Last week we finished our monument analysis project...after two trips to the cemetery and thoughtful reflections on the meaning of the data we took down. For our assignment, my group chose the Chinese Cemetery at Harling Point. I thought it would be an interesting site to look at because we figured that most people were going to be doing Ross Bay. So we decided to spice things up. It turned out to be much more complicated than originally anticipated. For some reason, I hadn't anticipated the gravemarkers being entirely in Cantonese (ignorance is bliss until someone has to translate 13 monument inscriptions). Because of this we couldn't choose the monuments based on an existing set of criteria, and had to chose them basically at random. Which ended up working out pretty nicely in the end.
Two summers ago, I went on a field school in Greece on a very dusty archaeological dig. After that, I decided being in the field wasn't my thing. I hadn't realized that there was more to being in the field than being in a dirty (and at times muddy) trench. Apparently data taking isn't too glamourous either! Myself and another group member had to return to the Cemetery for a second visit because we forgot to record where all of the monuments were relative to one another and the boundaries of the cemetery in general. The morning we went looked beautiful...until we stepped out of the car and got gushed with wind as soon as we took out a paper and a pen. As we walked through the gate, I noticed my shoes felt really squishy. Goose poo. All over. Ever second step. It took all of my concentration just to watch where I was walking and force the paper from blowing all over the place. Indiana Jones completely misinformed me of the reality of archaeology!
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