Preparing for Fieldwork in Tanzania

As I have covered packing for fieldwork I thought I would cover some of the logistical issues one has to deal with when coming to Tanzania. I also thought this might be of interest to friends and family who just see me come and go each year and may not actually know all the work involved. Some of these tips will be useful for travel to other parts of the world but most are specific to Tanzania.

Before you go:

Apply for funding. This is a whole other world of pain and you will often be applying for funding before, during, and after fieldwork.

Apply for research clearance from COSTECH (The Tanzanian Commission on Science and Technology) for all participants. This should be done approximately 6 months you go. It costs $50 USD to apply (one fee for the single application, does not matter how many people are associated with the project) and $300 USD per person for the permit once approved. It helps to notify the Director of the Department of Antiquities (Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism) that you are applying for COSTECH clearance as they will be reviewing your file. You will not be able to receive an excavation permit without COSTECH clearance and will not receive COSTECH clearance without approval of Antiquities. You are required to have a local collaborator for your COSTECH application so it is best to have positive working relationships with your Tanzanian colleagues. http://www.costech.or.tz

Once you have received notice of approval from COSTECH you can apply for your visa from the Tanzanian High Commission in Ottawa. You will have to have a Tanzanian colleague located in Tanzania assist you as you will need to include copies of your COSTECH permits with this application. Your colleague can pick them up at COSTECH and pay for them ($300 USD per person) then scan them in and email the scans to you. Single entry visas cost $75 CND and multiple entry cost $150 CND http://www.tzrepottawa.ca/home.htm

Book your flights. This can occur at any point during the planning process.

Get vaccinations and get prescriptions for anti-malarial pills. If you have not travelled to Tanzania, it is best to go to the Traveler’s Health Clinic as they are specifically trained for informing you about what is required and other associated travel health risks. If you just require an anti-malarial prescription, it is best to just visit your family doctor as the Traveler’s Health Clinic will charge you a $48 fee.

Check in with the appropriate people in your department, and any other appropriate office at your University.

Return any collections you may have borrowed for study in previous years.

Register with the Canadian High Commission in Dar es Salaam via their webpage (www.travel.gc.ca). This ensures that should any issue arrive which may prove a concern to your safety, the High Commission can contact you and get you out if necessary.

Get USD. Traveler’s cheques are becoming difficult to change anywhere in Tanzania but Dar es Salaam. US dollars in $20, $50, and $100 denominations work best. Do not worry about getting Tanzanian shillings (TSH) before you go. You can readily change these at the airport upon arrival (and you can get surprisingly good rates with no fees all over the place).

Upon arrival:

Visit the Department of Antiquities to drop off your application for an Excavation License. Again you can speed up the process if you have a colleague drop this off before you even arrive. Your application includes a short project proposal and budget. 5% of this budget is what you will pay for the excavation permit. Once your proposal has been approved you will be asked to pay your fee which you can do in USD or by traveler’s cheques. You will then receive a copy of the License which will notify you as to who is your Antiquities Officer. This Officer will accompany you during your entire field season. You are required to pay them a salary and cover their room and expenses. They will write up letters of introduction for you which are necessary for visiting government offices in your particular study area.

Arrange for transportation. You can hire a 4 wheel drive vehicle and driver from one of many reputable safari or car rental companies. You will generally pay a flat fee, plus kilometers, plus gas, plus room, food, and salary for the driver. It is worth the expense as your driver is also a mechanic and will ensure that your vehicle remains in working condition.

Visit the Tanzanian Department of Immigration (Uhamiaji). You will be required to have your immigration status changed to a Class C which will allow you to undertake research during your visit (your visa just gets you in the country). It will cost $120 USD and can take weeks to process. It is a grueling process and it is highly recommended you visit this office with a Tanzanian colleague who can help facilitate the process. You will have to fill out a form (in duplicate), provide 5 passport photos, and copies of your Curriculum Vitae (CV), COSTECH permit, passport photo and passport visa pages. You submit your application and will be given an receipt which provides the date for your appointment. At this appointment you should be able to pay for your Class C residence permit. Hopefully you will be able to receive your permit at this time (or sometime that day); often you are told to return in a few days. Plan on needing at least 10 – 14 days for this step alone.

