Return to the Routine

After a wonderful (but hectic) Christmas and New Year, and a quick trip to Canada for my Mom's 70th birthday, I am working on settling back into a routine again. It's always amazing to me just how un-restful the "holidays" are! As much fun as we had, I am very glad to be back in my comfortable little grad school rut, ready for the final push toward graduation.

I am working right now on finishing yet another chapter to send off to my committee for review. This one is my theory chapter, covering all the Behavioral/Evolutionary Ecology work that has already been done at the site, as well as the Organization of Technology perspective that I am adding to the project. OT is not new to me; it formed the basis of my MA thesis, way back in '03. I realize, though, as I sit down to write this portion of the chapter, just how much I have grown academically in recent years. As familiar as I once was with these ideas, I am approaching them from a brand new perspective now. I feel as though I finally really understand the implications of these ideas, and I can see much more subtle connections to other facets of hunter-gatherer theory. (It makes me want to go back and re-write my MA!)

Getting to this point in the writing process is also reminding me of exactly why I love archaeology so much: it is a discipline that forces its practitioners to become a little bit expert in a vast array of subjects. I am pulling together evolutionary theory, lithic technology, hunter-gatherer theory, paleoecology, paleoclimatology, design theory, etc. into a story that seems, upon superficial examination, to be a simple one about why a group of prehistoric foragers decided to change the way they made stone tools a few thousand years ago. I have too many interests, and this job forces (or allows) me to be a "Jill of all Trades," pursuing each and every one of them!

Back to the theory I go.