Day 39

First of all, I would like to congratulate to my parents who are celebrating their 41st wedding anniversary today back in the northern hemisphere! I would also like to wish my excellent friend Krystal a very happy 26th birthday! I promise I’m out here somewhere, wishing you all the best. I can’t tell you how much I miss you guys.

Today we mustered up enough responsibility to forgo heading into the field in favour of doing some lab work. Once again we set up our plastic basins and newspaper on the second floor to process our loot. I suspect lab work will a lot more fun once we finally get out of the Iron Age. In the meantime, it’s hard not to laugh at the fact that we’ve spent 6 (and in some cases 10) years in university learn how to wash rusted iron slag with toothbrushes. For every interesting and glamorous thing we get to do in the field, there is always a toothbrush and pile of crud waiting at home. For whatever reason, our plight was more fascinating than usual today. We had about half a dozen other hotel guests wander upstairs and ask us what we were doing. Pam explained our research and outlined our objectives very carefully, since otherwise our behaviour looks rather suspicious. In 2006 at the same hotel, our team was investigated by immigration after a fellow guest accused them of stealing minerals. “Si medina” (not minerals) has consequently become a very important catch phrase for us. Typically, once we show people what we are collecting, they feel sorrier for us than anything else. It takes a certain kind of person to appreciate bone fragments, stone tool debitage, broken pots, and iron slag. Or perhaps it just takes a certain kind of person to take all those pieces and weave them into a story. That’s what I like think we’re doing.

After putting in our 8 hours of sun-scorching pebble inventory, we were rewarded with ndizi na nyama, a traditional dish from northern Tanzania. It’s basically cooked plantains and beef stew, all mixed together with peas and vegetables. One of our team members, Pastory, grew up in Bukoba and is absolutely crazy for anything banana related. However, his favourite dish is somewhat of a treat since we have to specially request it in the morning before we start work. Whether you’re celebrating anniversaries, birthdays, or washing rocks, you can’t go wrong with meat and bananas. Just another piece of wisdom from the field.