Beth Grindell Assistant curator Arizona State Museum

Museum curator gets frank on archaeology, gardening and other ways of playing in the dirt

GRINDELL: I'm an assistant curator at the Arizona State Museum.

So what exactly do you do?

GRINDELL: I'm exactly in charge of what is actually a specialized archive of archaeological records for the state of Arizona collected by many different people.

WILDCAT: That's a lot of history!

GRINDELL: It is.

WILDCAT: What is the most interesting thing you've found?

GRINDELL: I worked for several seasons at a Neanderthal site in France, and it was always very exciting to know that you were the first person looking at these materials in 50,000 years ö even when the materials themselves were not particularly enchanting.

WILDCAT: Sometimes I call my fiance a Neanderthal when I see him eat.

GRINDELL: Well, Neanderthals were very smart, well-adapted people so you might want to consider how you use that.

WILDCAT: Have you ever gone out to a sight and found somebody's lost car keys?

GRINDELL: That happens a lot. Many times you don't really know what you're looking for so you'll dig for hours and hours through what's plain dirt.

WILDCAT: Did you dig around your backyard when you were a kid? In first grade, my friends and I made a fossil club in my backyard. My parents were not too happy.

GRINDELL: I can't say I did too much. My mother discouraged me from getting dirty. I was well into my 30s before I decided it was OK to get dirty.

WILDCAT: You rebel! So, what do archaeologists do in their free time?

GRINDELL: I do archaeology in my free time.

WILDCAT: There's gotta be something archaeology unrelated, you know, wild and crazy you do.

GRINDELL: I like to read, I like to garden.

WILDCAT: You just can't stay out of the dirt.