Acquire any supplies you need that you did not bring with you or cannot acquire in your study area.

Coordinate your team as to when you are departing.

Once all the steps above are completed you can finally head out to the field. We usually are in Dar for 10 days before being able to leave for fieldwork. Be prepared to spend many hours waiting around in offices. Getting frustrated will not help but you must be persistent. Do not leave until you have spoken to someone and do not hesitate to return to offices day after day to make sure something is being done. Again if you can have a local colleague help you out do so; this process can be moved along much quicker with help than if you attempt to do it all on your own. Good luck!

Packing for Fieldwork: 8 Tips

Packing for a long field season abroad is no easy task. Many students struggle with this, especially those who have never traveled for an extended period of time in a foreign country. Even if you have gone backpacking or done some globetrotting during vacations, getting ready for an archaeological field season is an entirely different matter. The most common problem is bringing far too much stuff. Here's a few of my tips as I've found some simple ways to cut down on the clutter. Keep in mind that I basically pack as lightly as possible as I absolutely hate lugging luggage around and always have the end goal of having a lot of space available to bring back souvenirs. Some of these tips are common sense and I'm gearing these mostly towards undergrads going to their first fieldschool, a junior archaeologist heading out on a consulting job for the first time, or grad students conducting their first foreign research project.

1. No books! It is very tempting to bring a veritable library of reference books but the reality is you will simply not use them as much as you think you will. They are not only way heavier than you think they will be, they are also valuable and easily damaged. It is better to scan and/or photocopy in the pages you think you will need - this way you won't be heartbroken when you arrive at your destination to find out your bags have not. This leads to the second tip...

2. ...never travel with anything that can't easily be replaced. My only exception to this rule is my wedding band. I never wear my engagement ring or any other valuable/sentimental jewelry in the field. Even cameras and laptops can be replaced but often what is stored on them cannot so back up your data/documents/photos and store in multiple places back home. This is a good idea anyways - you don't want to lose your nearly completed thesis and have to start all over again because of accidental loss, deletion, theft, fire, dogs, bees, dogs that when they bark shoot bees out of their mouth. I always travel with a couple of flash drives so I can continuously back up my stuff as I go and have multiple copies on me at all times. For fieldschool students and consulting/CRM archaeologists it is likely you will not even need your own computer so you might want to consider giving yourself a break from it by leaving it safe at home.

3. You will need less clothing than you think you will. I recommend three pairs of field pants: one to wear while working, one to wear when not working, one to have in the laundry. Unless you are working in a horribly muddy/hot/humid environment you can probably get away with wearing your shirts more than once between washings without offending everybody else you work/live with. I usually make do with five or six as it is harder to wear a dirty shirt than dirty pants. Do not skimp on underwear though. You'll find you can deal with wearing horribly dirty pants as long as you have clean underwear to put on underneath. If this is going to be your first experience doing archaeological fieldwork, and thus aren't absolutely sure this is what you want to do for the rest of your life, don't spend a fortune on fancy outdoor clothing. It'll get ruined anyways so I always recommend first timers hit up gently used clothing stores like Value Village or Goodwill. This is easier on your student budget and also makes it easier to leave your clothing behind so you can cram your bag full of trinkets and goodies to bring home instead. I did not start spending money on good quality field clothes until after three or four seasons as I knew I would get excellent use out of them. You will spend more time in the field than not in the field so plan accordingly (i.e. bring less clothing to bum around in than field clothes). Generally pack according to the environment in which you will be working - consider climate and culture. For example, avoid blue clothing in regions with malaria as malaria-carrying mosquitoes are attracted to the colour blue. I can leave the rain gear at home when I'm working in Tanzania but need skirts and nice tops (casual business wear) for when I am visiting government offices as it is important to look professional and to also respect local customs/ideals. In many parts of the world, women are expected to dress with a certain degree of modesty so it is important to respect this if you want to have a successful working relationship with local peoples. If you are doing consulting work, find out what the safety regulations are for clothing. You may be required to wear long sleeved tops, pants, or even protective coveralls. Keep in mind that with consulting jobs you are highly mobile. You will be moving from hotel room to hotel room as you work on different projects - you will not want to be lugging around tons of clothes in addition to all the other necessary gear. Also find out what the status on laundry is as this may affect how much you want to take. We have our laundry done at the hotel, which is a nice luxury, but it can take up to four days to get it back so you need to be have enough clothes to wear while the others are being washed.

