Field Notes and Notes on Feeling

Mental Snapshots from an Archaeological Excavation in Peru

Before the summer of 2022, I had been lucky enough to participate in two archaeological excavations in South America, in 2018 at the site of Sol de Campinas in Acre, Brazil, and in 2019, at the site of San José de Moro in Peru. I was merely a field school student on those occasions, often surrounded by other students who, like me, didn’t have that much experience and didn’t know much of the local language. We spent most of our time talking in English. Although practicing language was encouraged, it was quite easy to stick to our little group and avoid learning anything more than a few words here and there.

This summer, however, I traveled to Peru to do fieldwork alone; there were no chaperones, no tour buses and no friends to avoid speaking Spanish with. Rather, I was responsible for myself, my journey and eventually leading my own small excavation unit.

Below I include some of my archaeological field notes from my time working at the site of Santa Apolonia in Cajamarca, Peru, interspersed with snapshots of my thoughts and experiences during part of the field season. I do this to highlight the dissonance between how I felt navigating the world around me and conducting the work I have been trained to do.

July 25, 2022 | Sito Arqueológico: Santa Apolonia | Sector: Norte | Área: 11

“…La capa superficial es una capa irregular. Esta compuesta de pasto o grass y terra de color (7.5 4/2 Brown), es parte de los jardines de la colina. – En esta capa recuperamos una mezcla de cerámica diagnóstica y no diagnóstica. También hubo algunos huesos animal, tres líticos chiquitos, y un caracol (malacológico)…” – Mack’s Fieldnotes

I spent the day looking over Percy’s shoulder as he pointed at different stratigraphic layers in the two-meter by two-meter unit he and his small team had been working on for the past few days. He ran his finger down the wall of the unit, calling out each layer as his finger passed over it, explaining how to identify each one. I took pictures with my phone and wrote down a few notes, hoping I wouldn’t forget the subtle differences in texture and color. He then showed me a myriad of different forms I would need to fill out, all of which were written in Spanish, and each having a specific use.

“Should I be filling these out in Spanish?” I asked Percy, holding up the forms.

“If you want to, but don’t worry about it,” he replied back to me in Spanish.

I’ll give the Spanish a go, I thought to myself.

Today I was tasked with taking over Percy’s unit and expanding it to try and reveal more of the architecture currently visible in the unit. I had been working on this project as a volunteer for a while now, but as part of another unit. To say I was a bit nervous would be an understatement. I had spent the night before staring at the small black square that would be my future unit on a map of the entire excavation, hoping I wouldn’t mess up the entire project. I knew deep down that I was plenty prepared to take on the task at hand; I had excavated before, after all. Yet, during the last two years, the pandemic had put my time in the field on pause, and I worried that I was out of practice.

Mack writes in his field notes after taking a soil sample from his unit at the site of Santa Apolonia, Cajamarca, Peru. Archaeologists often use the Munsell color system (see the open book with the different color swatches) to help better classify soil types.

July 27, 2022 | Sito Arqueológico: Santa Apolonia | Sector: Norte | Área: 11

“…Layer 1 is an irregular layer which, like the superficial layer, slopes down to the southwest. The layer is comprised of grass roots (and other small root types) and [7.5YR 4/3 Brown] colored soil. – In this layer we encountered many more animal bones (many camelid) and two teeth which seem to be human. We also found a few more lithic flakes and some lithic tools, some shells, and one (more or less) complete spoon (ceramic)…” – Mack’s Fieldnotes

Solsire, the project director, told me to write my field notes in English today. I had tried my very best to take notes and fill out the forms in Spanish, but I was slow and kept having to look up words on my phone. I felt embarrassed that she preferred I write in English. Shouldn’t I be practicing my Spanish? Maybe she was worried my notes wouldn’t make any sense. Should I have paid more attention in my Spanish class in the spring? I guess I just missed the unit about archaeology-related vocabulary.

“We need to take pictures before we move onto the next layer,” says Wilma, one of the volunteers working with me.

“Huh?” I say, looking up from my field notebook. “Right, right…let’s do that next,” I say, pretending like I hadn’t completely forgotten that step.

“Make sure you get the entire unit in the picture,” Wilma cautioned me, as I climbed up onto a wheelbarrow we had propped up against a nearby tree.

Mack attempts to take a photo of his unit from atop a wheelbarrow while two other volunteers hold it steady. Several of the other larger units at the site of Santa Apolonia used a small drone to take aerial photos of their units, but the smaller, more exploratory units had to make do with what they had.

