historic archeology, in the making

This evening i found myself aprehinsively swimming around in my old notebooks/journals from my late teens/early 20's. An otherwise dangerous proposition as these things usually hold emotional landmines, this time i made a discovery connecting my past self to my modern day self:
I may very well be meant to be an archeologist. At 19 i was in the Arizona desert, teaching myself various metal working techniques as a byproduct of working in the bronze foundry at arcosanti . I came across an experiment i had put together in order to learn more about the patina process that occurs when you expose copper to amonia. I recorded the time, named all the variables, recorded all observations and even a conclusion. All of this i would find out 9 years later in college, is called the scientific process.
I saved all kinds of artifacts form this time in my life. The funny thing is that looking back and remembering when i saved these items, i actually recall saving them as proof of this time or as a way to physically hold onto a time in my life. It really works too. Looking at a handwritten sign from the foundry that says "bad flask-do not use" puts me right back in the pattern room of that foundry on the mesa. Or a peice of envelope a friend had mailed me. I saved it becuase i noticed when she taped it shut, a piece of her hair got caught in the tape and it made me feel like she was right there.
I was saving things as though i were preserving artifacts from my life for the future. Now, bear in mind, up until the last few years, i had been under the impression that i would die sometime in my late 20's. the focus wasn't death as much as it was just knowing that my life was going to be short. With this in mind i started saving things and putting them into books along with my thoughts, ALOT of song lyrics and drawings (some of which became tattoos). All of this was just documenting my life, for the people after i was gone. Even then i was clever enough to know that my life is so vastly unimportant to anyone other than my family and those i'm close to. I also knew how thrilling it was for me to hold something that belonged to a relative of mine i never met. To touch the samivar my great grandmother brought from Russia when she Immigrated here, connects me to her directly, in a tangible way.

this kind of fascination seems to be the same thing i see in the archeology lab. combining the scientific process to artifacts left behind, we can peice together entire lives of everyday people. I guess i was jsut makign it easier for the SArah 250 years from now...you're welcome.