4. Buy good quality socks. They are expensive but hold up to rough wear and tear including hand washing in rivers and sinks. Get a good pair of hiking boots or hiking shoes. I prefer boots that go above my ankle when doing survey work in rocky or uneven terrain but like a lighter pair of hiking shoes when just excavating. Rubber boots are great when you are in wet environments but get really hot really fast. If you are doing consulting work you may need steel toed boots so don't be afraid to ask what is required. Break them in before you head to the field too. Take care of your feet - unhappy (i.e. blistered, bruised, cramped, hot, cold, sweaty, sore) feet = unhappy you! Again, good quality socks recommended for use with your particular boot is highly recommended (this is not just an "upselling" tactic by sales people - matching your socks and shoes is a really smart thing to do when you are living in them for upwards of 12 hours a day in dirty environments).

5. Don't bring all the beauty products you "absolutely must have to survive" unless you are willing to recognize that they will take up a ton of space. You will spend all day toiling in the dirt. That said, moisturizer and sunscreen are necessary. A few small luxuries are o.k. but your industrial sized blow drier should stay at home. Find out what is available where you are going and consider not taking your own toiletries with you but purchasing them there. For places where this is not an option, simplify by purchasing two-in-one shampoo/conditioners. The reality is that for long trips travel-sized items won't cut it so, again, focus on necessities.

6. Buy a decent broad rimmed hat. Sorry but ball caps just won't cut it. You need something that will protect the back of your neck and the tops of your ears as you are bent over digging all day. You don't have to go for a fancy fedora a la Indiana Jones - any lightweight, U.V. ray blocking varieties will do and are available for around $20 (these are also flexible so are really easy to cram into your bag).

7. Limit your personal archaeological gear kit to items that will not be supplied for you by the project or are not easily purchased where you are going. If you are provided with a gear list then limit your purchases to items on that list. You will acquire other useful objects as you progress in your career. You'll get great tips and tricks from other archaeologists you encounter so your kit will be constantly growing and changing. As with selecting clothing, being familiar with your working conditions will help. I do not need root clippers or small hand saws when working in rockshelters but do need a good rock pick/hammer. Don't buy the biggest (blank) you can find - smaller tape measures and brushes are easier to work with. You will likely be in a 1m x 1m square which means you will not have a lot of space to leave your gear lying around in. I tend to sacrifice clothing so I can bring along a rock hammer or my favourite square trowel but I have regretted that choice a few times - rock hammers are heavy!

8. Remember that you are going on an adventure. Do not get bogged down in packing and worrying about what you should or should not be taking. Focus on the items you cannot live without (see tips above) and leave the rest behind. I always forget something and still manage to do just fine. Talk to other people who have worked where you are going or are planning your fieldschool and follow their advice. The best part of fieldwork, and all traveling, is the experiences you will have while you are away. By leaving behind the luxuries of home you'll enjoy and appreciate them so much more upon your return. Besides it's kinda fun bragging about the "horrible" field conditions you had to endure.

Leave a comment if you found these tips useful or if you have any other packing suggestions. I'll post some general travel tips later.

I *heart* web comics

I love web comics. There are a growing number I follow regularly and I love starting my day by checking to see who has updated their page with a new comic. I have great respect for those imaginative folks who are able to create, realize and share their talents with the world. I thought I'd share some of my favourites (in no particular order) but with the caveat that I'm no comic expert. I just know what I like. With much respect to the authors/artists, I've tried to say a little bit about each comic and I like it.

Order of the Stick by Rich Burlew
www.giantitp.com
Stick people in a D20-gaming world! A simple concept but extremely well executed and well written too. What started off as a simple dungeon crawl has quickly turned into a quest of epic proportions for the members of the Order of the Stick.

