship because, you know, as you and I were talking about our journey as students, you know, mentors were very critical to our journeys and the development of ourselves as archaeologists. So,
00:18:18
Speaker
And you mentioned Dr. Perry, but who have also been some of your mentors and how have they kind of influenced you along the way? I would have to say, I have two mentors. One was from my undergrad and that was Dr. Steven Russo Schindler. And he was the visual anthropologist that is at the university. He really helped me
00:18:43
Speaker
be validated with my work and just giving me that confidence, helping me obtain my confidence in what I was doing and being like, these are great ideas. Really just guiding me, asking me questions of what I was doing and just being there for me as well.
00:19:04
Speaker
that was really my first mentor that really stuck by me through everything. And we still are in touch and everything and catching up with each other. And he's just like, he's so proud of me. He's always just like, I'm so happy. I got to read his letter of recommendation that he sent to the University of York and it made me cry. And he was just like, I've never written a letter of recommendation this well before.
00:19:30
Speaker
at that time at least, this is like back in 2017. Who knows? He's an amazing professor and I adore him because he's just so out there with his work and his line of thinking and everything that he does where it makes you want to be more than what you are. And then my second
00:19:49
Speaker
was my supervisor at York, Dr. Colleen Morgan, and her digital work is phenomenal. And I loved being under her and learning with her and through her. And she also helped me being able to think broader and more of like what I wanted to do with my master's dissertation. And
00:20:11
Speaker
just being there to answer it for question and just definitely somebody to look up to in a new country. And she's from the States as well. So she definitely knew like the struggle of going abroad and being in a whole different country, even though it's like, it wasn't that much of like a culture shock, but it's still like away from home. So yeah, those are my two big ones.
00:20:37
Speaker
Yeah, right on. And yes, Colleen Morgan is absolutely brilliant. I just remember seeing some of her visual renderings of Chateau Huyuk. And I'm just like, Oh man, this looks amazing. So, and then I did have her for one of my skills module. I was in the field archeology program. So, so yeah, I did take a skills module with her and was really insightful. And I really liked, you know, how she went about
00:21:03
Speaker
conducting the course. Solid mentor to have for sure. Awesome. And we'll be right back after this break. All right. So shifting gears yet again, these few questions here are definitely shifting gears. I want to ask you about, because you've had some experience here in the States, you've had some experience in the UK and in Bulgaria, albeit maybe shorter than some of your other places you've been to.
00:21:30
Speaker
But what country out there do you think sort of handles cultural resource management and archeology the best? Who just seems to get it? Or maybe have you not had the amount of time that you've been to each of the places you've been to? Has it maybe not been enough to actually get a full sense of the picture of what it's like there? But I'm curious as to what your thoughts are on that.
00:21:54
Speaker
I would think for Bulgaria, I did not have enough time to fully gauge. I went through the Balkan Heritage Association or Society, and that was just a small private sector that did archaeology. So that's about all I know for the Bulgarian archaeology off the top of my head. But between the US and UK, which I can talk about more,
00:22:24
Speaker
It's a little difficult because with the US, there's like a lot of newer laws that are being enacted. Cause I guess like, I guess things past modern US history are important. I guess we should care about the indigenous people. So all these like newer laws that have become enacted are very important. And I love still I'm learning more and more about them every day.
00:22:46
Speaker
especially like out in the field, like working with people who have been in CRM way longer than I have and just learning under them. And I'm just like, please teach me more. It's like, I want to learn like, just like tell me to do whatever I'll do it. And I want to say that with that and the UK, I want to say the UK, I feel like still has a little bit better than the US as of right now, especially with just all of the, um,
00:23:16
Speaker
the buildings and the building laws that I'm totally blanking on the names of. Just the inability of being able to just go in and bulldoze buildings wherever they please because they want to build something new. It's like, no, you have to actually go through the city. You have to go through everything in order to get the permits to do that. And maybe you can, maybe you can't. And just such a historically driven island country that
00:23:46
Speaker
It's like you can't do too much, but you still need to be able to live and continue.
00:23:54
Speaker
digging and working on the land as well. And so that I think the UK wins for me right now. Yeah. And then of course in the UK, there's always going to be something to do within the realm of, you know, cultural resource management and archeology. I mean, it's just as much work that's been done there over the years so far. I mean, they're barely scratching the surface.
00:24:21
Speaker
Yeah. But, but yeah, they have done really well. I've noticed that not only with just like, yeah, that the laws that they have in place, but also just like, and maybe you probably noticed this too, but just how involved the public was too, with like every single aspect of like, you know, heritage and archeology within the country as well.
