A beautiful week in Fairbanks, Alaska!
Orientation for my upcoming Arctic Expedition is going great! Fairbanks is gorgeous when the sun is out – bare birch trees this time of year and dark, skinny pine trees on the banks of the curving river. Chunks of ice drift downstream in the rust-brown water.
It’s so exciting to hear about all the wildly different experiences we teachers will have. Some will be aboard icebreaker ships, others on high frozen ice caps, Mike from Oregon will be living UNDER a glacier in Norway. My team will be camping in yellow tents on a gravel riverbank in the northwestern corner of Alaska. We’ll be digging for spear or arrowheads made more than 10,000 years ago by what the researchers call “paleoindians.” These are the people who scientists believe came to America across the Bering Land Bridge before it was submerged by rising sea levels. It’s fascinating to think of who they were, what language they spoke, and what lead them to walk to a new continent!
I'm really impressed by the organization of this group. Janet and Kristin are incredible, articulate ladies. The group is really tech savvy as well. We've had several "Webinar" seminars where researchers from around the world join us via the internet and phone lines for live discussions and slide shows.
Later today we'll tour the University of Alaska Museum of the North where my researcher, Dr. Jeff Rasic, is the curator of archaeology. I'm hoping he can teach me how to flint knapp stone tools and projectile points. There will also be a Large anima Research Station where we'll see muskox and caribou! Here is a link to more info about Dr. Rasic's research: http://www.uaf.edu/museum/collections/archaeo/staff/
Jeff Peneston, right, was a PolarTREC teacher aboard the Swedish icebreaker ODEN in 2008. He is a great resource for us newbies - explaining how to involve the students in this amazing experience.