Today is Harrison Ford’s birthday, which makes this Day in Archaeology blog a bit more special for me as it was watching Raiders of the Lost Ark at the age of 8 that inspired me to become an archaeologist! As many of those in the profession will tell you, Indiana Jones is actually a terrible archaeologist, but for me it wasn’t just the beating up bad guys and the cool hat, the scene that made me go ‘I want to do that’ was the scene in the map room, where he does actually appear to do a small amount of recording!

Fast forward 32 years and I am sat in my home office, still in love with Indy, with posters of all three films on the wall above me (we do not mention the fourth one), having spent the last 6 years working to achieve my dream of becoming my hero. After an undergraduate degree, a masters degree, dozens of excavations around the world, and even a couple of awards, my job as Business Support Administrator for the Council for British Archaeology is not exactly the Holy Grail, but is a job I love and where I get to help other people get involved in archaeology. My job varies every day, from answering emails to managing the CBA publication archive.

A typical day in the office under lockdown is not much different to a normal day, the notable difference being there are no phones ringing here and I have to make my own tea. A Monday morning starts with answering all the emails that have come to the CBA over the weekend, which is one of my favourite parts of the job. We get many varied enquiries from people, including many asking how to get involved in archaeology, whether as a volunteer or as a career. It is always good to hear from people who are interested in archaeology and it always brings me pleasure to point them in the right direction. The rest of the day will be spent on various jobs – researching British Archaeology articles for Dig School, updating publications sales figures for the Director and Trustees, updating pages on the CBA website, creating contact lists for the CBA’s regional groups, and of course, responding to new emails. Later this morning will be the weekly Zoom catch up with the rest of the staff, and then after that I will pop into the office to collect any post that needs dealing with. A typical day is never boring here!

So there we have a Day in Archaeology for the Council for British Archaeology’s Business Support Administrator! Certainly less dodging of elaborate and deadly traps and punching Nazi’s, and no-one has tried to rip my heart out in a temple of doom (so far), but it still gives me a buzz to be able to tell people I am an archaeologist. And when they say ‘like Indiana Jones?’ I just smile politely and explain its not the same. But I do have the hat…