Happy Thanksgiving, ya bunch of Turkeys! This holiday is a time when people recite nationalist fairy tales. Take a moment to learn about the indigenous peoples of the United States, acknowledge what they've been through, and make space for their voices. I acknowledge the Multnomah and Chinookan people of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers. They are a testament to resilience and resistance against genocide and settler colonialism in one of the largest urban centers in North America.

These things are time sensitive but if you're reading this in time, then LET'S DO SOME DIRECT ACTION, Y'ALL!

Our National Parks are in trouble and so are we. In a nutshell:

NPS employees have a huge backlog of maintenance tasks and not enough funding, resources, or personnel to do them

The Trump administration proposes a park entry fee hike to cover the funding gap. Funding parks is good and we should do that - but the way they’re going about it is craven, disgusting, and disingenuous.

They’re placing the burden on consumers - people visiting parks - to pick up the slack for an administration that has demonstrated time and again they want to concentrate wealth for elites and punish the middle and working classes.

It’s a band-aid that will never stick.

It will directly limit chances for students, families, and travelers.

The administration wants to let unsustainable, extractive industries ransack parks for natural resources and this is a clear play in that direction.

Go online - https://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?documentID=83652 - remind links are in show notes at godigahole.com

Comments open until Dec 22 - tell them it’s a bad idea.

If the rate hike does go through, the annual parks pass will be the way to go - instead of paying $70 or more to enter a single park for a single day, you’ll be able to pay $80 for the whole year to enter all the parks.

Our Internet is also in trouble. If you enjoy free, independent podcasts like Go Dig a Hole, the proposed repeal of Net Neutrality is going to bum you out. It’s not just a despicable authoritarian power grab that limits free speech on the internet, it will dramatically decrease communication, innovation, and information while consolidating power and wealth. Millions have already spoken up about it and apparently that’s not enough to stop the FCC. Cool. Don’t let that happen. Call your representatives and demand they reject the repeal of Net Neutrality.

Assuming our internet doesn’t slide farther into the hellworld timeline, online tools are good for archaeology. I recently gave a paper at the annual Chacmool conference on this and there, I focused on the teaching aspects of using podcasts, blogs, and social media for archaeology. So, I’ll share some of that here as well as relate it to students and professionals.

Stay tuned for a deep dive into this subject with an upcoming publication, but this episode is just a brief solo discussion on podcasts, blogs, and social media, and their usefulness in communicating archaeology.

Daniel Kwan (host of the Curiosity in Focus podcast) joins this episode of GDAH to continue our conversation about archaeology in pop culture. In this, Kwan and I cover some examples of archaeology in TV, games (board and video), and music.

Kwan, being a pop culture aficionado, blasts through a list of TV shows portraying archaeology in various ways. It is the portrayal of archaeology and archaeologists that says something important about attitudes toward the discipline. From Star Trek's even-handed application of cultural relativism in the Star Fleet's "prime directive", to Hank Hill's indignant frustration with an archaeologist who ruins his yard in King of the Hill, views on archaeology's relevance as a discipline and archaeologists' credibility as stewards of cultural resources run wide.

Shifting to games, we give a nod to the pioneers of Archaeogaming - researchers examining the way archaeology is presented in games, and the ways archaeological theory and method can be applied to built virtual environments, the code itself, and the physical material of game packaging. As for archaeology in board games, Kwan relates examples of archaeological theory and method being applied to tabletop role playing games like Dungeons & Dragons and Coriolis.

We take two approaches to discussing archaeology in music - one is the role music plays in our experience in the field; the other covers references to archaeology or the products of its research in song. I mention my secret love of reggae and reggaeton, and how I actually used to hate it until years of working in the Caribbean/Central American nation of Belize got me hooked. There’s a song by Damian Marley (son of Bob Marley) & Nas called “Patience” that references ancient culture, oral traditional knowledge, archaeologists, Indiana Jones, and makes a call against the hangovers of colonialism - a recurring theme in reggae and Rastafarianism. At one point, Nas says “discovering the world before this world, buried in time, uncovered in rhyme”. The music video kinda rules too.

Turning to one of my favorite bands, I can’t believe it’s already been 2 years since this album came out - “Luminiferous” by High on Fire. I was floored when I read this interview with guitarist/singer, Matt Pike, who full-on believes aliens have been among humans since Ancient Sumer. Stoner and Doom metal are subgenres that are rife with references to ancient cultures and pseudoarchaeological claims to the occult. Some of my favorite bands in this style, like The Sword or Electric Wizard, often make (cheesy) references to either real or imaginary ancient material culture to relate themes of power, violence, and life experience in current real-world settings.

There are also passing references in a couple Modest Mouse songs to archaeology. I can’t find the link to the interview but their lead singer, Isaac Brock, apparently studied anthropology in school before graduating with an Associates Degree.

If you enjoy Go Dig a Hole, share it with your friends, students, and teachers. Also, consider supporting it on Patreon! Supporters get a Go Dig a Hole sticker, and much more!