Commissoned Comic by Obsidian
www.commissionedcomic.com
Not to play favourites but I think this is my favourite strip. I think it's because this strip has managed to evoke a lot of different emotions for me. I love the art work and O's comments. I laugh at many of the gaming related strips as the situations involved are too true. I cried when he lost one of his beloved kitties and honoured him with a beautiful work of art. He is always experimenting with new techniques while still maintaining a very signature O style. Add this one to your favourites list now.

Gunnerkrigg Court by Tom Siddell
www.gunnerkrigg.com
Gunnerkrigg Court represents an enigma to me. I find the story and characters very fascinating. When you first start reading Gunnerkrigg, the story, setting, and characters all seem pretty straightforward - a young girl is orphaned and is sent to the boarding school her parents attended - but you quickly find that the school (Gunnerkrigg Court) and the girl (Antimony Carver) aren't quite what they seem. I'm always wondering what exactly is going on (there is always more going on then is being revealed at that moment), and what is going to happen.

The Zombie Hunters by Jenny
www.thezombiehunters.com
I love zombies. This comic, like the others listed here, is well written with great characters. It has some very innovative ideas about a post-infection/post-apocalyptic world - something that is very rare in an over saturated zombie market.

Pilled Higher and Deeper (PhD) by Jorge Chan
www.phdcomics.com
Are you a graduate student? If the answer is yes, you should read this comic. Do you know someone who is a graduate student? If the answer is yes, you should read this comic. Do you want to be or know someone who wants to be a graduate student? If the answer is yes, you should read this comic. Just read this comic ok?!

Any others I should check out? Leave me your favourites under comments!

Knowing you know nothing.

"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing."
- Socrates


My colleagues and dear friends at Trent University and I used to joke that our slogan, our motto for our time there as M.A. students was "in vino veritas" or "in wine (there is) the truth". We drank an awful lot of wine during our discussions of all things archaeology which always continued late into the wee hours of the morning. It was a silly slogan but it represents how important it became for us to spend time together, over a glass of wine or not, to hash out our thoughts and feelings during our shared journey.

Now, as I struggle to finish my research and my PhD, I am finding myself reflecting on how little I actually know. When a student sets out to do their PhD, indeed to even get into any graduate programme, they must write a clear, coherent, and hopefully thoughtful 500 word statement entitled something along the lines of "programme of study". It begins with brief introduction which must contain a single sentence thesis statement. It then goes on to briefly provide some background information as to why the questions this statement presents are important and how one is going to attempt to examine/answer/resolve them. As one progresses through their programme, this statement is constantly revised and revisited - especially in archaeology where often the answers one can answer depend on the artifacts available for study (including but not limited to what is recovered during fieldwork). What I set out to do hasn't changed very much (i.e. lithic raw material analysis) but the questions I am going to be able to discuss definitely have. In part this is because of what I've already stated above - we found two sites with stone tool assemblages containing a lot of lithic raw material variability but we failed to find any potential raw material sources to compare them to.

But really it doesn't matter that the questions have changed. What does matter, and what is something that lately dominates my thoughts, is how ill prepared I feel I am in answering these questions.

To clarify: my M.A. research focused on determining the sources of chert raw materials found in an assemblage from southern Ontario. It was a nice neat little M.A. Chert sources in this region have been extensively studied so there are good descriptions of the materials and clear, established methodologies for describing and differentiating them. Despite having very little background in Ontario cherts and Ontario archaeology for that matter, I was able to complete what I feel was a decent M.A. thesis. It does have some problems, especially concerning my analyses of the microfossils, but nothing too horrible. When I first constructed my PhD research programme I figured I'd just apply the same methods and techniques that I used for my M.A. to chert from our Tanzanian assemblages - and hell I'd even expand it to include other non-chert lithic types if we had them because I'd taken a couple of mineralogy courses and had a fairly good grasp (or so I thought) on petrography. Now that I'm up to my eye-balls in thin sections and have tried to apply my preexisting knowledge base and skills to analyzing them, I find myself woefully unprepared. The macroscopic analysis went pretty good. I struggled a little with distinguishing between the various igneous rocks but most archaeologists do thus throw them all in the general raw material category of "volcanics". Part of why I wanted to look at the "volcanics" and try to separate them was because I wasn't a fan of this too general catch-all category.

