You've met our principal investigators, Dennis and Karl. I wanted you to meet my new friends and Earthwatch teammates, too. You may have been wondering what kinds of people volunteer for Earthwatch projects and how a group of people who are not archaeologists could accomplish so much in just one week! Including me, there were 12 members on our team. Our ages ranged from 25 to 67. We came from the east coast (New Jersey and North Carolina), the west coast (California and Oregon), from the north (Maine, New Hampshire and Washington), the south (Florida), and places in between (Illinois, Arizona, and New Mexico).

Five of us were Earthwatch veterans, having participated in anywhere from one to five previous projects. Half of us had previous volunteer archaeology experiences, and three of us had professional experience or anthropology degrees (archaeology is part of the field of anthropology). Our group included a retired physical education teacher, a paramedic, a retired Air Force nurse, a retired city planner, an online editor, a retired Internal Revenue Service employee, a museum services assistant, and, of course, a school librarian (that's me!).

Our group came together for many reasons, but everyone came with a desire to learn and to contribute to Karl's research. We worked hard and we ate a lot (Dennis commented on this several times — our team sure could eat!). We laughed a lot, went for hikes together, roasted marshmallows under the beautiful New Mexico stars, learned to throw with an atlatl (a prehistoric spear thrower), and became friends.

We're proud of what we accomplished this week. I am sitting in the airport now, and tomorrow I will be back at Hartford School. We thought of you often while we were working in New Mexico. I hope that the reports my team helped me write made you feel like part of our expedition, and that some day you, too, will be a member of an Earthwatch team helping to make valuable discoveries through important research in the field!

Credits: Courtesy of Shayne Russell