Today’s episode is a little bit different – It’s a collection of segments from several archaeologists. Robyn Lacy, who you’ll remember from the episode about burials and blogging, and Daniel Kwan, who’s a frequent guest on the show and host of the Curiosity in Focus podcast, answer a couple questions I put out on social media.

Why did you get into archaeology? What made you stay?

I’m putting out an open invitation to send in your submissions or set up a time to record with me – I’d like to hear why you got into archaeology – why you stayed in it – or, why you left. Check out the companion blog post on www.godigahole.com for a dropbox link, or reach out to me on social media at godigahole to get your word in.

This was a fun episode to put together, so hope you enjoy it.

I’ve been on the road for the past week for work in California, and I got to visit Dr. Bill White at UC Berkeley and sit in his course on Ancient African Civilizations. There, I met his incredibly bright students and got a chance to meet a few of them. It was awesome and I hope to do more visits like that in the future. We sat down to talk about why he got into archaeology, and to take a deep dive into the challenges early career archaeologists face in making it work for them.

"Just as white people have to be the ones to fight racism, men need to be the ones to fight sexism" - Dawn Howard

OK, before you do anything else with your day, log onto www.healthcare.gov (or your local health exchange, if it still exists) and follow along! OPEN ENROLLMENT BEGINS NOVEMBER 1 AND ENDS ON DECEMBER 15. The site will be down for "routine maintenance" on Sundays so, as this episode's guest says "if this is a weekend thing for you, it's a Saturday thing for you". Check Facebook for any local enrollment events near you if you want some real-time guidance on the process.

Dawn Howard, CPA joins this episode of the Go Dig a Hole to discuss the importance of getting healthcare and taxes right, and to talk about fighting sexual assault and sexual harassment.

The fight against sexism has received increasing attention in archaeology (and academia at large) in recent years. Some really important conversations came out in the wake of the "Me Too" movement. For anyone unfamiliar, "Me Too" was a trending status on Facebook in which women who had been victims of sexual assault or sexual harassment posted "me too" as their status, sometimes followed by varying levels of soul-baring describing the incidents. Here's the takeaway - men have some real work to do. This is has to entail calling out sexism in the moment, as it happens. Crude jokes, slurs, inappropriate contact, all of it. Stamp. It. Out.

Healthcare is a fundamental human right (or at least it should be), and you shouldn't have to choose between your career and being healthy, yet millions of Americans make enormous sacrifices just to gain access to healthcare, let alone afford it.

Taxes are handmaiden to healthcare, and the way we do taxes is shaped directly by how we work. As a CRM archaeologist, I've often found more in common with freelancers in the creative fields than I with other scientists, because employment tends to be contract-to-contract and the option to be hired onto a project as a 1099 contractor is often available.

So here are some questions Howard addresses in this episode:

Should I choose 1099 contractor, or hourly employee for my project?

Do I need to set up a separate bank account if I'm a 1099 contractor?

Do I need to set up an LLC for myself as a 1099 contractor?

Do I need to file taxes quarterly or annually as a 1099 contractor?

When should I hire an accountant, and how often do I need one?

How much is healthcare coverage going to cost?

Can I set up an FSA or HSA for myself?

How do I do quarterly taxes if I haven't had a project in a few months?

In short, Howard has all the advice I wish I knew a decade ago. Please, people, share this with your friends, family, classmates, coworkers, teachers, students, whatever. Get healthcare coverage and don't screw yourself over on taxes.

Matt Tuttle is back for the first episode recorded from the Stream PDX Airstream!

The last time Tuttle was on GDAH (Episode xx on the APN archives), we talked about his "origin story" and some helpful advice on getting the most out of your experiences in the field and in the classroom. His takeaway point then, as it is now, is "you have to put in your time" - but this time elaborates that, while putting in your time, it's also important to take moments to appreciate where you are. Indeed, it's easy to get lost in the grind and at times it feels like baby steps for years on end, until one day you look back and realize how much has changed.

Tuttle works both as an independent cultural resources contractor, and as an educator and archaeological site steward with Christopher Newport University. He runs the archaeological field school through CNU, and has recently excavated the Amblers Site at Jamestown and a historic colonial site in Isle of Wight County. The Chesapeake Bay region is rich with historic colonial sites but, as Tuttle points out, there is much more to the story of early American cultural heritage. His experience at the Amblers Site highlights the crucial role of scientific method and solid research design in archaeology - they identified a circular feature in the soil, which they hypothesized was a historic well shaft. Upon further investigation, the dark circular soil revealed numerous pre-contact Native American items, including stone tools and debitage. Does this mean they were wrong? Not necessarily, but it certainly required a revision of the hypothesis to test if this could be a Native American pit house. Carbon dating and artifact type morphology confirmed this hypothesis, and nailed down relative dates of roughly 1,250 years before present. This is a great example of problem solving in the puzzle of archaeology.

On a less uplifting note, Tuttle discusses vandalism that occurred at the Isle of Wight site and the need for an integrated approach to public archaeology engagement that combines education for the public as well as involvement with local law enforcement. Essentially, if the illegality of vandalism isn't a deterrent from site destruction, then perhaps better public engagement can foster respect and appreciation for cultural heritage.

