Bones, teeth, and nerves.

Last week I finally, FINALLY, got to excavate. It was thrilling (for me, anyway). The way the system is set up, each excavator is assigned a quad, which is a half meter by half meter square of earth you are meant to dig. This site is very hit or miss in terms of artifacts because it has periods of intensive occupation, where you get a lot of artifacts and cool stuff, punctuated by periods of low to no occupation, where the layer is pretty sterile. I happened to be assigned a quad with a ton of fire modified rocks, a ton of burned bone, some lithics, some shell, some charcoal, ect. Basically it was a 60,000 year old trash pile where they threw everything they wanted to get rid of into the fire.

The coolest thing I had a chance to pull from the ground so far was a whole vertebra from some large animal. The guess was zebra, but honestly it looked a little big for modern zebras to me. However, there was a now extinct species of cape zebra that used to roam the cliffs and I have no idea how big they were. Last Thursday there was quite a commotion because Nkosi, one of the local fellas who work on the project, found a bunch of huge animal teeth and one incredibly well preserved tooth that looked like it could have been human. They took soil samples from all around where it was found along with detailed pictures, and immediately sent the photos to Jamie. She told us that it was, sadly, not human at all, but wildebeest. Still awesome. Honestly, excavating is amazing. When they call tea time or lunch, I didn't want to go. I just wanted to dig and dig.

On Friday last week I found a giant piece of burned bone from some giant animal, but could not excavate it because, while I had exposed the top, the bottom sat in the sediment layer underneath the one I was excavating. This meant I needed to clear out all of the top sediment and close out the strat unit before I could open another one for the layer below.

I was determined to get this bone, and I let everyone know it. Diligently I dug away more rock, more dirt, more bone shards, all the while staring at the top of this bone with an indescribable itch.

Action shot!

Everything changed Wednesday morning when I woke up to a spasm in my neck. As some of you may know, the last few months I have been dealing with a pinched nerve at the top of my spine. The first time it happened was completely incapacitating and it took about three months for me to be able to function normally again. Naturally this scared me, so I told Jamie my neck was acting up and she decided to take me to work with her in the lab rather than having me go to site. Lab day was fun! I washed the dirt from everyone's finds so Jamie could analyze them, which meant that I got to see the best of what everyone was finding.

Alas, I went back to site the next day because I am completely incapable of self-care, it would seem. I cried all the way back up the hill at the end of the day and laid in bed that night just trying not to aggravate the electric shocks my nerves were shooting down my neck and back. It was probably as pathetic looking as it sounds. I text my wonderful boyfriend Will back in Colorado, and he encouraged me to try and find someone with muscle relaxers or pain meds, but the only person who I knew had any had given them to Bill, my BBF and fellow Coloradian who, as fate would have it, had thrown his back out that morning.

The next day found us both crippled and unable to do much of anything. Jamie gathered the two of us in the living room after everyone had left and told us we had to move forward with some kind of therapy, be it doctor visit or just heating pads. We agreed a doctor might be in order. I was hoping to get some muscle relaxers because at this point I was just in constant, low-grade pain and it was really wearing on me. Jamie walked us to the nearest clinic, where we came into a small waiting area with about six people already sitting there, headed by a desk overflowing with scatters of paper and free condoms. The only thing behind it was a television playing truly terrible South African soap operas. Jamie asked one of the people sitting down if this was a clinic and he told her yes, we just had to wait. A woman came back behind the desk about 15 minutes later and told us to take a number, which was literally just a number sharpied onto a small piece of cardboard. After another 15 minutes Jamie had to leave and go to lab, and she asked us to tell her when we got in to see the doctor.

An hour later only one person had been called to go back, Bill was in a lot of pain from sitting in the chair, and my tolerance for half English/half Afrikaans drama had plummeted. We decided to take a cab to the clinic further away, where I had gotten my antibiotics a few weeks ago. We were seen in less than 20 minutes. Bill's doctor prescribed him an anti-inflammatory, a muscle relaxer, and gave him a shot in the butt. Mine prescribed me a combo med of both, and told me he wanted me to get some x-rays and bring them back to him to look at. I kind of balked, until he told me the x-rays would cost 175 rand. Less than $17 US.

South Africa, people.

So we filled our prescriptions, ate lunch, and off I went to the hospital for my x-rays. When they were done, they handed me a disk instead of any paperwork, and sent me on my way. I stopped into the cafe next door and bought a cookie, already falling asleep because of the meds. I asked the woman behind the counter if she could call me a cab, and she laughed. "A cab? In Mossel Bay?"

I nodded, unsure.

"Where are you trying to go?"

I told her the name of my hostel and she shook her head. "I tell you what, you wait five minutes and my husband will drive you." So I waited five minutes, her husband came to pick her up, and they drove me home. When I got into the room I collapsed into bed and slept the rest of the day. Still need to get the x-rays to the doctor.

The meds are helping, but I'm still pretty messed up and can't really look to the left. Stupid body, getting old and uncooperative. This is my second to last weekend here in Mossel Bay, and we only have two more weeks of field season to go. I'm not sure where or how I'll be able to work at site, and I'm pretty sure I won't be able to get my bone out, which breaks my heart. It's kind of crazy how attached you get to one square of dirt and one old bone. But I'll find a way to be useful, and I'll be sad to leave regardless of how physically deteriorated I am.

I do miss home, and I look forward to doing all manner of summer Denver things with my summer Denver people. I spent much of today purchasing gifts, so look forward to that ya'll.