Meyer-Kaiser lab

Friends, I'm excited to announce a new achievement for my collaborator, Calvin: publishing an edited book! In archaeology, publishing an edited book is considered to be a major contribution to the field - equivalent to a biologist like me publishing a paper in one of the top journals. I am incredibly proud of Calvin! The book concerns shipwrecks that are located in the intertidal zone, an incredibly dynamic environment. In the intertidal, a shipwreck is exposed to pretty much every possible condition: being covered by water, being exposed to air, strong currents, waves, humans and animals walking or swimming by, storms, rain, erosion, accretion - if it happens, it happens in the intertidal.  Notably, this book grew out of Calvin's teaching. When he began co-directing the only maritime archaeology field school in Massachusetts, he needed shipwreck sites for the students to study - sites that were accessible and could stand up to a group of students learning as they worked. So Ca...

DeepZoo ready to be deployed in Eel Pond. Text and photos by postdoc Johanna Weston It started with a simple question: “Would there be a way to put a net on a lander, like a windsock?” Answering this question has been a journey that has included finding funding through the Innovative Technology Program , assembling a team of exceptional engineers, getting a titanium housing fabricated and pressure tested to full ocean depth, and learning engineering skills at WHOI’s AVAST. After months of vision and work, DeepZoo has been born as a new instrument. My end of 2024 focused on getting DeepZoo tested (and retested and retested) in the freshwater test tank at AVAST , affectionally named Ernie. While in the tank, I carefully watched to ensure the door opened at the right time, the thruster turned on at the right time, the thruster shut off when programmed, and the door fully closed. Once I was visually confident that DeepZoo followed its computer program, it was time to give it some inde...

I saw Mel first. When I approached the registration table, she was chatting with one of the volunteers. I relaxed a little - a familiar face, someone I knew. Thank goodness.  Just a few minutes later, after Mel had walked me into the reception hall, I spotted another familiar face - Jeneva. Come to think of it, we had only ever met on Zoom. It actually took me a second to realize it was her. We grabbed drinks and started chatting. It was easy to converse with Jeneva, and I was so glad to finally connect with her in person.  The following day, Calvin showed up to the conference. The annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology is like a family reunion to him. Calvin taught for years at a university that is a hub for underwater archaeology, so he knows absolutely everybody. Name an underwater archaeologist in the US, and there's a good chance the person is one of Calvin's former students. We couldn't walk 10 feet without someone stopping him to say hi, and Calvin...

Friends, I am back home! Vacation was refreshing and reinvigorating and everything that I needed. My first day back at work, I sat down with my planner and made a list of all the deadlines I had to meet in January 2025. A paper review due on the 6th, a draft presentation due before a meeting on the 7th, a report due on the 31st - the list was long. I took a deep breath. January is going to be a big month for me, but then again, every month is a big month for me. That's just life on the tenure track.  The first mountain I climbed this week was one of species identification. My technician, Sarah, has picked steadily away at our benthic survey project and has a collection of challenging unidentified specimens to show for it. We sat together for several hours , going through the specimens one by one.  Here are some of my favorite specimens! Baby sea urchin! This guy was really challenging to identify, but we think he's an acorn worm. This is a beautiful, almost textbook, example...

The entrance to Ginnie Springs. Yes, that is a  "no diving" sign, but what they mean is no  jumping head-first off the stairs. Yes, those are our bail-out tanks at the bottom: my husband likes to launch them like rockets into the water. For our last dive in Florida, I wanted to back off a little and do something fun. Sometimes, on the last day of a dive trip, I succumb to exhaustion and end up cancelling - it's happened to me multiple times. But this year, I was determined to follow through. No cancelling at the last minute, no waking up and deciding I couldn't go. Our last dive in Florida was my 400th SCUBA dive, and if I didn't follow through, I would end up having my 400th dive somewhere boring - like my local pond  back home. I chose for my 400th dive to be in a cave system called Ginnie Springs. Ginnie is massive - you could probably spend every dive for a year exploring it and still not get bored. At the surface, Ginnie's crystal-clear water is usually f...

The Peacock map with our route in green I blew bubbles out through my nose and mouth as I rose through the water. I carried my rebreather on my back and a bail-out tank under each arm. Above me, I could see the reflective plane of the water's surface. My neoprene hood breached the surface, and through my clear SCUBA mask, I could see a little boy on the stairs. He waved "hello" to me, and then his brother and mom joined. I waved back, then sank once again into the depths.  An hour and a half later, I surfaced again - this time at the other end of the cave. Three girls swam at the surface. Their legs were covered in fabric cones with patterns like scales: mermaid tails. Bikini tops and bright blue and purple eye shadow matched their tails perfectly. When my head was just below the surface, one of the mermaids took a deep breath and dove head-first into the water. Her bright red hair streamed behind her, and she waved as she flipped her tail to propel herself back to the su...

The entrance to Little River There are tons of caves in central Florida. Each morning, my husband and I wake up, assemble our gear, and discuss where we want to dive for the day. The last two times I've made trips to cave country (2021 and 2023), one of the caves called Little River was closed and inaccessible. In fact, in 2021, we stopped by to check on it and found an alligator swimming just above the cave entrance - that's a pretty good sign you should not get in the water! This year, Little River was thankfully open and alligator-free, so we were able to explore! Little River is in a state park. The Suwanee River runs swiftly by, and the Little River entrance rests in a sort of cul de sac stretching off the side of the river. Crystal-clear water covers the algae-infested river floor. A stone wall surrounds the cave entrance, and concrete steps lead from the gravel parking lot down to the water's edge. My husband and I parked our truck and opened the tailgate - we had a ...