How did you end up in the field you are in today? Who or what inspired you to pursue this career? Who are some of the people you look up to or admire?
I became interested in anthropology and archaeology in 5th grade, attending a school in Rome Italy that was run by missionaries. I remember viewing a movie brought back by one Catholic brother depicting the culture of a tribe in New Guinea. I was amazed that people so different than us (western Europeans) still existed on this Earth. At the same time, I remember clearly going to the Roman forum and Coliseum on several class trips and wondering how the ancient Romans lived. Standing on the ancient streets, I often imagined how live was in those days, as Romans walked along the same streets we visited. When I came to the US as an 11 year old, I became interested in history and continued those interests in college, and then more intensely as I studied for my masters and Ph.D. In 1984 I joined the Space program as a cultural anthropologist studying organizational culture. I became interested in remote sensing and learned how it applied to archaeology. It was my Dad who really encouraged me to pursue this course of study. Just about all my relatives questioned what I would do with an anthropology degree, how I would make a living. My Dad encouraged me to pursue what I loved best, and not worry about making money, saying that it would follow from doing work one was passionate about. He was right. In my life I have admired many people, besides my Dad. I was inspired by my 5th grade teacher in Italy who told wonderful stories about traveling around the world. I admired Stephen Gould, a scientist who wrote many books and articles on evolution and science. He wrote about complicated scientific topics in a way that was interesting and easy to understand. I also admire several historic figures like Alexander the great of Macedonia who at a young age conquered the known world of that time, as well as other leaders like Hannibal and Scipio Africanus. I am in awe of people who give up many material pleasures to help less fortunate people, like Mother Teresa and St. Francis of Assisi.
What research/work projects are you currently involved in? How do you conduct your research/work and what tools/technology do you use? What have you learned so far?
My two favorite research projects that currently occupy my time are the Lewis and Clark archeological project and the Coast 2050 wetland reconstruction project. In both these projects I use digital data from satellites and airplane-mounted sensors (special digital recorders). I enter that data in my computer and manipulate it to extract meaningful information. On the Lewis and Clark project, we study the trek made by the Corps of Discovery Expedition sent out by Thomas Jefferson in 1804 to 1806 to explore the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase. We use technology to overlay the old Expedition maps drawn by Clark over modern satellite images of the same places. In this way we can map the ancient forts and Indian villages depicted 200 years ago to the modern landscape. In this way, archaeologists can narrow their search for the physical evidence of these sites. We have found that the current ideas about the location of Fort Clatsop, where the expedition spent a long winter after arriving on the shores of the Pacific Ocean may not be where people thought it was. Field teams are exploring the new locations to find evidence of the fort.
When I work on the Coast 2050 project I use similar imagery to assist other Federal Agencies with the discovery and mapping of archaeological sites in the disappearing marshes and wetlands of Southeast Louisiana. As part of this study, we are visiting sites in the marshes to map them with GPS (global positioning system) and then identifying them again on satellite and aircraft data. We want to make sure that when the Government dredges areas to replenish the marshes, or builds sediment and freshwater diversions by breaching the Mississippi River to reintroduce sediment-ladened waters into the marshes (therefore reestablishing the natural land-building processes in the region prior to people building all the levees) that the ancient Indian mounds and villages are not destroyed. Ancient Americans lived along the levees and lakeshores of SE Louisiana and moved as the River changed its courses over time, building new deltas as the previous ones were naturally destroyed by lake of fresh water, sediment and subsidence. Native Americans lived in these resource-rich areas hunting, trapping and fishing like many modern Cajun families. The bounty of this land was so great, that many Ancient Americans did not appear to use agriculture to sustain their families. Yet, they built large towns with enormous mounds for their chiefs and priests. Because there is a very tight relationship between delta formation and human settlement, I have studied a lot of geology to date the building and destructions of the different ancient deltas and in this way my colleagues and I were able to more accurately date the archaeological sites of the area. In the course of looking at remote sensing data, we discovered a way to determine if the freshwater diversions were useful in building new marshes and were able to accurately measure how much land was built and how much was lost through natural and human causes. Using these data from satellites and airplanes, the work can be completed more easily since the Louisiana wetlands are still wild and often unexplored. Walking in this area is tiring and difficult. The use of computers to study remote sensing data makes the job much easier, although filed work is still required. The marshes are beautiful places so it is always fun and exciting to go exploring them.
What do you like best about your job? What do you like the least?
I like looking at the Earth with satellites. Depending on which ones I use, I can see many fine details like mounds, ancient roads and villages. Or if I want to get a general idea of what the landscape looked like, say when Lewis and Clark explored the West, I can use satellites that covered very large areas and do not identify modern cultural features like cities and highways. I like exploring wild places, discovering sites long-ago abandoned, surrounded by uninhabited marshes, where huge oaks trees grow, covered with Spanish moss. I like being in the marshes where once can see all types of wildlife, including many types of birds, alligators, snakes, deer, beavers, otter, and all kinds of fish. I like thinking when I am at these places, how they looked hundreds or thousands of years ago. What were people doing everyday? What games did the children play? What did people do for fun? What type of family life did they experience? Archaeology is very much like detective work and I like inventing hypotheses and then searching for clues that test them.
