well This past weekend, the annual meetings of the Society of American Archaeology provided an example of the #MeToo movement playing out in real time, in real space. Already, a session was set to share anonymous stories of #MeToo in archaeology (co-organized by one of my dear colleagues, Chelsea Fisher). In addition to that hot moment, several others unfolded over the course of the conference weekend that challenged many scholars, particularly those in my Alaskan circle, to reflect on ways they had fostered or ignored problematic behavior in their careers.

When many hear #MeToo, it triggers suspicion among many, particularly those in the sciences. Well, you might think, I have been in the field for dozens of years and everyone has always felt safe at my field sites. We've never had any problems, you say to yourself. And yet, the data suggest that over half of all women are sexually harassed at their field school, and not a small proportion of men too. So, is it only happening at the other guy's field site?

This week, the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History reopened inside the Biological Sciences Building across the way from the old Ruthven Museum and Alaska's history was on display!  Senna Catenacci's hard work in the lab over the past year culminated in a poster she presented at the SAAs (see below) and a small exhibit focusing on finds from the Delta Creek Site associated with tool production.

Senna and I have been working together in lab for nearly two years. This year, Senna put together a poster not for the undergraduate research symposium, but for the big leagues: the national conference. Our co-authored poster compares two archaeological components from the Delta Creek Site that have been radiocarbon dated to the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene. These components are significant because they show what Alaska's early residents did during a big cold snap: the Younger Dryas, a brief return to the ice age at the end of the Pleistocene.