you were what you ate

Greetings everyone,

I figured I would start things off with a post from the lighter, more methodological side of archaeology. You see, I get the impression, speaking to folks from the general public, that many see archaeology as pyramid after pyramid... a discipline stuffed to the gills with ancient curses, golden tombs, and hoards of treasure. Let me begin dispelling some of these notions with a brief story about another form of archaeological "gold."

For the better half of the past couple of years, I worked for a top-notch CRM company, rescuing and preserving archaeological remains from all over North America's Southeast that were threatened by development. I was in the field a great deal, but I also did my time in the home office, where I processed artifacts for curation. In one of the buildings, a refrigerator was set aside, and no one ever seemed to put her lunch in it. One day, I overheard the reason...

Ever so often, archaeological field techs working for said company come across a site with excellent preservation conditions. Sometimes, conditions are so excellent that techs can recover the dried remains of an ancient lunch... and I'm not talking about leftovers.

The technical term is coprolites. A touch from the ol' Wikipedia:

"Coprolite is the name given to the mineral that results when human or animal dung is fossilized. The name is derived from the Greek words κοπρος/kopros meaning 'dung' and λιθος/lithos meaning 'stone'. It serves a valuable purpose in paleontology because it provides a picture of an early organism's diet and environment.^[1] Coprolite may range in size from the size of a BB all the way up to that of a large appliance."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coprolite

Whoa there, Mr. Wiki. Paleontologists aren't the only ones interested in fossilized poo. Archaeologists use coprolites to reconstruct the diets of ancient peoples. A single coprolite can tell us more about ancient ways of life than entire treasure chests full of gold dubloons. You were what you ate.

Anyway, this fridge was the holding cell for a whole mess of re-hydrated coprolites (I'm told that once they're re-hydrated, they regain their smell). Not the best place to store your turkey sandwich until lunch.