Ever wanted to go on a research expedition?
 

So in this thread

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?t=119697

"what childhood dream.."

A couple of us said we'd like to go on an archaeological dig and I got to thinking wouldnt it be really cool if there was some way you could pay to go on existing dig and "help" for awhile and realize the dream?

Today while having my environmental audit I was talking with the girl doing it (we are buddies) and was telling her about that thread and what I'd said I wanted to do and that I wished there was a "place" that provided stuff like that....she told me there was!! She gave me the website and I've been looking at it all nite and dreaming.

http://www.earthwatch.org

Seems earthwatch has been around since 1971 providing MANY expeditions of all sorts that you can pay to go on. Yes its kind of expensive, but as these fees are treated as grants to the researchers they are tax deductible. You have to pay a fee and get to the country/location yourself but most of them (with the exception of some of the ones in the states) provide all your meals and lodging (just depends on where you are going as to whether or not you stay in a cave dwelling in china with a local family and pit toilets or in a hostel or house or inn or camp in a tent etc)

It gives very detailed explanations of what you will be doing and what is provided for the fee. For example, for one I would like to go on

http://www.earthwatch.org/site/pp2.a...FJnH&b=1147569

England's Hidden Kingdom

Dates: July 2007 - September 2007
Duration: 8 and 15 Days
Contribution: $1849 - 2749

Research Mission
Go back in time as you unearth the buried history of a mysterious ancient kingdom .

Situation Report
Chapel House Wood, Yorkshire, England — The period after the Romans withdrew from the British Isles and left a political void, from the 5th through 7th centuries A.D., was a time of turmoil and transition in England. What happened in that void is largely unknown, particularly in Yorkshire, where Roman influence seems to have been slight and archaeological research spotty. One speculation is that an entire independent kingdom, called Craven, thrived in this area during that period. Fortunately, centuries of traditional sheep-grazing have left the soil unplowed, and hence 3,000 years of history buried here remain largely intact. Archaeologist and veteran Earthwatch principal investigator Dr. Roger Martlew has launched a project to explore the neglected archaeology of upland Yorkshire and remove the shroud of mystery from Craven.

On the Expedition
You will help Martlew discover what lies beneath the Yorkshire Dales' scenic patchwork of stone walls, grazing sheep, and small towns. In rotating crews of three, your work will be divided between surveying and excavation tasks. You will document underground features and create maps, using topographic mapping techniques and geophysical measurements. Using a hand trowel, you will "take down the layers" and plot and record your finds. You will also help launch a survey of present-day plant species and pollen samples from peat cores to explore how the local environment has changed since the Roman period. The research site is in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, with steep-sided valleys cutting through high moorland, where the television series All Creatures Great and Small was filmed. At the research site and beyond, you'll feel transported to another time.

Meals and Accommodations
You'll stay at Dale House, a large stone house in the picturesque village of Kettlewell, near the river Wharfe, about a ten-minute drive from the field sites. Dale House offers a mixture of single and twin bedrooms, as well as a dining room and comfortable sitting room. Hot showers, conventional sanitation, and laundry facilities are available. You'll take packed lunches into the field and enjoy two-course evening meals, provided by the bistro next door, in Dale House's dining room. Food is basic but plentiful, and local pubs can be visited to augment your diet if desired.

Rendezvous
Skipton, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom



there are SO many expeditions around the world for so many different kinds of things I just had to share this find and see if any one else thought it was as cool as I did.

If you had the funds what would YOU like to go do?

You know Shani I actually thought about trying something like that when I discovered that organization a while back. But then I saw the tiny brush you have to use during the dig.
I think for me, that would be hell.

oh but thats what I WANT to do. I really wanted to be an archaeologist when I was growing up....tiny brushes and sieves and all

but whats neat about this is there are so many different kinds of things you can go do that dont involve tiny brushes lol

Haha, I agree... I'm much too impatient for something like that.

I would be up for getting a group of TFPers to go on a Habitat for Humanity trip somewhere overseas. The costs are comparable to the earthwatch trips, and we'd have the opportunity to help others less fortunate while experiencing other cultures.

I'd be up for it, but as I am still young(which equates poor :p), I don't know when I would be able to realize such an endeavor.

I also like dirtyrascal's idea, though I don't see much differnece in paying a lot of money for a trip to a third-world country to help out as opposed to lending your time and money to the areas which surround you and the citizens you see virtually everyday.

In the end, it all comes back to realizing a childhood dream of happiness, whether it be your own, or creating happiness for others as well, it still rocks.

(^intentional pun :D)

the difference is that my one desire in life is to go on a dig and this would accomplish that. This wasnt a conversation about helping for charity work...thats another whole discussion on its own....its about finding a place to help someone like me that didnt get to be an archaeologist like I wanted get to actually experience what I've dreamed about since I was 8 years old

Sorry to rain on your parade by answering your question, Shani.

I see, I see... :surprised:

If I had the funds to accomplish one childhood dream, I'd use it to accomplish global peace. :thumbsup:

http://www.crowcanyon.org/

Mrs. O'Rights went ther back in '91(?)...maybe '92.

If anyone does go, pick me up a souvenir coffee mug. I ruined hers in the dishwasher and haven't heard the end of it since.

