Recently Discovered Earth*

* (c) Liam Herringshaw 2008


Well, where to start? I appear to have completely lost my mind. I am giving up a well-paid job to move to a country where there is 10 months of winter and 2 of summer, and very few job prospects for an archaeologist.



My other half has been given a two-year post at Memorial University in Newfoundland and, after nearly 3 years of frequent visits up to Aberdeen I've had enough of killing the environment with my frequent flying. Commuting to Canada for weekend visits is a step too far...

To cap it all I'm moving over in mid-January, which is possibly the stupidest time to go, given the pack ice, sleet, and general arctic nature of the place. I think this excerpt from the current Provincial anthem sums it up nicely:

When spreads thy cloak of shimm'ring white,

At winter's stern command,

Thro' shortened day and starlit night,

We love thee, frozen land,

We love thee, we love thee,

We love thee, frozen land.

When blinding storm gusts fret thy shore,

And wild waves lash thy strand,

Thro' sprindrift swirl and tempest roar,

We love thee, windswept land,

We love thee, we love thee,

We love thee, windswept land.

Of course there's every opportunity for things to go a bit wrong: I don't have a job lined up properly or a work permit, but these are mere trivialities and I won't let that get in the way of my excitement. Come February I may still be in the UK and regretting handing in my notice but fingers crossed this won't be a problem. I have more things to worry about once I get there:

1) permanent frizzy hair due to sleet and wind
2) premature skin aging from adverse weather conditions
3) contracting hypothermia on landing
4) being mauled by gigantic Newfoundland dogs
5) having to tie down my house with rope
6) developing rickets due to Vitamin D deficiency
7) being attacked by Skraelings*

* see Saga of Erik the Red


I'm sure that many of these fears are completely unfounded... except the dog one ... ;o)

The Joys of GIS

I've had an extraordinarily busy first quarter of this year. After spending 6 years chained to my desk for my PhD I have, since January, travelled to Rome, Vancouver, Amsterdam and Bern (and I'm not counting numerous UK trips as well). I might moan about my job but at least I get to see the world!

This last trip was to Switzerland where I gave a paper about the work I did for my thesis - all about modelling Roman agricultural systems using GIS. It's funny, sometimes I love archaeology and sometimes I hate it. I mostly hated it in the last few months of my thesis (understandably). I would far rather be tinkering with GIS models or out and about on fieldwork than reading and writing about it.

It's funny how I was attracted to GIS - I think it is purely on an aesthetic level. After having given up art and music formally after A-Level it's arguably the closest thing archaeology can get to being creative on a practical level. There's a famous quote (I forget who by) about GIS which argues that GIS is more than just pretty pictures. Whilst this is absolutely true, I think that when you can create images like these, it certainly makes the interpretation that much more interesting when there's something nice to look at!

Vancouver Museum of Anthropology

Considering I am an archaeologist, there has been a distinct lack of archaeology-related postings on my blog. I even manged to turn my only archaeologically-related event into talking about crafting. The reason I was in Vancouver was not for a holiday (as some have assumed having seen my snaps), but to man a booth at the annual Society for American Archaeology conference. Here is proof:





Despite spending most days coercing unsuspecting students into studying in the UK, we did at least have a chance to see *some* things, and one of them was the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia. Being a Mediterranean archaeologist I know aboslutely zilch about North American cultures but despite my lack of knowledge I was amazed by some of the artefacts they have there. If it's not Roman I'm clueless. (Saying that, if it *is* Roman I'm usually clueless too!) . Anyhoo, here are some of my favourites:

Vancooooover!

I've just got back from a trip to Vancouver. It was my first visit to the North American continent and it was marvellous and I bizarrely didn't seem to suffer from jet lag at all on the way home. What I am most pleased about though, is that I managed to restrain myself and stick to my Wardrobe Refashion Challenge. I didn't buy any clothes at all, which I am amazed at.

Whilst I can't see myself living the high-rise urban chic lifestyle, I fell in love with the houses just outside the city, lining the sides of the nearby Grouse mountain. I could quite happily live in one of those wooden blue houses with verandahs. With the VC passion for arts and crafts I think I'd fit in perfectly. Now... to get a job and the vast amounts of cash to afford one...