August 1, 2022 | Sito Arqueológico: Santa Apolonia | Sector: Norte | Área: 11

“…There is fill (relleno) from layer 2 present on either side of the wall in the east & west corners. The eastern corner may be a possible “huaceo?” because the fill on that side is quite deep & filled with ceramic sherds & animal bones. – In the eastern fill corner we encountered some kaolin clay, and took a sample. We also found a worked bone that had been burnt, likely used for textiles production. – In this fill we found a considerable amount of astragali (likely camelid) and other animal bones. We also found several larger lithic tools & shells…”  – Mack’s Fieldnotes

A small black dog wanders around the site. I’ve started calling “Dobby,” due to his big ears, one of which is adorably floppy. During our short morning break, I spend my spare time filling up my camera’s SD card with photos of Dobby. I don’t know if he belongs to anyone, but everyday I dream about taking him back home to the States with me. Whenever the other volunteers see me taking pictures of Dobby they always laugh.

“Quit taking pictures of that dog,” Dennis shouts to me from half way down the hill. “Let’s go get some leche de tigre [a type of ceviche] before our break is over.”

Aside from my obsession with the local stray dogs, my addiction to the nearby leche de tigre stand has also become a running joke between me and the rest of the team. The delicious street food has become one of my daily rituals, giving me something to look forward to as I work throughout the morning.

“Dobby” the dog sits and watches Mack and his team curiously as they excavate their unit.

August 2, 2022 | Sito Arqueológico: Santa Apolonia | Sector: Norte | Área: 11

“…Due to the previous fill layer from capa 2, layer 3 is fairly irregular. – So far we’ve encountered 2 spindle whorls, 1 bone needle, many stone tools, flakes, and a few of what seem to be lithic cores. – We continue to find numerous camelid? Bones and other smaller (cuy?) bones, along with many shells. – We also found some burnt wood (carbon) & seeds in the western most meter x meter. Additionally, there was one burnt bone. – Carbon & burnt seeds (sample #1) – Feature #1: soft gray soil, piso (just above feature #1), carbon above the feature (sample #2), *Might want to consider sample #2 part of feature #1. – Capa 3: Feature #1 (loose gray sandy soil). *Found a fairly intact ceramica fina in the feature. Took a sample of the soil inside of it for analysis. *Also found more carbon associated with the feature in a wall directly next to the feature…” – Mack’s Fieldnotes

“Notice how the end of this camelid tibia is all ‘pillowy’,” I say to Wilma as she hands me the broken bone from our unit. “That means that the bone never fully fused, so this camelid must have been a juvenile when it died.” She smiles and nods and I finally start to feel like I do know at least a little about archaeology.

I begin filling out several forms, one for each of the walls we had uncovered, and I direct another volunteer to start sorting through the ceramic sherds that had begun to pile up from the previous layer at the edge of the unit.

A small selection of the decorated ceramic sherds from the Cajamarca culture. These were collected by Mack and his team in their unit at Santa Apolonia. Many of the finely painted ceramics include motifs which allowed the team to identify which specific chronological phases the ceramics belong to.

Mack’s unit after he and his team had excavated the final layer and cleaned off all the surfaces. This layer includes a hearth and several stone walls, many of which had collapsed, appearing today as a line of jumbled stones.

October 19, 2022 | Cambridge, Massachusetts | Spanish Class

Now back in the United States, as I sit in Spanish class, I think about how to respond to my speaking partner Eshan as he tells me about his weekend. “¡Qué chévere!” I say, then stop myself and correct, “Osea, ¡qué genial!” He gives me a strange look, and I reflect on my use of the popular Peruvian slang word “chévere”–often used to say “cool” or “great”–over the word we had been taught in class: “genial.” I’ve had many moments like this in my Spanish class–coming in using grammatical constructions I didn’t fully understand,  or using random slang words that are specific to Peru or even to Cajamarca. It’s funny–I spent the summer freaking out about how little I could communicate, and whether I would come back having learned anything at all. Now, back at Harvard, I realize the ways in which Peru has not only been at the center of my studies, but has embedded itself at the heart of my language.

My journey to learn Spanish has become more than just a necessity to understand academic literature or to navigate archaeological projects. It is an active practice to recall the great memories and friendships I have made in Peru, all of which I hope to build upon in the future.