So I was fairly confident going into the microscopic analysis. I thought I'd start with the cherts seeing as that is what I "know best". I was sorely mistaken. The cherts from our assemblages are nothing like the well known and well described Ontario cherts. Indeed most might not be cherts at all but cherty varieties of other carbonate (sedimentary) rocks. My fall back is always literature review - if I don't know it, I can read about it and learn it. So that's what I'm doing now: learning all about petrography, not just of sedimentary but also igneous and metamorphic rocks. Luckily the literature on these topics is abundant and I'm slowly refining my knowledge which is allowing me to refine and solidify my methodology. Unfortunately it means I'm having to reexamine repeatedly my slides to check and double check what I think, and how I'm interpreting what, I am seeing is correct. I've already realised that once I'm done my analyses I'll need to meet with a thin section petrographer and confirm my results.

But even as I make progress, even as I start to learn and grasp this new information, all I can think about is how I should already know this stuff. I can't help but think that I shouldn't even be doing this seeing how little I really know. My only consolation is in believing that I can't be the only one who has gone through this. Indeed I have a friend who has had similar trials and tribulations with her PhD research. Being able to talk with her has helped keep me going. That's why I write this post today, so that some day another struggling PhD candidate might read this and know they aren't alone.

Hopefully the unspoken sentiment of Socrates' quote is correct: that by recognizing the limitations of our knowledge we find humility. This humility creates a resolve to constantly learn new things, to expand what we know, and in that process continue to fuel the thirst for new knowledge that got us interested our work in the first place.

It takes a lot of arrogance/confidence (even hubris) to get yourself into a PhD programme and through candidacy examinations. I am beginning to think that maybe it takes humility to not just finish but to deserve your PhD.

From Macro to Micro: Characterizing Lithic Raw Materials

This is where I take archaeology and geology, smashing them together in a glorious mess.

In order to source the lithic (stone) raw materials that we recovered in our assemblages (see previous entry "My Research 101" for explanation as to why I am doing this), I am attempting to describe the stone types in a way that is based in geology but is accessible to archaeologists with little or no background in geology. I do have a limited background in geology myself, mostly a few introductory courses along with some upper level ones in sedimentation and stratigraphy, GIS mapping, and mineralogy, but I am not a geologist.

I am describing our lithic artifacts using both macroscopic and microscopic attributes. Macroscopic attributes are those visual characteristics (colour, patination, lustre, mottling, speckling, banding, texture, inclusions, etc.) that you can see via the naked eye. Microscopic characteristics are those that require the use of, obviously, a microscope (preferably a polarizing microscope). These include mineral content and relative proportions, fabric, and texture among many others. The lists of attributes I am recording are derived from those used by geologists to describe and characterize rocks within the three major rock types: igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary.

Macroscopic analysis is frequently not adequate for distinguishing between different rock types thus necessitating the use of microscopic analysis. Further, microscopic analysis often can tell us a lot about the specific formation environment of that particular rock (i.e. it's source). Chert is a great example to further clarify this.

Chert, overall, is highly variable. Within a single formation of chert there can be a considerable amount of variation in it's visual (macroscopic) characteristics. Even if the source is visually homogeneous there may be microscopic variations between the various members of that formation. Thus, when we talk about variation in cherts we can talk about inter-source variation (that between different sources) and intra-source variation (that within a single source). However, inter-source variation can be quite low too. You can have several sources of chert that all look visually the same, so we need to look at the microscopic features of each source individually to distinguish which one is which. We also have to look at a number of samples from each source must be look at in order to account for intra-source variability. Now if we don't have descriptions of the sources, like in this case (we did a field season of survey and were not able to find any potential sources, and this is the first study of its kind to occur in this region so there is no baseline data), we can still look at the microscopic attributes of the cherts to at least determine how many (potential) sources were being used and what formation environments should we expect to find these sources.

So I start by grouping the cherts into "types" based on their macroscopic features. I then sample each "type" for thin sectioning. These thin sections are then analysed for their microscopic attributes and again grouped into "types" based on similarity or difference to each other. Hopefully the macroscopic types will correlate with their microscopic types. If not, that's ok too - what that means is that it is likely there is intra-source variation. Either way I need to then look further at the microscopic attributes of the types to try to connect them to a formation environment. Again, certain microscopic features can allow me to say that this chert was formed in this particular environment over another. The idea is to then go back to the geological maps for the region and identify possible formations that match the microscopic evidence for where the chert could have come from so we can go back into the field and check them out.

