Spanning the globe and encompassing 20 time zones, PolarTREC does it again! The scientists in Kamchatka are up for a 5 AM Saturday morning live event. I lived with these folks and they are not morning people. So, the fact that they were full of energy and ready to go was impressive. Janet and Kristin are at work for a 9 AM Friday morning live event coordination. The Jefferson Township Middle School is ready for a 1 PM Friday afternoon live event. With a fair amount of effort and coordination from the teachers here at my school, I am pleased to have over 700 students taking part in this event.
I have locked myself in a small office with a phone and computer and no distractions. I spent the better part of the day having the jitters to the point that I lost the ability to speak in complete...
So, it’s been a couple weeks that I have been home. The first few days back were fuzzy to say the least. I would ask questions and people would answer me and then I would ask the same questions. I had no recollection of asking the questions in the first place, and retrieving any answer I may have gotten was even farther from my capabilities. Friends have poured in and extended family has called to welcome me back. All of which has been wonderful since I missed a lot of summer happenings in the month I was away.
After about one week of being home my beach bum friend and I took a trip to the shore for the day. It was a perfect beach day. Warm water, no bugs, no jellyfish, light breeze, upper 80’s – Who could ask for more? It was a turning point for me, lying there on the beach soaking in...
Well, I have been officially been home for 48 hours. There are some very nice things about being home, seeing my family and friends, wearing clean clothes, eating fresh vegetables and taking warm showers. None of these amenities should be taken for granted and I am enjoying each one thoroughly.
Now that my camouflage duffel has been delivered, I began sorting through my things and washing the contents of the bags. With each item that I remove I have a moment of reminiscing. Washing the mosquito remains from my tent might sound disgusting but I actually miss crawling into that tent at night after a good day’s work and settling into my sleeping bag. It was cozy and contained everything I needed during my time in the field. I am oddly attached to it and the other items, odor aside, that...
I am aboard my final flight from Heathrow Airport in London to Newark, New Jersey. The last leg of a month long journey to the end of the world is at last underway. I have spent the last two days, as best I can figure with the 11 time zone changes thus far, in airports or airplanes. I have had no Internet or phone contact to speak of. It has been an interesting series of people and places.
I began the day at 5 AM yesterday in Katya's flat. She was leaving for an early flight and so I went to the airport for about 6:30 AM. I sat in the waiting area of Petropovlovsk-Kamchatsky Airport for 6 hours waiting for my flight to be posted on a small sign near the security gate. It was boring but I had no other option for getting to the airport so I took the opportunity to just relax and...
Surprisingly, I slept soundly and woke later than usual, around 8:30. Perhaps it was because the sun would shine through my tent at early hours and here it was a rainy, gray day. At any rate, a quick shower and some breakfast and Katya and I are on the road. We load my bags into the car and head out to what I think are travel agencies. I have a ticket to Moscow for Monday but Katya feels it would be best if I got there earlier than my actual ticket. She knows very well how planes here can be delayed and that a four-hour layover in Moscow can be too short for a domestic plane transfer to an international flight.
First stop, the agency is closed on Saturdays. Next stop they are open but cannot help us. We are directed to go to the airport to see if the flight can be changed. Katya...
I found out this morning on my way to the bus station that the man who took me to the hotel last night was in fact not Alexander Tikameerov. His name was Victor and I never learned the name of his wife. That is something here in Russia that is very different, people don't generally introduce themselves or shake hands or have very formal greetings. I was happy to meet them all the same and they were most helpful in getting me on my way to Petropovlovsk.
They got me to the bus and I paid for my baggage and I have an assigned seat. Details here are very important. I asked Victor to call Katya in Petropovlovsk to explain that I was on a bus in Ust-Kamchastk and will be in Petropovlovsk tonight where I need to be picked up. This was done with my extremely limited Russian and a lot of...