I really have no interest in getting dirty with an archaeological dig myself, but I'd like to see one. I'm fascinated by them. I don't have any special attachment to one period of history over another--at least not one you'd have to dig for.

I am interested, however, in the Oregon Trail and pioneer activity on the overland route. Eventually I would like to travel a portion of the Oregon Trail in a covered wagon as the first settlers did. If I ever find an archaeological dig on pioneer campsites or settlements, I'll be there. I'm very interested in the dig they did out at Fort Clatsop, since the original replica of Fort Clatsop burnt down and they were finally able to conduct research on the remnants of the original fort. I have been meaning to get out there and see the new replica and the exhibits dealing with the results of the dig--the main exhibit, of course, being the new replica constructed with better input on how the actual Fort Clatsop was built.

has anyone actually looked at the list of all the things you can go do? its not just archaeology stuff, some of it is things like dolphin or manatee research in Belize, data research at the Smithsonian, butterfly research on Mt Fuji....there are many things there I'd like to do

I'd like to go fight the Nazis and find pseudo-religious artifacts of a supernatural nature while wearing a fedora and wielding a whip!!

If I were going to go on an expedition, I'd want to learn about ancient anthropology. After reading Jared Diamond's Collapse, I've been fascinated with the idea of ancient societies and how they did or didn't function.

I guess the one thing I would seriously like to do in that ilk is go to the South Pole.

Recently I've become so fascinated by it, and the men like Armundsen, Scott, Mawson, Shackleton and the heroic age of exploration... I think it would be a good thing for the soul to see the worst place in the world.

yes, but even if you replace it.... it won't be THAT one.

Ahhh...that explains the avatar...

Ummm...Dude? We've seen pictures of your flat. :lol:
J/K

I would be wary with things like that. Pardon me, I am so jaded. Some of the corporate sponsors listed do not make me feel too comfortable. I usually feel very suspicious when people show me NGOs because there is so much politics, both external and internal, that what they show a volunteer is innocent and hides too much bad.

what corporate sponsors??? I don't see any, but maybe I'm blind.

they are listed here Cyn

http://www.earthwatch.org/site/pp.as...PFJnH&b=394587

Alcoa
Con Edison
Discovery Communications
Eons, Inc.
Google
HSBC Bank USA, NA
Innovations in Wallcoverings
Lotek Wireless, Inc.
Lyondell
Mitsubishi International Corporation
Royal Caribbean
Shell Oil Company Foundation
Starbucks Coffee Company
Travelocity.com
Tyco International
UBS
Wells Fargo

I saw that list. They are clearly listed as supporters.

Supporters are not the same thing as sponsors, they do not imply the same thing.

Supporters mean that they donated money. Sponsors mean they pay money for advertisements.

(well I was "assuming" thats what the poster meant since I couldnt find sponsors either)

"sponsor" doesnt exactly mean paying for adverts.

If the group relies on these "donations" then the people donating money have power over them... which is presumably the guy above's concern.

When I first saw this thread title, I immediately thought "Antarctica". But actually I would love a chance to go anywhere to explore archaeology, ancient history, biology, anthropology. If they would take me, I'd consider doing this after I retire from my daily grind and my children are more on their own. Amazon is high on my list; parts of Mexico and Central America; parts of Africa and Asia too. But I have no interest in going someplace with touchy security problems or where too much politics come into play.

A couple years ago I became particularly intrigued with going to Antarctica since I was involved in a project to produce a special kind of safety valve that was eventually installed at some South Pole scientific stations, it's a protection device for some of the mechanical systems that could be destroyed if a power failure occured during the "winter" when many of the stations are not manned and operate on "auto" mode. So there is a chance I could go there one day for some technical reasons. Being involved with that, some personnel working there showed me the link below.

Strange Famous,
if you haven't seen this already, check out the huge database of pics and stories and blog-type stuff from some of the scientific stations in Antarctica. You'll have to hunt around this link http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/jacara/d...005/index.html but the gallery is an interesting place to start: http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/jacara/galleries.php One of the series of pics I liked was when the heat failed in one of the storage buildings holding several months worth of wine, hundreds of cases of wine all broken and splattered all over the ice, and the hunt to find the few unbroken bottles and then drinking them all up.

Unless an organization has an endowment of epic proportions (which some do) they have to rely on groups donating money.

Heh, I don't often realize that I might be living some people's dream... I'm not an archaeologist, but that's only because I dig up live people instead of dead ones (a.k.a. anthropology). :D It can be a pretty cool line of work, though, especially if people are willing to pay you to do it.

About Earthwatch: I'd think that it would be a lot easier (and cheaper) to contact a local anthropology/archaeology department (they're the same thing at most universities) in the summer and ask if they are running any field schools... and ask if you can just tag along. They're always dying to have help, especially if you are willing to be a shovel bum.

My advisor does Icelandic archaeology up here every other summer, and they haul along all kinds of shovel bums to do the gruntwork (digging and sorting/sieving). It's better working up in this kind of weather (cool, in the 50s on a nice day) than in the hot summer sun where most of the archaeologists do their work! So come to Iceland for a couple weeks this summer if you want to help dig up Viking longhouses (all you need to do is pay for your airfare, food, and a tent). :D

Damn, Skogafoss don't do that kind of camping.... though I wonder if she may if it's for Iceland.

I find it really interesting comparing life in the science stations today to what Scott went through...