By Mia Jain What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word “archaeology”? My guess is that it has to do with either dinosaur bones or emaciated mummies, or perhaps both. It doesn’t take a genius to figure it out. For just as people regularly associate periwigs with judges and spatulas with chefs, archaeologists have long been associated with the ancient and forsaken. In most people’s imagination, archaeologists are men and women clad in dirty, worn work clothes and hiking boots, kneeling on the hot sand in some remote region at the edge of the map, busy digging at the ground with a trowel in search for some long-lost city— A grueling and dangerous job that doesn’t often produce any results and occasionally entails fighting off tomb robbers or armies of the undead. And frankly, even on the rare occasions when the excavation team does chance upon something, who cares? People are more likely to carry on watching baseball on their iPads and eating potato chips than pause to pay attention to an article about the discovery of primordial cave paintings squeezed into the corner of the day’s news. But could these facts be changed? According to Professor Pochan Chen, associate professor of the Department of Anthropology at NTU, the answer to the question above is “yes, but not easily.” For when it comes to Archaeology, Taiwanese people’s ignorance and indifference is shocking. “Nowadays, only the few people who have truly engaged in fieldwork can point out the distance between real life archaeology and an Indiana Jones film!” Professor Chen chuckles, stroking his beard. Indeed, archaeology has received little support from the government and is all but excluded from pre-college education. The result of this is that most students do not have the slightest clue of what the subject is like before entering university, and seldom consider it as a career worthy of pursuing in the future. Hence, the first step in solving this problem is to increase people’s understanding of the field. Here are three things that one must know when it comes to archaeology: #1 Indiana Jones is bad archaeology People tend to romanticize the archaeologist’s job, imagining it to be full of adventure, mystery and suspense— a cliché led and aggravated by the mass media, especially with the release of the Indiana Jones movies, which grossed more than $1 billion at the box office alone. But as in most cases, Hollywood’s representation is a long way from reality. “Well, there are some archaeologists who lead somewhat exciting lives,” concedes Professor Chen, “but the majority of us spend only 20~30% of our time out in the field. The rest of our time is devoted to doing research and experimenting in the lab. It’s quite a safe job, to tell the truth. “The closest call our team’s ever had was when one of our colleagues had a bit of a scuffle with some farmers in Chungking. They mistook him for a foreign spy and this ferocious old lady chased him through the crop field with a machete.” So don’t be too quick in pronouncing that you are “not up to the job”. You don’t need to fit the tough, aggressive, macho image in order to call yourself an awesome archaeologist. All you need is a passion for exploring new and exciting possibilities, and enough patience and dedication to kneel in a pit all day, sifting dirt off pottery shreds. #2 Archaeology’s relationship with the present is as strong as its link to the past Contrary to popular belief, archaeology is not a branch of knowledge obsessed with the past. Although archaeologists spend most of their time trying to unravel ancient civilizations and piece together past events, their ultimate goal is actually aimed at solving present day problems. They look to the past to assess the present. “It’s the same reason why history is an important subject.” Professor Chen says. “It broadens your perspectives. Personally, my career in archaeology has greatly influenced my way of viewing the world around me. It’s a most inspiring experience.”
I could see a light dancing in his eyes like you would often see in a child’s when our conversation shifted to his research concerning the significance of salt as a commodity in early human civilizations. “It’s remarkable how much the lives of our ancestors can tell us, especially if we approach it in a whole new aspect. Who knows, we could end up reaching a completely different set of cultural understanding about human life! It’s the best part of this job!” One more thing that you must know is that archaeologists are not restricted to the study of the primitive past. Nowadays, more and more archaeologists are turning towards the investigation of more recent times. These excavations may include battlefield archaeology during the two World Wars and even garbology— studying the garbage that modern people produce in order to come up with a better solution for environmental change. #3 No, archaeologists are not extinct in this country (and neither do they starve) Most people I’ve talked to are shocked to hear that archaeology is alive and kicking in Taiwan these days, and that there are actually realarchaeologists and excavations going on in our society. True, being an archaeologist is not exactly a popular career choice in Taiwan, but it’s not a dying one, either. Take last month for example, an international scholarly seminar was held in Lianjiang county in response to the discovery of human remains discovered at a prehistoric site on the island of Mazu, which pushed back the age of the earliest evidence of Austronesian inhabitance in the region to 8300 years ago. There are, of course, a lot of people who would scoff at the idea of being an archaeologist, assuming it to be highly impractical, verging on craziness. But that is but another myth to be debunked. Professor Chen gave me a wry smile when I asked him about what job opportunities are there for an archaeologist. “There are actually a lot of things you can do,” he says, “even if you decide not to go abroad. You can work for museums, CRM (cultural resource management) firms or government agencies to save and preserve cultural artifacts. If you find yourself genuinely interested, you can also go for a Masters or Ph.D. and become an academic archaeologist.” “It’s not the place to get rich, but during all those years as an archaeologist and a professor, I’ve never met a student who failed to land a job.” Although some might argue that archaeology’s biggest attraction lies in the air of mystery it invokes, we must also be aware of the truth behind these pervasive misconceptions. The footsteps left behind by our ancestors are like an endless treasure trove. The deeper we dig, the better we understand our own identities. And as all great deeds go, the biggest prize lies not at the end, but in what you find and experience on the way. So trowel on, I say! a
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May 2024
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