I am a Canadian, recently relocated to England. I’m an archaeologist and an archaeobotanist – I study the prehistoric human use of plants in the American tropics, particularly as it relates to diet, origins of agriculture, and ecological interaction. What this translates to in my day-to-day life is the occasional brief excursion to South America to do field work, and then months and months of working in the lab processing samples, and staring down a microscope at itty-bitty plant bits until my eyes go buggy. Why? Because I find it interesting and exciting to constantly learn about the world — or the world as it once was several thousand years ago. Come on, we all wanted to be archaeologists at some point or another as kids! I just never grew out of it.
Outside my job or the lab, I live a pretty mundane existence. When time allows, I love hiking, swimming, cycling, and birding. This blog is mainly a space to post my “letters from the field”, a tradition of emails I send to friends and family when I am doing field work in some foreign place. Since I’m only in the field for short periods once in a blue moon, the rest of the intervening time will probably be filled (or not) with various ramblings on my research, my state of mind, a current obsession (I get those occasionally), or my perspective on the world.
Hey, isn’t that what a personal blog is? A combination of cheap therapy, soapbox, and (legal) exhibitionist outlet…
Outside Observer 