00:24:38
Speaker
Yeah, I know that in York when they're digging up the old Viking settlement on Copper Gate, I think that was like the street in just downtown York or like middle of York. They had like everything blocked off when they were doing the dig and the excavation and everyone was just so excited. Everyone would be around the archaeologists as they were digging and just
00:25:00
Speaker
being fully enthralled with it. And now with the Yorvik Museum, just this whole like immersive experience into what York used to look like. And it's like a whole like ride that's there. And it's like, you just sit in this little buggy and then it just takes you around, gives you all like the nice, nice smells. Smells pretty funky. And just people are enthralled with like learning about York's history, especially.
00:25:24
Speaker
Yeah. Now, speaking of the Yorvick Center, when were you on the ground in York? Like what years were you there? I was there 2018, 2019.
00:25:35
Speaker
Okay. So fairly recently. So the Yorvick Center was open, I'm assuming, while you were there. Yes. Because I was there from 2015 to 2016. And around Christmas time in 2015, there was this major flood that flooded much of York. And basically, the Yorvick Center was closed for pretty much just about a year.
00:25:58
Speaker
like following that because it took that much to because you know it's underground of course and so it took that it took that much to clean it out and get it ready but fortunately I had visited the place before that it happened so yes I got to see the I got to ride the ride and smell the smells that you describe but but but now upon hearing your story I'm glad they're operational again so because that was an amazing place so
00:26:23
Speaker
At least they had been doing fantastic. I don't know what's happening right now because of COVID. So fingers crossed they're all good. Yeah, but hopefully it sounds like no permanent damage from the floods though. Okay. All right, cool. It looks pretty cool.
00:26:40
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. Cause that was a cool place and I definitely enjoyed that for sure. All right. So what I have for you next is I want to ask you a little bit about, uh, volunteers. Um, have you had much chance to work alongside volunteers in places you you've been to, or maybe even had opportunities to be a volunteer yourself at, at some digs? So what does that look, have that look like for you?
00:27:01
Speaker
I was a volunteer at the campus for Cal State Long Beach in 2016. They are doing this reburial project on the actual campus grounds because the campus is built on native grounds.
00:27:17
Speaker
There's this big convoluted history with this project itself that it will take like a million years to tell, but eventually it took them years to be able to finally get some archaeologists on the ground in order to start doing a little bit of digging just to see if anything was in this particular spot while they're getting everything ready for the reburial.
00:27:41
Speaker
And I volunteered my time because I was like, yay, experience, yay, free experience. It was a couple months there and it was just on the campus. I was able to go home, come back, just easy peasy. And that was really cool. Only found some shells. It was just a little midden pile, but it was really cool. Like that was my first like real, like actual digging experience.
00:28:05
Speaker
And then, so there I also worked along other volunteers because everyone's just there to help out and be a part of the team in the archaeology department. It was like a small little team, maybe there was five or six of us per session. And then in Bulgaria too, that was
00:28:22
Speaker
there were volunteers there. I don't know if like, I guess field schoolers count as volunteers, just paying volunteers. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we'll go with that. Okay. Um, but for there, there were volunteers from the universities of, um, new, new Sophia University in Bulgaria and Sophia and
00:28:45
Speaker
they came down with the Bulgarian team and then there's also a German team because the two directors were from Bulgaria in Germany and the team from Bulgaria there was volunteers just to help out and be there and get
Volunteering in Archaeology
00:28:59
Speaker
some credit. I don't know if they got credit but they just got the experience of being there and they're just happy to be there. There are just
00:29:07
Speaker
Like, I don't know, everyone who I've worked with has just been really eager to be on site with everyone, just been very easy to work with and everyone just flows together. And so that was my experience with volunteers. All right. Cool. All right. So in the next couple of questions that I have for you, this is getting to what I say is the core of what it means to be an archeologist. And the first of those two questions is what is just the best part about being an archeologist?
00:29:38
Speaker
just being there. And just like I said earlier as well, it's you're transported, transported, transported, transported into like the past and you're able to help see like the bigger picture and just being a part of what's going on, being able to learn about the site, the people, artifacts, what things were used and reused for. And to me, that's,
00:30:06
Speaker
what it is with being an archaeologist, you're learning, you're always learning. I guess it's like you expect something but sometimes you don't get what you expect and that's the most exciting part. Everything is an adventure and so you just get to go and learn and
00:30:30
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. It's a difficult question. Yeah. It's, um, well, there's, there's a lot of great things to this lifestyle, uh, for sure. And, and, and also you make an interesting point about how you're always learning is because basically when you make the decision, become an archeologist, you're basically
00:30:49
Speaker
becoming a lifelong student basically because the field, the career field is constantly changing. You know, there's everything from new laws to new technology, to new methods, new theories and the works. And my supervisor retired earlier this year
00:31:06
Speaker
And I remember having a conversation with him and I asked him, I'm sure probably even now, sir, as you're getting close to retirement, there's probably still a lot of things that you probably don't know and are still learning. He's like, yeah, that's basically how it goes. But it's an exciting part of it too, to always just see your growth as you go. For sure. Yeah. All right. But on the flip side though, what would you say is the worst part about being an archaeologist?
