Pursuing Peru

Not too long ago, Jackson resident Mike Carver was delivering snacks and beverages to convenience stores. Soon he'll be working a dig site in Peru where archaeologists are unearthing 4,000-year-old bones.

Carver, a radiologic technologist student studying the craft of X-rays at the Southeast Missouri Hospital School of Nursing, will be one of about 20 people to help dig up and X-ray bones found on the side of mountains near Buena Vista, Peru.

His work will help determine causes of death, ages at death and the lifestyles of civilizations that existed millennia ago.

And he's doing it all on his own time and money.

"Sometimes I'm not really sure why I'm doing it," Carver said. "It hasn't been cheap. I thought it would be really neat to do something different. I had the money, so I decided to pursue it. When else do you get to X-ray 4,000-year-old bones?"

Carver is following the lead of one of his professors, Pete Barger, who led a team of students to a different part of Peru last year.

Barger had a wild experience last year, trying to get around in a country in the middle of a transportation strike and where martial law was enacted.

"I'd absolutely do it again," he said. "But I had to wait a few months before I came to that conclusion."

Barger said Carver will have to get used to using outdated equipment.

"We're practicing in the modern world where we're used to using 3-D digital equipment," he said. "Down there, it's like it was 60 years ago. It's difficult to get good water just to develop your X-rays. The nitrates in the soil are so prevalent, the water isn't acidic enough, so we had to go buy all the vinegar they had in the stores to develop the film."

Carver will go to Peru June 14 and will return July 8.

Last year, Carver was in an automobile accident that tore up his knee. The lifting he had to do as a vendor and the pain that came along with it made him question his career choice. His wife, Amee, a nurse, talked him into going to school.

That led to Peru.

Carver had to take a two-day course at Grand Valley State University in Michigan. That's where he learned about Peru's historical and modern culture.

He also learned how to work around an archaeological site.

"We had to learn how to dig stuff, how not to contaminate the site," Carver said. "We study X-rays. Anthropology and archaeology are not what we do."

Dangerous area

The area where Carver will be working is a dangerous "guerrilla zone" where thugs have been known to kidnap Americans and hold them hostage for money.

Carver has been told to travel in groups and to avoid traveling Buena Vista at night.

Regardless of the dangers, Carver is almost certain to have a memorable experience.

Rick Carlton, a Grand Valley State professor who has helped organize several trips and has sent some 100 students to Peru in the last five years, almost guarantees success.

"I've never had anybody who returned from one of these trips from Peru who didn't say it was the most rewarding experience in their life," Carlton said. "Of course, there are a full range of reactions. Some said although it was rewarding, they wouldn't do it again, but 100 percent are glad they did it."

Dr. Robert Benfer, a professor at the University of Missouri, is the lead anthropologist at the dig site.

bmiller@semissourian.com

243-6635