FreeThink: Reflections, Criticisms and Emotion

10,000 BC Link It was at the height of the Enhanced Community Quarantine when boredom struck me. It was then that I decided to borrow the Netflix account of my friend and browse for some films to spend time with. Actually, I should not feel bored because I have a lot of things to do, but I am not in the mood to do it. So here is the catch: I found a movie with the title 10,000 B.C. As an Archaeology student, of course, I wanted to give this film a chance. I was about a hunting-gathering village that lives in a certain mountainous area filled with ice. They were hunting mammoths. Yes, those gigantic elephants with furs. I am not interested in giving more details about it. You can just watch the Movie. So, my review here is focused on the archaeology of the Movie. I will comment on the accuracy of the representations of the Movie to the mainstream archaeological knowledge on "prehistory" or what is termed by one of my professors as "paleo history." So the Mov...

Writing research is annoying especially when your are finished with your draft and you are now making the reference section of your research. I recall all those punishing hours looking at your references and writing them down in a very not simple manner because you must adhere to a certain citation style. It was not a problem anymore thanks to Mendeley. It helped me cite resources while I write. I will not discuss here ho to use the software as there are lots of youtube videos that can teach you how to use it. The links will be posted below. It was while I am writing my Master's Thesis when I first discovered this life hack and I have used it ever since.I showed below a snipped dashboard of my Mendeley. There I created different folders and I filled it up with the research articles that I have used in writing my papers. It is actually a way of organizing the references. Technically, I am creating here my library.  Btw. I do not own the videos 1.  How to use M...

Earlier today, the ASP (Archaeological Studies Program) was visited by some Grade 8 students from some random private school. They came to ask about archaeology as part of their field trip. Dante, Jay, and I became the informants for the interview. One of the questions that they asked was, "What made us pursue archaeology?". This is, however, not an isolated case. It is as if everyone has been asking a lot, "Why archaeology?". Of all the careers? Why would I choose to dig the bloody dirt? My simple answer was that:   1. I have watched Indiana Jones and Tomb Raiders. I like the professor's character. Little did I know that Indiana and what he does is far from what archaeologists really are.   2. The second thing is that I loved reading history books when I was young. I saw Paleontologists digging the ground, and I wanted to be part of something like it. It was just lately that I fully understood the difference between Paleontology and Archaeology (the tim...

Amano, N., Piper, P.J., Hung, H.C. & Bellwood, P. 2013. Introduced domestic animals in the neolithic and metal age of the philippines: Evidence from Nagsabaran, Northern Luzon. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology 8(3): 317–335.            This paper argues examines the presence of the faunal remains in the Philippines in Nagsabaran shell midden in Northern Luzon. Analysis have revealed evidences for the domestication of animals during the neolithic age to metal age in the Philippines. The domesticated pigs are present n the earliest time periods while dog are introduced much later during the latter neolithic to metal age. Wild taxa have dominated the the archaeological record even up to the late metal age suggesting the reliance to hunting of the societies who have occupied the sites. Amano, N., Rivals, F., Moigne, A.M., Ingicco, T., Sémah, F. & Simanjuntak, T. 2016. Paleoenvironment in East Java during th...