00:31:37
Speaker
I feel like the inconsistency and especially on the job market, how there might be jobs, there might not be jobs, it's kind of about who you know to help you get into where you want to be. And for that, it's a little bit difficult, especially if you don't have that sort of
00:31:54
Speaker
background and especially if you're just coming into archaeology is like fresh out of your undergrad or fresh out of your master's and it's like okay I've just spent all my time to go into field schools and education working like I've made connections how do I use these connections and just figuring out how to juggle networking with trying to find a job in your field and I feel like that for me has been the hardest part
00:32:22
Speaker
Yeah, it's tough to get traction at first when you're starting out. And yeah, I've experienced that. It's been a lot of temporary positions, seasonal term positions. And you might be at that for a while before you find something a little bit more permanent. And of course, you're kind of in the private sector. I'm in the federal sector. So you got those different avenues that you can choose to. So yeah, it can be a bumpy start.
00:32:50
Speaker
All right.
Impact of Maurizio Forte on Digital Archaeology
00:32:54
Speaker
So what I have for you next is, this is a tribute to the right stuff, which is a wonderful novel written by Tom Wolf. I would like to ask you, who is the greatest archeologist that you have ever seen? That's a question.
00:33:10
Speaker
There's just so many archaeologists, and with all the different sites out there, it's hard to attribute the works of looking at an entire site to one person. But I would have to say right now is Maurizio Forte, and he does really amazing virtual reality, virtual archaeology work mainly.
00:33:32
Speaker
And he's been writing about this since the 90s, since kind of like the beginning of virtual archaeology itself. And just his visualization of how this virtual and digital world that we are now living in is going to be affecting archaeology and how it has affected archaeology.
00:33:50
Speaker
And he continues publishing articles and books and just being like, okay, so we talked about cyber archeology back in the nineties. Now let's redefine this now. And what does it mean? And to me, that type of mentality and that type of work of being able to notice these changes over the last few decades and still writing about them and being eager to continue forward with these.
00:34:15
Speaker
ventures in the digital world instead of being like, no, no, we have to go back to how the digital archaeology was in the 90s or like that and just staying like that. And it's like, no, we have to progress forward because the world is always changing. So with that, Forte is definitely the top of my list right now.
00:34:34
Speaker
Okay. All right. Very, very good. All right. So what I have for you next are a couple of fun questions. And these are questions that I'm sure all archeologists have been asked at one point in time. So you're going to get asked these as well. And the first of those is, have you ever found a dinosaur? Yeah, no, I can't say that I have much to a lot of people's dismay.
00:35:01
Speaker
Well, it sounds like in that case, you were doing everything in the field correctly. Cause if you did find a dinosaur, you probably dug too deep. So you're not just supposed to dig straight down. Oh, you have to go on silly Michaela. Yeah. You're supposed to take off layers a little bit at a time. You know, man, I gotta go back. I gotta go back to school for a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You might have to go back to Bulgaria, which actually might be kind of nice.
00:35:27
Speaker
I mean, honestly, it wasn't bad. All right. And we'll be back after this break. All right. All right. So the next question that I have going along these same lines and that is, uh, how do you feel about Indiana Jones? Um, movies. All right. They're, they're classic Indiana Jones himself as a doctor. I'm not a fan of him or his work.
00:35:58
Speaker
It's like, who just goes in and you just, I know it's the forties, forties were a different time, now we have new laws. But what, what would it like have him just go into these areas and just start taking things and just like, oh, and also taking the women with them being like, you like me, right? And just being like, oh, by the way, this artifact, it belongs in a museum. It's like, no, no, it doesn't.
00:36:22
Speaker
Yes. So those are my opinions of Indiana Jones. Yeah. Yeah. And when I was asked this question to Alyssa, it was and I'm like, and every place Indiana Jones gets destroyed, it's like every temple he visit, it gets destroyed.
00:36:38
Speaker
Like everything's getting blown up or destroyed. Did he even document anything or did he just go and be like, Oh, this is supposed to be right here and then take it. Then everything just explodes. What about him?
00:36:54
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, you know, good, entertaining, you know, action and adventure franchise films. But I mean, I don't think like, you know, if we're going to go to field school, I don't know if we should use those movies as like, you know, teaching aids. Maybe not. But I would say that they are good, not a teaching aid, but getting people to look into archaeology and feel like
00:37:15
Speaker
I'm a kid, I want to be an archaeologist." And then that was their first introduction with archaeology. It might just not be as romanticized as that, but it's pretty cool. And I'm totally biased by saying that. Yeah, you know, and then, you know, I'm a fan of Harrison Ford and, you know, if we got Harrison Ford representing archaeology in a matter of speaking, hey, I'm all for it too. I'm not opposed.