Everyone left for the field and I was left at camp with Rebecca, Irina and Alyesa. They all had work to do and I busied myself organizing my things. What will I absolutely need, not need until London, might need in between. I refused to remove my tent and sleeping bag until the melodious sound of the grinding vesdehod was in earshot. I was cautiously optimistic but wasn't taking any chances yet.
At about 3PM, as I was dozing in my tent I was awakened by Rebecca telling me the vesdehod was in the area. I was sleepy and uncoordinated but managed to get my shoes on and start breaking down my final things for an imminent departure. I have never been so happy to see two total strangers as I was the moment those men pulled up to camp.
Unloading
Camp
Smiles
The bone-jarring ride out...
After another series of phone calls this morning in the rain there is a plan. Planning is essential however plans here are almost never what actually happen. As I type this, there is a vesdehod traveling over land. That vesdehod arrived by barge across a huge lake. I have to believe all of this happened today. But I actually won't know if any of it happened until tomorrow when the vesdehod pulls up to our camp. But like Santa and the Tooth Fairy – I believe.
When the tank grinds into our neck of the woods, I will pack my tent, sleeping bag, final set of essential items and climb aboard. It is a tough departure because as much as I want to see my family – and I really, really want to see people who love me no matter how I smell. I will miss waking up to fish leaping in the river,...
It is early morning here and the scientists are still snuggled in their sleeping bags and cozy tents. The morning marine fog has once again made an appearance. I cannot sleep because I realize that in a couple of days I will be leaving this place. It's funny really, we do without the comforts of home, we miss our family and friends, we endure the constant onslaught of insects and we are filthy. Yet, we are happy to be here in each other's company. I have known these people for 23 days and I am already feeling that I will miss them tremendously once I leave the field.
I am the first to go. People start talking about all the things they will do when they get home whenever they are in the company of someone who will soon have those things. Certainly I am not adverse to a hot shower...
After spending a few weeks in the company of Greg Korosec it is still a bit of a mystery to me what makes him tick. He is a combination of the Energizer Bunny, he just keeps going an' going and a wood turtle with a slow and deliberate approach to any task at hand, with a bit of a hard shell and ability to retreat into it if necessary. He is the only person here who can carry out the plan of attack with regard to surveying the area for possible excavation sites and so daily he marches up the terraces and down the ravines in search of places to continue our work here. Even when the day is done and he is exhausted he is thinking about his next objective and takes the welfare of everyone here as a personal responsibility.
It is clear that he values education as much as he relishes...
This morning while taking in the view before breakfast, I saw a bear just on the other side of the narrow span or river next to our camp. I immediately shouted 'Hey look, a bear!' I scrambled for my camera and sleepy people popped out of their tents. I was so happy to have spotted a grizzly here in Kamchatka that I couldn't contain my enthusiasm. I was later informed by Jody that in the future, when I spot a bear, I should include information such as 'over there across the river' or 'in the distance'. Having neglected to do so may have been the cause of a pulled muscle as people scrambled for their bear flares and strained their stiff sleepy muscles to come to my assistance. Oh well, at least I got to see a bear. Just like I wanted to, from a distance and in the company of plenty...
Today dawned with gray skies, drizzle and marine fog. It was a perfect day to be a geologist. So, with that in mind, I spent the day with Jody Bourgeois and SeanPaul La Selle our geology specialists.
We started our day on the beach where SeanPaul set up the surveyor's tripod to mark the change in elevation from the surf up over a ridge or two and across a low terrace. Jody, his professor, was very patient holding the surveying rod. The job of a surveyor, if you have ever passed a survey team on the side of the road, is to determine the elevation of a piece of land and show the relative changes in elevation in a topographic profile of an area. SeanPaul was in charge of surveying from the shoreline to behind the terrace. I tagged along and generally distracted Jody with questions and...
With all the hiking, digging, lifting and screening, I found myself a bit sore and with a bit of back strain. So, I decided to stay at camp today and help Rebecca with some work. I also offered my limited open fire cooking abilities to make dinner. Alyesa and Ola, two Russian students have taken on the greatest share of meal preparation and so we decided they would take a break and not have to make dinner. This was received with a big 'oorah!' at breakfast.
