Infrastructure from the late 19th to early 20th century washes away due to erosion at Tyndall Air Force Base. The installation of a riprap barrier aims to stop further damage to the shoreline and the archaeological site. Photo courtesy Michael D’Ottavio, Jr. BY JENNIFER HOFFMAN
Not many archaeologists do their work accompanied by the roar of fighter jets. But for Michael D’Ottavio, Jr., his position as a cultural resources technician on Florida’s Tyndall Air Force Base gives him the opportunity to explore a key interest — American military history. An intern with the Center for Environmental Management of Military Lands at Colorado State University, D’Ottavio passed through massive military gates every morning to reach his job site.
“It’s a little weird at first,” D’Ottavio admits with a laugh, as he describes his daily routine of entering the Air Force base as a civilian. “I have to go through a gate guarded by a sentry every morning, and I’d say that’s a pretty novel experience.”
And seeing fighter jets is a regular occurrence at Tyndall that he still finds thrilling: “Watching F-35s fly overhead every day? That will never get old.”
D’Ottavio earned a bachelor’s degree in geology from the University of South Florida in Tampa, then pursued a graduate program in battlefield history. This led him to the University of Glasgow’s world-renowned Centre for Battlefield Archaeology, where he gained knowledge and hands-on experience with historic battlefields. “Getting to do archaeology in the UK was amazing,” he said. “It really shaped how I saw archaeology: not just as a science, but as a way of storytelling.”
When D’Ottavio returned to the U.S., he found entry-level archaeology roles as a traveling field technician, referred to in the archaeology world as a “shovel bum.” Eventually, that led him to his current role at CEMML.
“Shovel bum is really the technical term,” he joked. “I was just a guy with a shovel who would show up at the dig site I was assigned to.”
He found himself hopping between sites in California, Ohio, New York, Virginia, and other states. Typically, he would hike to a remote site, dig holes, sift through the dirt for artifacts, then repeat the process the next day. Some jobs lasted for just a few days, some for weeks or months. “It’s hard work,” he said, “but you get to be outside, and there’s something satisfying about the simplicity.”
D’Ottavio said he took on the role of traveling field technician after finding it difficult to break into the field. Archaeology jobs typically require experience that recent graduates don’t often have. Then he came across the opportunity at Tyndall Air Force Base through the Early-career Development Program at CEMML. It’s been a real game-changer for his career, he says. The ECDP program offers paid hands-on learning on military bases for students and recent graduates in areas such as natural resources management, cultural resources management, environmental planning, and GIS.
“If you get the opportunity to work with CEMML, do it,” he said. “It’s really difficult to find entry-level work in archaeology that isn’t just digging.”
D’Ottavio can now add valuable skills like compliance processes and reporting, and research and documentation to his resume. These skills are necessary for most cultural resource management work but are often difficult to gain early in a career. “Now I get to help with the kinds of projects that truly shape how cultural resources are protected on a military base,” he said.
One of the major aspects of D’Ottavio’s job is to ensure that historical artifacts on the base remain intact and are not disturbed. To help Tyndall Air Force Base comply with federal laws protecting cultural heritage and resources, he double-checks survey reports to ensure they’re factual and free of errors, comments on environmental assessments, and performs many other tasks.
“Guys are out there surveying areas that haven’t been looked at yet. They might come across important artifacts,” said D’Ottavio. “There are a couple of WWII-era gunnery ranges, and this whole area used to be a gunnery school where soldiers were trained to shoot down enemy fighters.”
Beyond its military past, the land where Tyndall Air Force Base now resides has a rich history that includes the remnants of previous historic settlements, which followed occupancy by Native Americans.
D’Ottavio hopes to apply his recently acquired skills to a permanent position with CEMML, perhaps in an exotic location like Hawai’i. Wherever his next adventure leads him, he will bring not only a strong resume but also a real passion for archaeology and cultural resources work.
“I’ve done the field work. I’ve done the traveling,” he said, “and now, I’m finally getting to do the kind of archaeology work I’ve really been chasing.”