What archaeological projects are you working on at the moment?
I am conducting ongoing, independent research on fire-damaged archaeological sites and methods of treatment. This work is focused on Ancestral Puebloan structures (pit houses; stone houses, storage granaries) and open sites (stone artefact/ceramic scatters) in the Southwestern region of the USA; dating to ca. AD 500 – 1300. A large wild fire had damaged a number of structures in the upland region of Elk Ridge in southeastern Utah. A Burned Area Emergency Rehabilitation (BAER) Team - organised by the US Department of the Interior and composed of biologists, archaeologist, soil scientists, geologists, and foresters — was put together to evaluate and mitigate the situation. I worked with this team to treat the damaged archaeological sites and protect them from erosion. This included laying down diverters to protect sites form gullying caused by rainwater, and also the use of excelsior matting to facilitate revegetation and stabilisation of the ground around the sites. I am currently managing a project that looks at past and present Noongar cultural landscapes along the South Coast of W.A. in order to develop more effective NRM policies and procedures. Archaeology is only one component of this regional project that also involves the documentation of Noongar history, resource use, and contemporary social/spiritual connections to land.

Tell us about one of your most interesting archaeological discoveries.
I like to tell people that the most important archaeological discoveries take place in the lab. My friend likes to tell the same people that this is what a person who hasn’t discovered anything would say. I always remember the buzz upon unearthing a large purple-and-white stone point that was beautifully, delicately, almost impossibly, crafted. It was during an excavation in a barren region of Texas, on the edge of a high ridge overlooking a vast desert. We could tell by the distinctive fluting and also the blunting along the back edges of the blade that it dated to the earliest cultural period so far found in North America. The buzz comes from holding an implement last held for over 10,000 years, and trying to imagine what the person who made it was thinking about while standing at that very spot.

Tell us about a funny/disastrous/amazing experience that you have had while doing archaeology.
On a survey through a section of the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska, with a miserable crew covered in mosquitoes from head to toe, trudging through a wetland up to our waists, a brown bear the size of a Suzuki Swift suddenly appeared from nearby shrubs, to check out all the commotion. The crew froze, and I could see the bear look at each one of us in turn. Before I could change my dacks, the bear trudged off with a muffled grunt. Apparently, we were not worth the trouble.

What’s your favourite part of being an archaeologist?
It is often said that archaeology takes you to places that you would never have gone on your own accord. Sometimes they are remarkable for the sheer isolation or natural wonder. Sometimes they are remarkable for simply being unremarkable. I was asked once to participate in a 4th of July parade in this nothing town in a nothing part of Utah; as I was representing the US Bureau of Land Management at the time. I drove the work vehicle, an unremarkable white pick-up, up the street and waved to a few kiddies, some of who broke into tears for the unbelievably-boring float they had just been forced to wave at. I reached the end of the street of the tiny town and asked the organiser what I should do now. His reply was to drive back down the other lane. You see, there is more to archaeology than simply “wandering about looking for stuff.”

Follow up reading:
Guilfoyle, David R.
2004 A Model for the Pueblo I Settlement of the Elk Ridge Region, Southeastern Utah. Kiva: The Journal of Southwestern Archaeology and History, Volume 70, No. 2 (Winter 2004), pp. 121-141.

Guilfoyle, David R., Horn, Jonathon C., and Burr Neely
2005 Industry (Chapter VI), Recreation (Chapter VIII), and Federal Government (Chapter III). In The Historic Archaeology Context of Colorado, edited by Susan M. Chandler. Colorado Council of Professional Archaeologists, Denver, Colorado.

Guilfoyle, David
2005 [i]Aboriginal Cultural Heritage and Regional Studies: a general approach.[/i] A report prepared for the Cultural Heritage Division, Department of Environment and Conservation, Hurstville.