After a day in the work tent, Rebecca and I planned a dinner with Italian flair using the ingredients we had spied in the cooking tent. We also commandeered some materials from other parts of camp, hoping they would go unnoticed. The menu included penne a la vodka, roasted potatoes with herbs, garlic toast, peas, and an...
Forget Las Vegas, Miami and New York – The real crime scene investigations are going on here at Stolbevaya. Each day we carry our shovels, screens, core sampler and a myriad of other helpful tools to try to piece together what happened here thousands of years ago. Like any good investigator we gather a lot of data and bag and tag a lot of evidence.
Back at the work tent, a veritable lab station, we have Rebecca Miller working to examine and catalog all of these artifacts. She cleans them, dries them bags them and labels them. She also takes photographs of the samples for publication later. What makes her qualified for this undertaking? Rebecca has a Bachelor's of Arts degree in Anthropology from University of Pittsburg and is currently in her second year of pursuing a Doctoral...
Without question getting to work can be very stressful. The traffic, the weather and the whole commuting scene can really be a drag. The commute to work today had it's ups and down as well. There are the usual ups and downs - the ravines and the climb to the terraces can be a challenge. Avoiding the bear scat and trenches can also be a problem. Having your boots soaked in mud and muck is rather unpleasant.
However, the office certainly has its perks. For instance today's work was at the corner office. Right at the end of the ridge, overlooking the river in one direction and tree-lined ridgeline in the other was our stopping point. We continued working on the excavation that we started yesterday.
Today it was hot, and in the depression there was no breeze. The insects were out...
First you choose a location and then measure out a 1 square meter. Hey kids, this is one of those applications of the Pythagorean Theorem, you use the length of the side to find the opposite corner by breaking the square into two right triangles. No sleeping in math class!
Greg puts spikes into each corner of the square meter area and ties a string around the spikes so we no what area to dig in. This is called stringing up the unit.
Next you remove the sod cap and all the vegetation that is growing over your excavation area. We use a shovel to cut the shape evenly and then rip the grass out up to the roots.
The excavation is done in 10 centimeter increments. Each layer is removed and all artifacts that are found in the layer are bagged together. Once you finish a 10 centimeter...
Anyone who has raised a teenager, or taught one or has been in close proximity for an extended period of time will appreciate that teenagers cannot be scientists. As you know if you fit any of the afore mentioned categories, teenagers know everything. And therefore, you by definition know nothing, or at the most, very little. That said, scientists actually know quite a lot about one thing. When I ask a scientific question that they know the answer to, they tell me – in great detail and length. Brevity is not always their method because they have so much information about their area of expertise. Now, on the other hand if you ask them a question they do not know the answer to, they will simply say 'I don't know' or 'That's a good question' or 'I am not familiar with that'. And that...
A change of pace was in store for me today. Instead of joining the survey team, I was put with the excavation team. They have been conducting excavations and test pits at the group of depressions we found on our first full day here. I was happy for the change of venue and was anxious to find artifacts from long ago that would be collected and processed.
With our gear and personal backpacks in tow, we headed up for our fifteen-minute walk to the site. There were four projects underway there. Jodi had excavated a giant hole that went as far down as the place where the land had actually been under the Bering Sea. It had taken her an entire day and half of the next day to record and describe each of the layers.
Jodi dug this entire hole herself. It is over 5 feet deep and almost 2...
Yesterday's late start due to weather had Greg mandating an early start, rain or shine. Fortunately for us, it was the latter. So up early and out of camp by 9 AM we headed out in two teams for our separate locations.
With a big day ahead, field camp is hustling to get together an early breakfast.
I was once again on the survey team. We walked up to the place we had left off yesterday and began looking for depressions. This time our team consisted of Greg, Lyosha, Ola, Stas and myself. With one screen, one shovel, a backpack with our lunch, survey equipment and other personal gear we hiked slowly. It seemed like a low energy start to the day.
