I am Harding Polk II - historical archaeologist.  I started my career  with 
a field school on San Salvador in the Bahamas in 1975.  I got my BA  degree 
from Franklin Pierce College (now University) in 1978.  With mentors  like 
Ted Dethlefsen and Pam Cressey I think I was destined to follow the  
Historical Archaeology route.  But I took an early zig towards underwater  
archaeology being a State of Florida field agent monitoring treasure  hunters.  That 
certainly established which side of the fence to be  on!  Also did stints 
with the Texas Underwater Archaeology program and  assistant director of the 
Yorktown Shipwreck Project in its early days.   Then to go on to Texas A&M 
for a Masters in Underwater Archaeology, however  I didn't quite finish the 
thesis and thus no degree.  I zagged back to  terrestrial archaeology and 
like many an itinerate field bum followed jobs all  over - Virginia, New 
Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, New  Hampshire, Texas, Wyoming, New 
Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Virgin Islands,  Jamaica.  Its been a wonderful 
way to travel.  
 
For the last 22 years I've been in New Mexico and have worked for various  
lengths of time with private CRMs, UNM, tribal, USFS, NPS, and for the last 
8  years the Southwest Region of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.  In this  
position I work with Pueblo, Apache, Ute, and Navajo tribes.  This has lead  me 
to an interest with historic period Native American sites, particularly  
20th century occupations. Many of these can be very ephemeral since the  
occupants didn't have much in the way of material culture. I have presented on  
this topic and the need to be aware of the subtle environmental manipulations 
 such as tree modification, changes in vegetation type, etc.  
 
One of my collateral duties is as a Cultural Resource Specialist for the  
regional Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) Team to assess damages from  
suppression efforts for wildfires and to make recommendations for emergency  
stabilization and rehabilitation.  They are very intensive  assignments but 
provide an opportunity to work with very dedicated  multi-disciplinary 
teams.  I was on one of three national BAER teams that  worked on the Las Conchas 
Fire that burned about 167,000 acres near Los Alamos  last year (the 
largest in New Mexico history).  
 
P.S.   I met my wife, Roni Hinote Polk,  through  archaeology.  When I was 
working for the State of Florida, she was hired to  assist me, the rest is 
history (or historical).  She got her BA in  Anthropology from U of Arizona, 
and 2 MAs from William and Mary, one in  Historical Archaeology (thesis 
interviewing the grandfathers of our discipline  who worked at Jamestown) and 
one in Special Education.  We were married in  the old church on Jamestown 
Island.  We will be celebrating 30 years of  marriage on 9/11.  
 
P.P.S.  I also have a brother, Tom Polk, who also has a BA in  Anthropology 
(New England College) and worked in archaeology for 12 or so  years.  I 
also have a sister, Sally Polk, with a MA in  Anthropology (American U).  I 
always wanted to get the four of us Polks  together to write an article so I 
could later cite it as Polk, Polk, Polk and  Polk.  
 
Sorry this went on so long. 
 
Harding Polk II