What made you take up archaeology?

[garybrun]

Thought this would be an interesting discussion.
How did you get into archaeology and what influences do other "past" archaeologists have on you today?



Website for responsible Metal Detecting
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[oldgirl]

I grew up in an area that had archaeological remains that were exciting and interesting and that I could run around (castles, henge monuments etc).

I don't think 'past' archaeologists ever really had a big influence on me as personalities.But I didn't really study archaeology at all until I went to university!

[BAJR Host]

Funny you should ask that, as it does underpin everything that we do and why we do it.. (I hope)

My start was at the age of 4 in my mothers back garden, excavating a budgie and neatly laying out the bones on her dinner table -- and yes I got in trouble! However, I was fascinated in the past, and by 13 had been on my first dig (pre YAC this is!) ended up in a cave in the Wye Valley.. then on to France and the Dordogne at 14, before down to a conference in Nice.. it became my blood.. I found something where I enjoyed the outdoor and the mental exercise.. Although I went to Edinburgh Uni it was the practical side that was my direction… so I never finished my degree (not something I regret) .. and went on…

I was talking about Archaeologists that have influenced me and have my respect while in Syria.. and came up with a short list ? however… I have many many diggers who I bow to… Q, Roo, Frenchie, and many more.

Mortimer Wheeler… Nuff said!
Beatrice D’Cardi.. loved her adventure, and felt glad to work with her… felt like I had become part of her story.
Trevor Watkins (and family)…. A nicer person you could not meet.- kind patient, listens and teaches…:face-approve:
Tom Rogers (more fraud than archaeologist) He taught me to believe in something and go for it, but be ready to admit when you are wrong and change your mind, without that being seen as a weakness[:I]
Alison Betts… All round amazing adventure archaeologist.. talented and sharing in that talent.. and anyone who would travel 50 miles out into the desert to bring you a cup of coffee is good by me.:face-approve:
Ian Stead.. legend of the Iron Age and ready to trust diggers to do what we did… knowing when to trust others is a skill itself.


"I don't have an archaeological imagination.."
Borekickers

[gonetopot]

It began with a 7 year old fascination with plastic dinosaurs and a Pannini sticker book (I remember T-Rex was no.1 and you needed 4 stickers to complete Darwin) and it escalated out of control from there.

Needless to say I am now 28 and have not yet managed to excavate a dinosaur, although there has been the odd fossil.

I didn't really get into past archaeologists until uni.

[Steven]

Hi Chaps
Grew up in Bath, saw the Temple of Doom when 12, unemployed in 80's until Maggie set up MSC scheme offering archaeology jobs, qualifications follow experience gained on scheme, jobs follow.

As for influences from other archies mainly they are sort of negative and come from clichéd quotes that some archies come out with, I've learnt that:

1.Things never come out in section!

2.When in doubt......do not..."hack it out"....try defining the feature better by cleaning up and using your head instead of blindly mattocking significant deposits away whilst removing any possibility of understanding the stratigraphic relationships and effectively destroying your finds security thus making post-ex even more laborious and time consuming.

In terms of archaeological outreach, the following quote also influenced me greatly (particularly when those particular type of bl**dy dowsers turn up for site tours):

"This site also demonstrates one of the great dangers of archaeology, not to life and limb, although that does sometimes take place, I'm talking about folklore." Indian Jones Temple of Doom 1981

Steven

[kevin wooldridge]

I was 21 failed in love, failed in politics (This was Thatcher's first term), failed in life, living in a squat in Crystal Palace, working as a benefits clerk in a busy South London Social Services department and the woman I shared a desk with said to me one lunch time 'You shouldn't be wasting your time here, You should do something like this' and passed me the Guardian which had a story that the Falkland Islands government were looking for young settlers to re-populate some of the less populated sheep farms.

'Yeah. Right', I said with all the cynicism of wasted youth. But continued flicking through the paper and noticed in the personal columns (under the advert for the British Kidney Research Fund 'Dyalasis: Their only hope') a small ad for an archaeological excavation in Mid-Perthshire. Volunteers, no pay, free accommodation. Minimum 2 weeks. I had no interest in archaeology, no childhood epithanies to fall back on, but it seemed like a good way to get a 2 week holiday at minimal cost and a long way from London. So I told Betty 'I'm going to write off for this'.

A week later, and much to my amazement, I got a letter asking me to confirm when I could start. The moment I walked into that dig house circa 6am on a Saturday morning in June 1980, it was like I had come home......

As for past influences: Everyone I have ever worked with and everyone they ever worked with. I still reckon (even now into my 3rd decade in archaeology), that you learn more about archaeology from listening and talking to your fellow diggers than you can ever learn from books.

[Paul Belford]

How did I get 'into' archaeology:

1. A filled-in canal running through the back garden of my childhood home where lots of bottles could be dug out.

2. Growing up in an area rich in prehistoric archaeology (barrows, hillforts, hill-figures, chambered tombs, neolithic trackways)

3. Seeing Raiders of the Lost Ark at the cinema at a young and impressionable age.

4. Enthusiastic history teachers at school

Then onto Uni where the girls were indeed cute, and a similar early '90s trajectory to that described by Tom Wilson.


Influences:
Too many to mention, not all of them 'famous names' and some of them on this very forum (occasionally).

[Oxbeast]

quote:Oh, there was one other thing that might amuse anyone that has met me in the last ten years; here, I thought, was a profession in which I would never have to cut my hair...

hee hee hoo ha ha. Oh the irony. Stochastic moods indeed Tom.

I grew up in Oxford, and my parents were keen on taking us to the Ashmolean, Pitt Rivers and the University Museum at every opportunity, as they were both free and educational. The Pitt Rivers I particularly recommend: if you ask the curators nicely, they will show you which of the thousands of teak drawers are filled with severed fingers. An 8 year old boy can't really ask for more entertainment from a museum.

My dad knew everything about history, even the difficult stuff like balkan history. And he always encouraged me to do what I wanted in life, not what other people wanted of me.

I only really decided what to study at university when I was kicking around Great Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe (the site so good that they named the country after it). I had the place to myself, and wandered around making up interpretations. Its all so little understood, they might even have been right.

And its all fallen right into place since then, really.

[Unitof1]

I’ve done Rhodesia. Not sure that I have taken up archaeology, as what I think its all about seems to be at odds with the sundry. Greatest influences, the cheapest red with the highest proof. What I can say is that is that I cant stand any who might venerate the likes of Wheeler, harris matrix, contexts, sections, standards, archive but this man my friends http://www.fish4flies.com/Dry/Parachute_...ll's_Glory
Origin America? twits
http://www.flyfishinghistory.com/greenwells_glory.htm
Theres many a scheduled site and not where I stand and think to myself I hope thats one of yours, my son, my turn.

[Sparky]

Can't say that Greenwell's Glory (or any derivations) has inspired my archaeological career but its certainly caught me a few fair trout. Interesting thread diversion but perhaps a bit specialised.