Follow Matt Tuttle on social media, especially if you enjoy seeing the cleanest profiles and floors ever.

The Go Dig a Hole podcast is a little over two years old now, and it's gone through some changes and growing pains along the way. The first few episodes didn't have the best recording equipment and I was still scaling a steep learning curve for editing the audio tracks. I've shed a co-host or two and a whole podcast network, but I feel like the podcast has finally hit its stride, and I have the listeners, guests, and supporters to thank for that.

The Go Dig a Hole Patreon campaign is gaining supporters; the Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts are gaining followers; the podcast is now recording from a really amazing studio in Portland; and the public archaeology mission is taking off with speaking engagements, conference presentations, and field trips booked as extensions of GDAH.

I have some great podcasts lined up for the next few episodes, so you can look forward to discussions on ancient Chinese archaeology and cultural representation in mass media; a defense of "screw-ups", politics and healthcare, and financial planning; and colonial archaeology and looting.

I'm taking solo submissions to the following topics:

Why did you get into archaeology? What made you stay?

If you left archaeology, why did you leave? What would've needed to change for you to stay?

If you're not an archaeologist, what interests you about archaeology? What would you like to know more about from an archaeologist's perspective?

Record it yourself and submit your wav file segments to this Dropbox link. They can be anonymous if you prefer. Once I get enough submissions, I'll put them together for a diversity of perspectives on what a career in archaeology actually looks and feels like. There's been a plethora of unrealistic ideas of what constitutes a "career" when you have to cobble together multiple contracts from multiple companies across multiple states. Let's ground truth it, shall we?

This is also a great day to take a moment to give some love to my favorite podcasters and podcasts:

Curiosity in Focus

Gratuity Not Included

Heritage Voices

Women in Archaeology

Racist Sandwich

Chapo Trap House

Champagne Sharks

Politically Re-Active

Give them a listen, and if you're inclined to support them on Patreon, many of them have fundraising campaigns.

This episode is a collaboration between Heritage Voices, hosted by Lyle Balenquah and Jessica Yaquinto, and Go Dig a Hole. It features a panel of tribal members discussing the issues involving cultural sovereignty as it relates to museum collections. The primary issue here is that museums largely formed their collections during periods when imperialist endeavors were exploiting, displacing, or outright killing indigenous peoples. The drive to collect antiquities as a byproduct of these events not only tokenizes cultural heritage by displaying them as curiosities, but also presents items detached from context since building knowledge was not the goal when tribal items were collected. Descendant communities are tasked with the challenge of locating and identifying items that were taken from their tribes under questionable means, and museums are tasked with the challenge of properly attributing items in their collections that are missing essential cultural data and then repatriating them if necessary.

This panel discussion highlights some of the main problems, but also covers some positive examples of museums doing right by the tribes. Positive ways to move forward are suggested and, as Balenquah suggests, it is crucial to develop lasting and meaningful relationships between tribes and museums to serve to the mutual benefit of each group.

Where does archaeology belong? Colin Omilanowski is back to discuss why archaeology is sometimes aligned more with history, rather than anthropology, and why archaeology is sometimes in its own place.

I try to give a brief history of the intellectual traditions that shaped archaeology since its origins without giving into the rant too much and spinning out of control. I highlight archaeology's roots in imperialism and racism, the critical social theory that stemmed from Marxism and feminism that shaped radical change in the mid twentieth century, and the discipline's pivot in recent decades to contemporary and future applications.

Omilanowski highlights archaeology's relevance to present situations by relating a couple examples from archaeology that bear strong echoes in current events.

We also talk about what the "millennials are killing everything" trope says about society from an archaeological perspective, and briefly talk about the impacts Hurricane Harvey will have on our society.

Closing this episode, Omilanowski recounts his summer in the field, from Portugal and Romania. I also recount what I've been up to with Codifi, including a recent trip to Hawaii to assist with an excavation project.

Robin Lacey joins this episode to talk about her research at Ferryland Burial Ground in Newfoundland. Her work pulls from a diverse range of skills, methods, and approaches. Lacey explains the background of the site and provides a regional context for British colonialism in the mid- to north-Atlantic in North America.

Lacey’s discussion of her research questions and the process of creating a research design is particularly insightful - What began as a project to find the burials at Ferryland rapidly expanded to a novel adaptation of landscape theory, which she refers to as “burial landscapes”.

Related to this overview of Lacey’s research, the conversation

In the end, the take-aways for early career researchers, Lacey urges, are to build skills in research and writing, and to go dig a hole. That is, pick up field experience early and often, as it sets the foundation for a strong and well-rounded archaeologist.

Kate Ellenberger, Kari Lentz, and Nikki Martensen join GDAH to chat about a whole bunch of cool stuff. First on deck is Open Access publishing: we discuss the benefits of publishing without paywalls, how to find good resources to publish your work in an OA platform, and labor issues for early career researchers. See full show notes at http://www.godigahole.com/2017/08/03/podcast-open-access-virtual-reality-and-public-archaeology/