The Intersection of Archaeology and the Trail

Imagine that you are walking along a beautiful green trail. Wildflowers splash the lawn, birds sing, insects buzz, and you’re walking through this beautiful day. Soon you enter a clearing, a nice flat area stretching out in front of you with a small creek running through it. You follow the path and while looking down you see something that catches your eye. It looks like some kind of rock sticking out of the ground. You pick it up and recognize it as an arrowhead. You look around some more, but you can’t find anything else, so you put your find in the pocket and keep hiking.

Hello! My name is Alejandra and I am an archaeologist. This year I’m going to try to hike the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. While preparing for the hike, I read several books, many of which mentioned artifact hunting along the AT. As an archaeologist, I think this is unethical and requires more attention. In this article, I hope to discuss the previous scenario and why it is important to protect the monuments around us. But first, let me give you a little introduction to what archeology is and what I do.

So you’re like Indiana Jones, right?

If you know any archaeologists, they might tell you that they are not fans of Indiana Jones. In my opinion, I think movies are fun and adventurous. However, they don’t portray archeology for what it is (although I think it would be nice…