Matthew Ordinario, Fordham University
IAP 5.0 Blog
It’s been a year since I came to Ifugao for the first time, and returning made me realize how much I really missed Kiangan, the town in which we have taken up our temporary residence for the duration of the field season. Being able to walk to the town center from our headquarters in the SITMo (Save the Ifugao Terraces Movement) house, seeing the much loved dog of our neighbors, Bon Bon, and buying a Royal Tru Orange (the Philippine version of orange soda) from Ate Pauline in the sari-sari store (pretty much a variety store) next door all awakened this sense of nostalgia within me.
It was just around this time last year when a past me, unaware yet eager, got his first taste of fieldwork and what it takes to do field Archaeology. I remember, of course, my very first day vividly and how I joined the “Terrace Divers Club” on our way back from the field by gracefully sliding off the narrow and dangerous muddy path into an irrigation ditch and spraining my ankle in the process.
Since then many things have changed. Being with the Ifugao Archaeological Project for another year has let me see how much I have changed in the past year and how I compare to many of those around me who are now having their turn experiencing their first field school. Coming back has enabled me to refresh what I learned last year in terms of setting up a trench, troweling, mapping, balancing across the rocks to reach the site, and even using only two tabos of water to take a shower.
Even more than observing how far I’ve come from the past year, it’s actually been very fun helping many of the other crew members learn field techniques alongside refreshing my own knowledge. Being a returner, I’ve become a sort of gray zone between undergrad and grad student, especially when considering that I had just gotten my bachelor’s degree about a month ago and that I have been part of this project previously and know how this specific field school works. In addition to learning how to do specific tasks, I’ve now also been learning how to properly direct others to do those same tasks to slowly understand how to run a unit.
With all that said, today was pretty busy, with our field crews setting up two 2 meter by 4 meter trenches at the Old Kiyyangan Village site in the only dried out rice field for as far as the eye can see. Because Archaeology relies heavily on what the conditions are like at the field, we were unfortunately unable to set up more units, but for now Trenches 18 and 19 should suffice and hopefully we can set up more later on in the field season. Actually, the biggest thing I’m happiest about is the lack of flooding. For the past couple of days there has been very little rain, and while this might not be good for our water situation at home it has been great in ensuring that our trenches aren’t like the muddy pits from last year that still haunt my dreams. In terms of our new field crew I’ve really been enjoying everyone’s company, probably more so than last year. We have a nice balance of personalities that thankfully have not shown any signs of breaking down so far and I have high hopes in having considerably less drama. For now, I guess I’ll just keep on chugging along. After all, there are always more things to see and learn.
IAP 5.0 Blog
It’s been a year since I came to Ifugao for the first time, and returning made me realize how much I really missed Kiangan, the town in which we have taken up our temporary residence for the duration of the field season. Being able to walk to the town center from our headquarters in the SITMo (Save the Ifugao Terraces Movement) house, seeing the much loved dog of our neighbors, Bon Bon, and buying a Royal Tru Orange (the Philippine version of orange soda) from Ate Pauline in the sari-sari store (pretty much a variety store) next door all awakened this sense of nostalgia within me.
It was just around this time last year when a past me, unaware yet eager, got his first taste of fieldwork and what it takes to do field Archaeology. I remember, of course, my very first day vividly and how I joined the “Terrace Divers Club” on our way back from the field by gracefully sliding off the narrow and dangerous muddy path into an irrigation ditch and spraining my ankle in the process.
Since then many things have changed. Being with the Ifugao Archaeological Project for another year has let me see how much I have changed in the past year and how I compare to many of those around me who are now having their turn experiencing their first field school. Coming back has enabled me to refresh what I learned last year in terms of setting up a trench, troweling, mapping, balancing across the rocks to reach the site, and even using only two tabos of water to take a shower.
Even more than observing how far I’ve come from the past year, it’s actually been very fun helping many of the other crew members learn field techniques alongside refreshing my own knowledge. Being a returner, I’ve become a sort of gray zone between undergrad and grad student, especially when considering that I had just gotten my bachelor’s degree about a month ago and that I have been part of this project previously and know how this specific field school works. In addition to learning how to do specific tasks, I’ve now also been learning how to properly direct others to do those same tasks to slowly understand how to run a unit.
With all that said, today was pretty busy, with our field crews setting up two 2 meter by 4 meter trenches at the Old Kiyyangan Village site in the only dried out rice field for as far as the eye can see. Because Archaeology relies heavily on what the conditions are like at the field, we were unfortunately unable to set up more units, but for now Trenches 18 and 19 should suffice and hopefully we can set up more later on in the field season. Actually, the biggest thing I’m happiest about is the lack of flooding. For the past couple of days there has been very little rain, and while this might not be good for our water situation at home it has been great in ensuring that our trenches aren’t like the muddy pits from last year that still haunt my dreams. In terms of our new field crew I’ve really been enjoying everyone’s company, probably more so than last year. We have a nice balance of personalities that thankfully have not shown any signs of breaking down so far and I have high hopes in having considerably less drama. For now, I guess I’ll just keep on chugging along. After all, there are always more things to see and learn.
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