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Dr
Thomas H. (Tom) Loy
What
is your current position?
It is with deep sadness and regret that the archaeological community at the University of Queensland advises of the premature passing of Dr Thomas H. Loy in October 2005. Tom was a very highly-regarded and well-respected member of our community and a wonderful inspiration to all who had the opportunity to cross his path. His presence will be sorely missed. His passing represents a considerable loss to the archaeological community and beyond.
At the time of his death, Tom was a Senior Lecturer, School of Social Science, University of Queensland.
Where
did you study archaeology?
• BSci: Geology University of Redlands, Redlands California (1960-64)
• No degree: Anthropology and Archaeology, Alaska Methodist University, Anchorage, Alaska (1968-69)
• Masters equivalent and PhD candidature (all but dissertation): Archaeology-Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver BC Canada (1970-1975)
• PhD: Prehistory, Australian National University, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Canberra (1996)
How
did you become interested in archaeology?
Geology was my first love and my interest began when I was 5 and started a rock collection. A few years later I began reading anthropology and archaeology books and that became my second love. While on family field trips I became aware of the human part of the landscape that lay over the geology. After working in the rape-and-pillage mining and petroleum industry in Alaska I decided that I would be happier as an anthropological archaeologist—and so I did by going back to university in Alaska and British Columbia. My original PhD research was based upon 2 summers of excavation at the Glenrose Cannery Site near Vancouver, and two summers of site survey and historical archaeology in Yoho National Park in SE British Columbia. I interrupted my university career to become a curator in the Royal British Columbia Provincial Museum; in addition to being the curator for archaeological collections, I undertook 13 field seasons at the northern terminus of the Rocky Mountains (upper Liard River) near the Yukon border doing site survey, excavation and ethnographic research. Then, I discovered tool-use residues….
What
archaeological projects are you working on at the moment?
• Analysis of residues on the artefacts of the Iceman mummy (microscopy, proteins and DNA).
• Residue analysis of 2.0 Ma Oldowan assemblage from M5 at the Sterkfontein Cave site in South Africa. (microscopy, proteins and DNA)
• Archaeological fieldwork and residue analysis with replication in the Camooweal (QLD) area: Current ARC Linkage Grant, “The rehabilitation of surface collections”
• Scientific methods for identifying some level of region of origin location for un- or poorly-provenanced human remains.
• The use of biological stains to track starch retention in soils associated with domestic areas.
• Theoretical approaches to the understanding of ‘culture change’: ”Toward a Pragmatic Archaeology”
Tell
us about one of your most interesting archaeological discoveries.
I’ll tell a couple of short ones of contrasting importance.
• First, when I analysed 27 log cabin remains in Yoho National Park (built between 1890 and 1920) I discovered that the length of logs from corner-notch to corner-notch were almost exactly in even meters. When they were built Canada was using its own adaptation of the British mensuration system. But, that winter as I was splitting wood for my fireplace it dawned on me that my axe handle was 39 inches long – or almost a meter. So a 4 x 6 cabin was respectively 4 and 6 axe handles in length.
• Second, (although some might not consider this strictly archaeology) as part of my research into artifact function I kept seeing microscopic deposits along with use-wear. I began a series of replication experiments and saw the same type of deposits. One day looking at a small 1,000 year-old microblade at 800x I saw a stack of what I interpreted as red blood cells and began to follow my nose into the world of biochemistry that lead me to the discovery of the ubiquity of blood and other organic residues. It took me 3 years to convince myself (and a lot of helpful biochemists) that what I was seeing was truly organic tool use residues. I’ve devoted almost 25 years to developing methods for the analysis and interpretation of residues.
• Third, the discovery of perfectly preserved residues on the 2 Ma old stone assemblage at the Sterkfontein Cave site. To be able to look at a stone flake and know what a hominid was eating, or fabricating is sweet indeed
Tell
us about a funny/disastrous/amazing experience that you have had
while doing archaeology.
Yoho National Park in the Canadian Rockies is drained by the Kicking Horse River and is a very popular summer camping area. I was digging random test pits along a terrace on the right bank of the fast and noisy river. The pit was about 35 cm deep. My dog, an Alaskan Husky, was curled up asleep in the dappled shade of the fir trees. I was head-down, bum-up figuring out the stratigraphy but got this feeling that I was being watched. I was. By a bear a few feet away – I jumped up yelling and began banging my trowel against my shovel. My dog jumped up too, barking furiously, but in the wrong direction (he had no idea what was up). The bear sprang away and lodged about 6 feet off the ground on a nearby birch tree. He gave me an offended look that said “geezz, what ya so touchy for? I was only looking to see if ya had found any good stuff to eat?” Eventually my dog and I subsided, the bear walked away mumbling to itself, and I knocked off for the day. It made a good story for the evening campfire allocation of rum and stories.
What’s
your favourite part of being an archaeologist?
My favourite part of being an archaeologist is just that: being an archaeologist: doing field work, talking with elders, learning about the way the past shapes the present and future, solving multidimensional puzzles spread over sometimes vast slabs of time or sometimes having an accurate insight into a moment of some person’s life in the past, teaching, doing laboratory research – knowing stuff about all kinds of things because that bit of knowledge may help solve a future puzzle. To see the way people in the past lived, the minutia of the acts that aggregate to cultures that change in response to their lived lives and the collective decisions made over time.
Follow
up reading:
Listen to a recent interview with Tom Loy about Otzi the Iceman on Radio National's Science Show.
http://www.archaeologyweek.com/mta/Loy_Otzi.mp3
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