I like the least having to go to meetings at work. I know it is important to attend these so one hears the latest news and learns about other people’s projects. But I’d rather be in my field clothes exploring in the field or studying our finds in the laboratory.
Where have you traveled for your work? What's the favorite place you've been so far? What was the strangest or most incredible thing that happened to you while conducting your work?
I have traveled to France and Italy to conduct archaeological digs. I have visited my archaeologist friends who work in the Yucatan on very large Mayan sites and have helped them do archaeology. But my favorite work sites have been in Southeast Louisiana. Being a city-slicker, I was sure that I’d get lost the very first I went in the wild wetlands. So I became friends with a local fisherman and trapper who had grown up in the Louisiana marshes. He taught me a lot about that environment. One time when we were exploring a site near a large lake in St. Charles parish, I wondered off down this wide trail that went from the lakeshore to a small mound. I thought I had discovered something important when my guide explained to me that what I had found was an alligator nest and that that nice wide trail was made by the mother alligator who was most likely near-by. Of course I did not dig in that mound and from then on stayed very close to my Cajun guide. I am very careful now to be aware of my surroundings when I do field work in the wetlands. Although beautiful and inspiring, the marshes of Louisiana are wild places, where a false step, or ignorance of animals and their habits can have dire consequences. A bite from a water moccasin so far from civilization can be deadly.
Why do you think it is important for students to learn about wetlands in general? Why do you think it is important for students to learn about Louisiana’s wetlands? What can we learn from studying this region?
Wetlands are a cradle for all forms of wildlife. They are nurseries for fish and shrimp, crabs, birds and many mammals and reptiles. The wetland vegetation filters the water from the rivers and makes the Gulf of Mexico cleaner. But these lands are very fragile. Human beings have altered the natural cycle of wetland formation and destruction. By building levees along the rivers, and by cutting canals into the marshes and by logging and over-hunting they have speeded up the loss of wetlands and the animals that live there. Without healthy wetlands, the food we like to eat could disappear. Wetlands protect Louisiana from the frightening power of hurricanes. They are places where civilization has a difficult time taking root due to the unstable land. They are one of the last great wilderness areas left in the United States and should be preserved to allow future generations to enjoy the peace and quiet that one can find there. The wetlands are dynamic, ever-changing places. If we are prudent and do all we can to preserve them they can recover and remain healthy places for wildlife and wonderful places for recreation. It is also important to note that when land in the marshes subside and eventually disappear, the ancient sites disappear with them, and these archaeological sites are non-renewable resources. Once they are gone, they are gone forever. We would never be able to study them and learn how hundreds of generations of people lived and prospered in these wetland environments. We would then miss out on the stories of survival, failure, and success that the sites of these ancient people could tell us, if only we could prevent heir rapid destruction.
What advice would you give to students who are interested in studying science? What are some of the diverse careers associated with the work that you do?
I can probably do no better than pass onto them the advice my Dad gave me. If you love something, pursue it with all your might. Find out what you are passionate about in school, and don’t worry about what job you will have, or how much money you will make. You will be asked eventually to work every week of your adult life and if you end up doing something you don’t like just to make money, you will soon get bored and tired of working. If you do something you really love, the money will follow. There will be many opportunities in college and beyond to focus your scientific interest in specific areas. But once you learn the basics of science, like the scientific method of inquiry, you can adapt it to many different disciplines. Learn the core concepts, and basic principles of scientific investigation and exploration; the details can be filled in later. If you should pursue the type of career that I have, you can work as a scientist in a laboratory or a university, you can become a teacher, you can become a computer expert, or a geographer, a geologist, botanist or zoologist, since all these disciplines contribute to archaeology. You can become a manager of archaeological resources and work to preserve them for visitors and future generations. You can become a data analyst, or a writer of popular books since the work is so interesting that many people want to learn about it. You can become an explorer who uses modern technology to discover new sites or new things about known places.
Any final thoughts, words of advice, personal philosophy?
I heard a story a while back that made a great impact on me. It tells of a man walking on a beach covered with stranded sea stars. There were thousands of them lying above the tide line. As he walked he encountered a young boy (or maybe it was a young girl) who was picking a start-fish and tossing it back into the ocean. The man said to the young person, “why are you doing that, can’t you see how many there are, you can’t make a difference” and the young person replied, throwing another sea-star back into the water: “It made a difference to that one.”
I think that is a very inspiring story. When we read the news, and face the enormous challenges that are posed to us every day, we can get depressed and think that our individual actions can make no difference. Well, everyone can make a difference in any given time and place. At least one sea star will be grateful for your effort.