My internship at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area has opened new doors for me! I was given the experience of a lifetime to work alongside archeologists in cultural resources. I am a social science student, my areas of study being in anthropology and history. Many anthropologists go on to do work in archeology, like my supervisor did after obtaining her masters. The other person I worked with just graduated recently with a bachelors in archeology. She taught field school for a semester, which greatly helped to prepare her for her position. Their stories greatly inspired me to believe that this field of work could be open to me. You need to be able to make important decisions in a job like this, and you are entrusted with a lot of responsibility. This is not something I would feel ready to take on now, but I believe I could do it with more training. For incoming interns, DRINK YOUR WATER SLOWLY! I didn't take that advice seriously when I was extremely dehydrated, and it gave them quite the memory of me. Seriously though, if you don't know much about archeology, get ready to hit the ground running. Do your research! And of course, enjoy your time. You get to hike to remote locations and find arrowheads, and the people around you are well educated. I got to peak into the lives of those who made better decisions in life to get where they are now, and it made me feel like it might just be possible for someone like me too. Best of luck out there!
I got to meet wild burros too!
I am also an aspiring archaeologist, and this sounds like a great internship and one I would be very interested in applying for! But unfortunately, I cannot afford another semester in an unpaid internship. Getting discouraged early on in a career can be easy, but finding guidance and inspiration can make all the difference. Best of luck to you, and I hope to see you in the field soon!
That sounds like such a wonderful experience! It's also probably great that you experienced this during the peak of summer (which I imagine is not the most fun time to be in middle of the Mojave), so you'll have some experience for your future archeology endeavors.
I love this, and your advice is definitely accurate! Anything outdoors in the summer in las vegas, WATER!
I think your work at the Lake Mead Recreation area is amazing. it’s really cool how you get to work along side archeologists and get to see what their world is like. It‘s also cool that you get to see cool animals as well!