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UA News
On the Spot

Photo
Beth Grindell
Assistant curator
Arizona State Museum
By Rebekah Jampole
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Wednesday September 25, 2002

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.

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