1) Who are you?
Bob Skiles, RPA - Staff Archaeologist at the Texas General Land Office since
1994; Zone Archaeologist, Gifford Pinchot NF part of 1994; Heritage Program
Manager, Angelina NF, Texas 1993-94; Assistant Forest Archeologist &
Heritage Program Manager, National Forests & Grasslands in Texas 1991-1993;
Research Associate, Site Director & Archivist, Institute of Applied
Sciences, University of North Texas 1986-1991; Consultant, Assistant Project
Archeologist & Project Historian, Prewitt & Associates, Inc. 1985-1986;
Archival Research Consultant, 1983-85; Southern Methodist University
1976-1983; Director, Wood County (Texas) Archeological Survey 1972-1975;
Life-Member Texas Archeological Survey (since 1972); first Webmaster; first
(and still ... since 1995) listowner of TxArch-L
At the General Land Office I manage the cultural resources on the 20+
millions of acres of lands and mineral owned by the Permanent School Fund of
Texas (including the submerged lands from the beaches out to 10.3 nautical
miles in the Gulf where 2100+ known & mapped historic shipwrecks lie), as
well as lands we administer on behalf of other agencies (Veterans Land
Board, Boards of Lease, etc) and the numerous other agencies we serve as
"real estate broker" whenever they need to acquire or dispose of real
property (land). Recently, we have begun buying & selling development lands
on behalf of the Permanent School Fund (one of the largest trust funds in
the country, which supports our public school system) so my work-load (and
contracted work) has drastically increased (our investment in acquisitions
of land have increased from about $2-million 5-or-6 years ago to
$500-million in the fiscal year we have just completed).
In my spare time (as if such a thing has existed for the past decade), I
have ready access to the fabulous archives of the land office for research
... (which we have been steadily scanning and placing more-and-more online)
2) Dirtiest moment in the field: I've had a few ... but the grungiest for
the longest, and certainly if you add-in the peril factor and raw-boned
tiredness, the worst was in the Spring of 1987 when Rando Nathan and I led a
group of our most intrepid crew-members in extracting our excavation
equipment (water-screens, pumps, thousands of feet of rubber hosing, etc.)
from 4-or-5 widely separated sites scattered throughout the nearly completed
Ray Roberts Reservoir. An unexpected flood came and quickly inundated our
sites. Bear in mind this was carried-out in the pitch-blackness of night &
driving rain... we got word of the flood about midnight and were on the
ground (or rather, I should say, wading through waist- to neck-deep water)
by 2am. Our flashlights quickly became useless, but we were able find our
way, avoid the fast-moving water in channels, and fend-off most of the
snakes and other flooded varmints swimming around us, by getting glimpses of
our surroundings during the abundant flashes of lightning.
3) Your idea of the best dressed archaeologist, i.e. what practical gear
should they be wearing?
Dress for the occasion ... some very practical sounding dude already said
"avoid synthetics" which is sound advice in most every situation ... on the
night referenced above, some of us found it worked better (especially when
swimming across rapidly moving water) to be un-dressed.
~~~
"Smithers! Get that bedlamite to an alienist." ~ C. Monty Burns
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