I reveled in this achievement and made sure to demonstrate both my stone tool and its mighty powers of destruction to anyone who would listen. Upon further inspection, it became clear that the source of injury was my scraper! I was overjoyed to find that despite my initial doubts, I had created a functional stone tool. I felt a sharp pain and immediately withdrew my hand, only to see that my finger was gushing blood. A few days later, after recovering from the idea that the tribulations of a mid-Pleistocene landscape would have meant certain demise for Jordan erectus, I fished around in my purse for a tube of chapstick. Despite the patience and encouragement of my instructors, I left that day with what could be loosely defined as a scraper and a new-found appreciation for modern utensils. After hammering a chunk of basalt for about an hour and succeeding only in reflecting the shrapnel at my own face, it came to my attention that I was an especially remedial hominin. For me, this moment was reaching into my purse one day and severing my finger on an Oldowan stone tool, and then recognizing this strange event as a major life accomplishment.įor a project in Paleolithic Archaeology last semester, we were required to craft stone tools one afternoon behind the department. It’s these small moments that make you stop, smile, and think, “only at CASHP”.

You see, although some moments are certainly more impressive than others, it’s the charming quirks of this department that have come to define my time here. Attempting to sift through all of these memories and extract one life defining “a-ha” moment is, for me, quite a problematic task. My short time at CASHP has been filled with an array of experiences-some fun, some difficult, and others just downright odd. As the first year cohort we thought this time of “firsts” for CASHP prospects was a perfect time to tell some of our memorable moments from our first year in the program! (Note: Kate McGrath’s first year experience can be found in her blog from earlier this academic year)

From “lacerating” personal discoveries to wind blown wine bonding we each have our unique favorite moments. When speaking with each new, excited face we remember our own excitement and recount events from our time at CASHP thus far. A week filled with prospective student visits undoubtedly brings back memories of our own application processes.

Skrapper vs skip vance