The remote Mesa site is located 150 miles north of the Arctic Circle, in the northern foothills of Alaska's forbidding Brooks Range. The nearest city is Fairbanks, several hours by air to the south; there are no paved roads for hundreds of miles in any direction from the site.

An isolated feature on the tundra, the Mesa itself is 200 feet high and steep-sided, with a relatively flat top and faintly sinuous appearance when viewed from the air. Mike and his team have divided the site into four "localities," based partly on variations in the physical features, vegetative cover and soil depth of the Mesa's top surface. Their respective areas, in square meters, are: Locality A - 1,400; Locality B - 930; Saddle Locality - 740; and East Ridge Locality - 60. The cultural resources are scattered within the thin soil layer covering these four areas.

Mike and his 19-person team receive flown-in shipments of food and other supplies from Fairbanks about every ten days. They draw fresh water, for drinking and washing, from nearby Iteriak Creek.

Alaskan mosquitos are notorious for their size, ferocity and ravenous appetites. (In fact, some Alaskan postcards facetiously depict the mosquito as the "Alaska State Bird.") Mesa Team members sleep in tents to avoid the worst of the onslaught, but some have even resorted to working in clothing elaborately rigged with protective netting.

More serious threats from wildlife are present as well. Grizzly bears - among the fiercest of mammals - make their homes in the Mesa area; mother bears with cubs to defend can be particularly dangerous. Workers keep a respectful distance, and never venture far outside the base camp without loaded rifles. Thankfully, though, there have been no hostile confrontations with grizzlies at the site so far.

Because the Mesa site is located relatively near established National Petroleum Reserve oil and gas operations, an airplane is always available for emergency evacuations. Even by air, however, it may still take many hours to reach the nearest assistance in Fairbanks.

Despite the remoteness of the place, Mike and his team are still well connected to the "real" world. They have a satellite ground station with four telephone lines: one each for e-mail (see our "Ask a Question" link!), Fax, incoming calls, and outgoing calls. The team members also have a state-of-the-art digital camera, which will enable them to share discoveries as they're made via photos posted at this website.