Esther Aguayo
Becoming an archaeologist has been a dream of mine since I was a child. As cheesy as it may sound, I was enraptured with archaeologists on television and film like Jackie Chan Adventures, The Mummy, and of course Indiana Jones. I also consumed all the books and media I could about ancient history and civilization. Ultimately as I got older, the fantasy that these movies created faded and I realized that I would not be chased throughout the world by an ancient organization of ninjas for artifacts; but my passion for archaeology only strengthened as it became more rooted in reality as an academic career.
My journey through academic life has been a turbulent one. I have always known that I wanted to study archaeology, but fears about my aptitude and lack of academic prowess to achieve those dreams lingered and held me back. That was until I took my first anthropology class in community college two years ago. Learning about the field of anthropology revitalized the passion that had ignited so many years ago for archaeology and I immediately switched my major to pursue the career I had only dreamt of. Through Anthropology, I was able to embrace my Chicana heritage, to learn more about my Mexican culture. I was encouraged by a professor to volunteer at the San Diego Natural History Museum’s Maya: Hidden Worlds Revealed Exhibit and became captivated with Maya Archaeology. Volunteering for the Maya exhibit helped me become more knowledgeable about the Maya and I was especially interested in the role that Spanish colonization impacted the indigenous populations in Central America.
Colonization permeates every aspect of our lives and has muddled our own views about our heritage and what it means to be Latin@, and I am fascinated by how these historical events still affect us as a population to this day. My fascination with colonization is what led me to the Ifugao Archaeological Project; I gravitated to this project when I saw that it was studying the effects of Spanish colonization on the indigenous population in the Philippines. My interest in Spanish colonization has been largely due to the impact they had on the lives of the indigenous American population. I would love to learn about the lives and experiences of the Ifugao Community in the past and how it still affects them to this day. With this project, I hope we can collaborate with the Ifugao community to learn more about their history and the impact that the rice terraces and colonization have had on their lives.
With hands-on training in the field, I hope to attain a well-rounded skill set in archaeological field methods as most of my experience has been in the lab. In my academic career I have become very familiar with recording, photographing, measuring, and matching faunal remains that have been excavated from various archaeological sites in San Diego. I have also worked with Late Classic Maya pot sherds in an Artifact Analysis class and I have learned about Historical Archaeological methods as well. Working for the IAP will provide invaluable information and skills that I need in order to further my career in Archaeology. I am grateful that I was one of the students chosen by the National Science Foundation to participate in the project and it is an honor to be able to contribute to such important research on this World Heritage Site! In the future, I plan on earning my doctorate so that when I establish my career, I can run projects similar to the IAP in order to learn more about the livelihood of the ancient Maya through zooarchaeology and share my passion for archaeology and anthropology by teaching future university students. Participating in such a wonderful project is a significant opportunity to better myself and prepare for my future in Archaeology; and I will forever be indebted to the NSF-REU and IAP for making my dream a reality.
My journey through academic life has been a turbulent one. I have always known that I wanted to study archaeology, but fears about my aptitude and lack of academic prowess to achieve those dreams lingered and held me back. That was until I took my first anthropology class in community college two years ago. Learning about the field of anthropology revitalized the passion that had ignited so many years ago for archaeology and I immediately switched my major to pursue the career I had only dreamt of. Through Anthropology, I was able to embrace my Chicana heritage, to learn more about my Mexican culture. I was encouraged by a professor to volunteer at the San Diego Natural History Museum’s Maya: Hidden Worlds Revealed Exhibit and became captivated with Maya Archaeology. Volunteering for the Maya exhibit helped me become more knowledgeable about the Maya and I was especially interested in the role that Spanish colonization impacted the indigenous populations in Central America.
Colonization permeates every aspect of our lives and has muddled our own views about our heritage and what it means to be Latin@, and I am fascinated by how these historical events still affect us as a population to this day. My fascination with colonization is what led me to the Ifugao Archaeological Project; I gravitated to this project when I saw that it was studying the effects of Spanish colonization on the indigenous population in the Philippines. My interest in Spanish colonization has been largely due to the impact they had on the lives of the indigenous American population. I would love to learn about the lives and experiences of the Ifugao Community in the past and how it still affects them to this day. With this project, I hope we can collaborate with the Ifugao community to learn more about their history and the impact that the rice terraces and colonization have had on their lives.
With hands-on training in the field, I hope to attain a well-rounded skill set in archaeological field methods as most of my experience has been in the lab. In my academic career I have become very familiar with recording, photographing, measuring, and matching faunal remains that have been excavated from various archaeological sites in San Diego. I have also worked with Late Classic Maya pot sherds in an Artifact Analysis class and I have learned about Historical Archaeological methods as well. Working for the IAP will provide invaluable information and skills that I need in order to further my career in Archaeology. I am grateful that I was one of the students chosen by the National Science Foundation to participate in the project and it is an honor to be able to contribute to such important research on this World Heritage Site! In the future, I plan on earning my doctorate so that when I establish my career, I can run projects similar to the IAP in order to learn more about the livelihood of the ancient Maya through zooarchaeology and share my passion for archaeology and anthropology by teaching future university students. Participating in such a wonderful project is a significant opportunity to better myself and prepare for my future in Archaeology; and I will forever be indebted to the NSF-REU and IAP for making my dream a reality.
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