My life in archaeology (so far)

From the earliest time I can remember I was fascinated by the past. I was interested in the sort of all-encompassing, immersive way that children are, living, eating, sleeping their passion. I’m probably thinking about castles and dragons in this picture – or maybe I’m just enjoying my ice-cream!

I have to confess that archaeology was not my first love – that was dinosaurs. Like so many children I was captivated by their otherness and by the way you could recreate their appearance and lives from their delicate fossilised remains.

By the age of seven I was committed to archaeology and ancient history, further enthused by a family visit to the Tutankhamun exhibition in 1972 at the British museum. Travelling to London from Carlisle and queuing for hours in a huge line winding right round the British museum had a lasting impression and, being small, I managed to worm my way through the crowds inside towards the displays, suddenly emerging face to face with the golden mask!

I was born and brought up in Carlisle almost (literally) on top of the Roman wall. Cumbria is rich in archaeological remains from the prehistoric axe factory at Langdale to defensive pele towers, Vindolanda to Castlerigg stone circle, its easy to fill weekends and holidays with trips to explore the complex history of Cumbria and the Borders, with its Reiver heritage. One of my favourite places to spend time as a teenager was Tullie House museum – free to visit in those days – and I would often be there for half an hour or so after school. So many local museums have to charge entry fees now it has removed the option for people to pop in during their lunch hour, or just for fifteen minutes of inspiration and solace from daily stresses. My desire for a career in archaeology came mostly from visiting museums and occasionally sites – and the library.

When I was around nine or ten, I found out about the Young Archaeologists’ Club and joined that. There were no branches nearby but the newsletter was eagerly awaited, read, re-read and treasured. Now I help to run a YAC branch which is huge fun and many of our Southampton YAC alumni go on to become archaeologists.

Later at secondary school a teacher started a lunchtime archaeology club and drove us out in the ailing school minibus at weekends to visit Roman sites. We spend a fair amount of time pushing the minibus to jump start it but it was such a brilliant experience. Thanks, Andy Aiano, and Richard Hitchings who followed on! Through the club some of us got to do work experience for two weeks at a large site in the middle of Carlisle on top of medieval and Roman deposits. There I learned three very important rules – dig from the known to the unknown, never ‘dig holes’ and never, ever expect anyone else to empty your bucket for you. I also learned how to get industrial quantities of tea ready at exactly the right time for tea break. I stayed on over the summer and at fifteen got my first wages working in archaeology.

Fast forward past a lengthy hiatus after studying at the University of Sheffield during which I had a family and worked in a variety of other sorts of jobs. I was living in Southampton and returned to study in the archaeology department there. Since then I’ve worked in a variety of jobs including several years with Southampton Archaeology and been involved with the committees of local archaeology groups and in local history community projects.

I’ve worked for The Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA) since 2015 and it’s an incredibly varied job. I’m part of a very hard-working team that promotes high standards of professional practice across the UK and abroad. My job title is Professional Development & Practice coordinator and my role includes running the CIfA/UAUK degree accreditation scheme. The accreditation recognises the teaching of professional and practical skills within programmes of archaeology and so far there are twelve university departments offering accredited programmes I also run the CIfA Approved Training & CPD scheme which aims to make high quality training visible, and I am Centre Coordinator for the NVQ 3 in Archaeological Practice which is awarded through the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA). On any given day I might be working on these schemes or other projects, in meetings which might be about industry liaison, climate change and archaeology, working with interns or answering careers enquiries. I might be hosting a breakout room at CIfA digital teabreak, setting up training for new assessors, talking to students about careers and professionalism or taking part in a national awareness week with the CIfA team. Whatever I’m doing its always interesting and often challenging, but above all I know that its helping people understand the benefits that archaeology, and archaeologists, bring to society. [email protected]