00:37:41
Speaker
All right, very cool. And I'm sure we could probably get down a rabbit hole of archaeology and media and pop culture. But I got a couple more questions that I want to ask you, Michaela. And this is kind of, I guess I'd say, wrapping up on a serious note. And the first question that I have for you wrapping up is, what advice would you give young people, or maybe just even anyone for that matter, who may be seeking to make a career in archaeology?
Advice for Aspiring Archaeologists
00:38:09
Speaker
I would have to say just don't give up. It can be daunting at times and seemingly hard and
00:38:18
Speaker
you can might catch up on little hurdles in the road. But I mean, life itself is a roller coaster. There's ups and downs. If it was just a single straight line, what's what is there? So what that goes with also archeology, you might have professors that you really enjoy and that really get you riled up for archeology. And those just might dissuade you from archeology. And those are from my experiences. But from that, I was able to find what I really enjoyed with it. And I just like,
00:38:47
Speaker
had that like light bulb moment I just like zoomed on forward. And so just keep with the momentum and keep with yourself and you know yourself more than anybody else knows you and just keep moving forward with it.
00:39:01
Speaker
Yeah. That's great advice, not only in archaeology, but in life as well. So I appreciate that right on. All right. And the last question that I have for you, and this is a pretty big one too.
Public's Role in Protecting Archaeological Sites
00:39:14
Speaker
What can the general public do to help protect archaeological sites?
00:39:21
Speaker
Well, it's not like you can tell people to not go to places, especially when there are visitor centers and everything, but just doing your part and keeping on trails, not littering and being there to just see the site, but don't try to go into it or destroy it and vandalize and all that.
00:39:43
Speaker
all that jazz and just help with the donations to keep the site and keep the site helping the preservation of it. And I think that's all I have for the public. Yeah. You know, we leave no trace basically, you know, which is, you know, pretty straightforward, you know, on any sort of like a public lands out there that you would go visit. So for sure. All right. Right on.
00:40:09
Speaker
All right.
Episode Wrap-up and Contact Information
00:40:10
Speaker
Well, Michaela, that's it. That's all 15 questions all wrapped up. But before we close out here, where can our listeners go to connect with you? You're kind of out there in the social media space. And of course, you got the podcast out there too. So where can our listeners go tune in to that? So websites, social media, basically an elevator pitch if you had to give one on this. What do you got?
00:40:37
Speaker
Tune in to the iDigit Podcast. New episodes come out every other Fridays. You can find us at the archaeologypodcastnetwork.com slash iDigit. On our Instagram, iDigit Podcast and Twitter at iDigit Podcast as well. You can also shoot us an email at idigitpodcast at gmail.com. Then you can find me personally on Twitter at m underscore mariello and Instagram at mm underscore digitalized.
00:41:04
Speaker
Okay. I'm glad to see that you came ready with those. So, so, and, and I'll also have all those linked up in the show notes for our listeners can go and find it there, make it nice and quick and convenient for them. All right. Well, Michaela, I want to thank you very much for taking the time for joining me today. It's been great to getting to connect with you also getting to connect with Alyssa as well. And you know, you both are doing a great work, so keep it up. And, uh,
00:41:31
Speaker
Thank you so much for being here and sharing all this with myself and the listeners. You know, it's been fantastic. Thank you so much for having me. It was wonderful talking with you.
00:41:39
Speaker
All right. Absolutely. Right on. All right, everyone. That's our show for today. Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at NPSCAC. That is at NPSSEAC and be on the lookout for more episodes of 15 questions with an archeologist dropping at the first of every single month. And please remember that since we work for the government, we spell archeology without the A in the E. So it's just a little bit different when you read it in the title. Thanks so much for tuning in today. I'm Josh Guerrero, and I'll see you in the next episode.
00:42:08
Speaker
And thanks for listening. I hope you guys enjoyed the episode. Be sure to check out Josh's links, which I will be posting in the description for this episode. And check out our Discord, Instagram. We don't really go on Twitter. We should start doing that again. Maybe TikTok. I don't really know. The world is the limit. And be sure to have any questions, comments, concerns, ideas. Be sure to DM us or email us at idigapodcast at gmail.com.
00:42:37
Speaker
See you guys next time. Bye!
00:42:53
Speaker
This show is produced by the Archaeology Podcast Network, Chris Webster and Tristan Boyle, in Reno, Nevada at the Reno Collective. This has been a presentation of the Archaeology Podcast Network. Visit us on the web for show notes and other podcasts at www.archpodnet.com. Contact us at chris at archaeologypodcastnetwork.com.