Once at our starting point we lined up about 20 meters apart from each other and walked in a line across the landscape in order to cover...
You can't tell the players without a program! With all the pictures I have been sending along, I thought it might be helpful to you readers out there if I gave you a general idea who all these people are. So here goes…
First, there is me, the one who is writing this online journal. I am a teacher from New Jersey who has been sent here with PolarTREC to learn about the science here on Kamchatka and then tell you about it.
This is Greg Korosec. He is the guy who is in charge of the work we are doing here at camp. He has often been second in command, but this is the first expedition where he is the primary go to guy. He has a lot to do and spends a lot of time planning the groups and the work that they will do. He is working on his doctoral degree in Archeology at the University of...
For the first time since we left for the remote wilderness we experienced rain. It came down in the early morning before we were stirring from our tents and kept on as a steady drizzle until well into the afternoon. With the weather as a consideration, we decided that it would not keep us from doing fieldwork for the day. Two groups were selected, each with a specific task to complete and we headed up.
Our first stop was the three depressions we located yesterday. Jodi, Sasha, Rebecca and Ola were going to do controlled excavations of each depression to determine if there were any artifacts. Greg went over the directions of what needed to be done and left the work in the hands of a very capable team. I will admit that after being the first to spot the depressions yesterday, I was a...
The Bering Sea is just outside our tents and a morning walk along the beach there offered good signs of a beautiful day ahead. With breakfast cooked over an open fire and our packs ready, we grabbed shovels and a screen and headed for the coast. Jodi, our resident geologist gave us some introductory lessons to what the soil of Kamchatka has to tell.
The soil here is basically a series of layers of tephra. Tephra is the name given to layers of volcanic ash that are deposited on the ground after volcanic eruptions. The layers have been so accurately measured that each color line of soil will indicate which volcano the ash came from and what year it erupted. For science purposes this is terrific information when you are trying to find out how old soil is and more interestingly how old...
Kamchatka can be considered the big round up of archeological dig sites. Just getting here is so challenging that very few people ever get to see this place. Today I got a taste of why that is true. After a night hold up along the coast, we finished our boat ride to Kultuk. The vesdehod disembarked and with another round of packing and rearranging we were on our way.
Once we arrive at Kultuk, we disembark the boat and leave Irina and Artium. Stas and Lyosha can't wait to ride the top of the vesdehod.
I guess that the vesdehod can hold eight comfortably; we were ten plus a driver – that's eleven. Of course we had our gear to pack onto the tank and some food supplies. We left Irina and one of her students behind due to lack of space. They kept the bulk of the food and we took...
Sleeping at the camp allows the group to get an early start for our travels out to the field. We use yet another bus to get back to the water relay station to get the belongings we left there yesterday.
We load up the but to get back to our supplies at the relay station.
From the station, we drive to the dock where we are all happy to see the vesdehod that will be put on a boat and ferried across some open water to Kultuk. From Kultuk, the vesdehod will take us overland to Stolbevaya to begin our survey and excavation. Another transition of baggage from one form of transportation to another and we are away from the dock.
The Vesdehos is waiting at the dock. Another exercise in packing luggage.
The Vesdehod hops aboard the barge for towing across the lake.
I have to say that being...
Despite what seems like an exorbitant amount of time, we are running right on schedule. Greg is happy with how things are progressing and Irina, our Russian friend, is working very hard to make us comfortable and help us get what we need as far as logistics. That said, it seems like it is taking a long time to get to the field.
With just the food on the porch, I pose at the cabin we slept in at Ushki.
Today we had an early breakfast, the bus arrived shortly thereafter and we began loading every available inch of space with our food, field gear and personal supplies. Surprisingly, we had some room to spare and we were fairly comfortable on the bus. The bus ride was similar in style with our trip to Ushki, but was only five hours in length instead of nine. We made our way to Ust...
