March 28, 2017
by Hannah Rea, Social Media Intern
The “Work in Progress” exhibit was created in the run-up to the Glenn A. Black Lab’s 50th Birthday last year. It was an attempt to shine a realistic light on the often-romanticized field of archaeology, by providing faces to accompany the names and discoveries of sites associated with the GBL.
“The real work of archaeology takes place in muddy fields, tidy labs, and in contentious journals and conferences,” the explanation of the exhibit read. “The photographs show the sometimes hilarious, sometimes miserable, but always interesting work that went into building our understanding of Indiana’s past.”
A timeline of Indiana history accompanied the photographs, providing artifacts and details of certain eras of life pre-European contact in the Hoosier State.
To make the exhibit more interactive for the public, sheets of paper were attached to each photo for visitors to write their thoughts and reflections on the photos.
Here are some of the interesting comments we received:
“The only person wearing pants is a woman. Things have changed.”
And a reply: “Sample is too small and there are women in shorts in the pic[ture] also. Have times really changed?”
“Cuff game strong”
“Heads up!”
“That is hard work.”
“I miss the old archaeologist/explorer hats everyone used to wear, like the one the guy from ‘Tarzan’ has.”
Thank you to everyone who left comments!