inspiring trip
Jan. 12th, 2018 11:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kareinaI am just back from a quick trip to Umeå, where I met with the head of their Archaeology department and some of his students and colleagues. I sent them an email in December to introduce myself, since they are the most local archaeology department, and he invited me to drop by some time, so I did.
I arrived on Thursday evening, just on time to head to the lokal, the basement apartment that the Uma group rents (cheap) for their meetings and to store the group stuff for their regular Thursday gathering. Had a good time hanging out there with folk, and helped my minion with fitting on his costume in progress, before I followed him back to his place to do yoga (together, it is so nice to have company for yoga!) and get some sleep. This morning he and I hung out and cooked breakfast together and then his girlfriend L. arrived for a short visit before it was time for me to head over to the Archaeology Department. It was really good to see everyone, I wish that it didn't take so long to travel between places (three hours by car, or four by bus to get to Umeå from here--I took the bus, even though it is longer, because one can relax, and it costs about the same as petrol would have if only one is going).
The Archaeologists showed me their NIR equipment and some of their results. That is a technique I knew nothing about, and find it fascinating. They were able to distinguish a couple of different types of quartzite and a couple of different types of quartz from one of their finds. He suggests that if I am interested I could use their NIR technique on my soapstone before doing spot analyses, and they are interested in using my laser lab, so it was a good visit. I especially enjoyed the photos his student, Claudia, showed me of her work studying the walls at Carcasone. There is just so much really cool and fascinating stuff to do in the intersection between archaeology and geology! I am so delighted that I decided to start down this path. (Do feel free to remind me of this later, when/if I hit difficult or stressfull parts of the project.)
He also made a comment that has inspired me for a possible experimental archaeology component to my research. While we were discussing the differences between the two quartzites in their study above he commented that it could be due to changes as a result of use, rather than differences in the original rock--that if one heats a stone in a hearth every day, some changes are bound to happen. Therefore it could be fun to get my hands on some soapstone and make a vessel or baking stone, analyze it when it is new, then use it for cooking or baking (I love to bake, which is why latter crossed my mind) in a fire on a regular basis, keeping careful records of when, how long, etc., and then periodically re-analyze it, to see what, if any, changes wind up being visible, and if any, how long it took before they were noticeable. However, given how the small analysis chamber of the laser is, a baking stone wouldn't lend itself well to this idea, unless we were only using the NIR for its analysis...
After my meeting I met with friend Aron, who used to live in Luleå and sung in the student choir with me, and he joined me for waiting for the bus (I had about an hour with him), which was really nice.
Looking forward to my visit to Durham only one more week. Now I just need to remember to take with me things that I forgot to bring with me to Umeå (like the extra battery for recharging the phone while traveling).
I arrived on Thursday evening, just on time to head to the lokal, the basement apartment that the Uma group rents (cheap) for their meetings and to store the group stuff for their regular Thursday gathering. Had a good time hanging out there with folk, and helped my minion with fitting on his costume in progress, before I followed him back to his place to do yoga (together, it is so nice to have company for yoga!) and get some sleep. This morning he and I hung out and cooked breakfast together and then his girlfriend L. arrived for a short visit before it was time for me to head over to the Archaeology Department. It was really good to see everyone, I wish that it didn't take so long to travel between places (three hours by car, or four by bus to get to Umeå from here--I took the bus, even though it is longer, because one can relax, and it costs about the same as petrol would have if only one is going).
The Archaeologists showed me their NIR equipment and some of their results. That is a technique I knew nothing about, and find it fascinating. They were able to distinguish a couple of different types of quartzite and a couple of different types of quartz from one of their finds. He suggests that if I am interested I could use their NIR technique on my soapstone before doing spot analyses, and they are interested in using my laser lab, so it was a good visit. I especially enjoyed the photos his student, Claudia, showed me of her work studying the walls at Carcasone. There is just so much really cool and fascinating stuff to do in the intersection between archaeology and geology! I am so delighted that I decided to start down this path. (Do feel free to remind me of this later, when/if I hit difficult or stressfull parts of the project.)
He also made a comment that has inspired me for a possible experimental archaeology component to my research. While we were discussing the differences between the two quartzites in their study above he commented that it could be due to changes as a result of use, rather than differences in the original rock--that if one heats a stone in a hearth every day, some changes are bound to happen. Therefore it could be fun to get my hands on some soapstone and make a vessel or baking stone, analyze it when it is new, then use it for cooking or baking (I love to bake, which is why latter crossed my mind) in a fire on a regular basis, keeping careful records of when, how long, etc., and then periodically re-analyze it, to see what, if any, changes wind up being visible, and if any, how long it took before they were noticeable. However, given how the small analysis chamber of the laser is, a baking stone wouldn't lend itself well to this idea, unless we were only using the NIR for its analysis...
After my meeting I met with friend Aron, who used to live in Luleå and sung in the student choir with me, and he joined me for waiting for the bus (I had about an hour with him), which was really nice.
Looking forward to my visit to Durham only one more week. Now I just need to remember to take with me things that I forgot to bring with me to Umeå (like the extra battery for recharging the phone while traveling).