Whether I am able to find the sources or not, it is my hope that the method I am using, and the charactertization scheme I am developing, will allow archaeologists working in Tanzania to describe their assemblages in a standardized way. This will then allow us to start to look at similarities and differences in raw material selection and use within and between various regions of the country.

In the future I'll post some pictures to clarify what I've tried to explain above. Eventually, once my research is done, I am going to develop a website where anybody can see descriptions, photos, and microphotographs of all of our raw material types (not just the chert).

Book club for October: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

Last week our book club, "The Bookies", met to discuss our first book of the year "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen. It was a great choice to start off with as it was well received by all.

"Water for Elephants" is simply about a man, Jacob, reflecting back on his time with a train circus,"The Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth", during his 20's. As his recollections of his past become crisp and detailed, Jacob is dismayed to find that his mental acuity in the present day is fading. Indeed he is unsure even as to his own age, though he is quite sure it is either 90 or 93. Often and much to his dismay, he seems to "awaken" from a recollection to find that he was speaking about it out loud. He can no longer keep track of "his people" - the relatives that visit him every sunday though he may recognize certain features in a grandchild or great grandchild (a smile, eyes, a laugh) as belonging to one in particular of his five children.

His own struggle with the affects of aging, in addition to the underlying social commentary on nursing homes, hit home with many of the Bookies. We had a great discussion concerning our own thoughts and fears regarding aging. Particularly, the emotional conflict between wanting to care for own parents in their old age but not wanting to be a burden our (future) children when we are the elderly ones requiring assistance was debated, as was the idea that our society/culture is perhaps too selfish and disposable (i.e. that we do not venerate our elders but "throw our old people away" by placing them in care facilities rather than bringing them into our own homes). A stimulating, but almost melancholic, discussion!

We agreed that one of the major strengths of this novel is that not only are the human characters memorable and interesting, but Gruen does a great job of bringing the individual personalities of the animals in the circus menagerie to life. From Rosie the elephant (who we all wanted more of) to Queenie the terrier, Gruen's animals have as diverse personalities as the humans they interact with. Also evident is the amount of research Gruen conducted on train circuses. The use of photos of actual performers from period circuses adds to both the tone and realism of the story.

Honestly so much more could be said but then you'd miss out on all this fantastic book has to offer.

EAAPP 2009

So let's go back to August and the second conference that I attended in Tanzania. From August 16-21st the 2nd biannual conference of the East African Association for Palaeoanthropology and Palaeontology (EAAPP) convened.It was a traditional scientific conference with speakers from Canada (us!), the United States, Australia, Japan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa (to name a few). It was great to be able to meet so many interesting and talented researchers in the East African community and to also see again many people I'd met last summer at the Society for Africanist Archaeology meeting in Frankfurt, Germany.

The first morning kicked off with an address by Dr. Richard Leakey. This was one of the many highlights of the conference. It was absolutely thrilling to hear him speak. He pulled no punches and addressed a number of key issues including the division amongst the researchers who currently work at Olduvai Gorge, and the need for evolution to be taught in South African school. His proclamation that "fossils are not theory, fossils are fact" drew a hearty round of applause.

My supervisor, myself, and her three other students all presented at EAAPP, and as with the Zinj conference, our research program was well received. I must admit I love giving conference presentations. There is just something about standing up there and putting yourself and your research out there.

The absolute highlight of the conference was the trip out to Olduvai Gorge. It's probably sacreligious to say this but for anthropologists in general going to Olduvai is like making pilgrimage to Mecca. We were given a guided tour of both the FLK Zinj(where Dr. Mary Leakey found Zinjanthropus/Paranthropus boisei) and FLK NN site.




Although, on further reflection, discussing what it means to be an Edmontonian and Canadian while arguing about the validity of the SASES system over drinks with my buddy Ben, Dr. Ambrose, and Dr. Conard was pretty special too.