From Chinese bronzes and Ango-Saxon burial goods, to children’s workshops and international conferences, a conservator’s life is never dull. Dana Goodburn-Brown takes us through a typical day. On a typical day, the morning starts with an e-mail session: picking up reminders for work to do, responding to queries, putting my own out, lobbying for financial [...]
Under the Microscope – Archaeological Conservation
May 11, 2012 By Filed Under: Advice, Careers in archaeology, Education Advice, Specialisms, Studying archaeology
Best Career Ever? – Sports Archaeology
May 11, 2012 By Filed Under: Advice, Careers in archaeology, Education Advice, Specialisms, Studying archaeology
Archaeology and football are not mutually exclusive: Archaeologist Jason Wood visits Liverpool’s Anfield stadium to show how sport, history and heritage interests work together. In my first year at secondary school I won an essay competition. The question read: ‘Imagine you are an archaeologist in the year 3000. Describe and interpret your discoveries resulting [...]
Academia – the Professor’s point of view
May 11, 2012 By Filed Under: Advice, Careers in archaeology, Education Advice, Specialisms, Studying archaeology
Ian Haynes, Professor of Archaeology at Newcastle University, discusses the challenges in providing students with a thorough archaeological education and discusses how new programmes at Newcastle are rising to the task. While universities are inevitably feeling the bite of this current recession, for students, graduates, and colleagues in higher education and the heritage sectors, many [...]
A Growing Field – Environmental Archaeology
May 11, 2012 By Filed Under: Advice, Careers in archaeology, Education Advice, Specialisms, Studying archaeology
Environmental archaeology provides a landscape context for the archaeological activities on sites. This may be reconstructing how whole regions looked in the past – what today is open grassland may once have been covered by a forest, or the sea; or unravelling the activities of the people who lived there in past centuries, what they [...]
Mastering the Past – Studying Archaeology
May 11, 2012 By Filed Under: Advice, Education Advice, Specialisms, Studying archaeology
A look at what an education in archaeology involves for prospective students There is no denying archaeology is a topic that continues to grow in popularity; just turn on thetelevision and have a look at an evening’s schedule – there will be at least one programme (probably more!) on archaeology. Certainly, it is an increasingly [...]
Choosing a Field – Specialisms in Archaeology
May 11, 2012 By Filed Under: Advice, Specialisms, Studying archaeology
The field of archaeology covers the full extent of human existence, through time and across the world. Small wonder it has spawned so many sub-disciplines, theoretical and practical. We look at some of the choices. There is more to archaeology than scraping away with a trowel or brushing dust from ancient hieroglyphs. The word ‘archaeology’ [...]
Ethnoarchaeology
May 11, 2012 By Filed Under: Advice, Careers in archaeology, Education Advice, Specialisms, Studying archaeology
Ethnoarchaeology is the study of past societies, focusing on material remains, rather than culture. Sometimes known as anthropological archaeology, it can provide insight into how people in the past may have lived, especially with regard to their social structures and religious beliefs. By looking at the way in which different social groups live and behave [...]
Research and Academia
October 11, 2009 By Filed Under: Careers in archaeology, Specialisms, Studying archaeology
There are many areas of the world and periods in the story of the human race to which archaeologists can devote themselves through research and excavation. From Roman coins to Egyptian hieroglyphs, from the Maya pyramids to the megaliths of Stonehenge, there is something to intrigue, obsess and satisfy everyone with imagination, dedication and enthusiasm [...]
Maritime and Coastal Archaeology
October 11, 2009 By Filed Under: Advice, Careers in archaeology, Specialisms, Studying archaeology
The dramatic emergence of the Mary Rose from the bottom of the sea off Portsmouth in 1982 inspired many an archaeologist to enroll in diving lessons (see CA 218). However, maritime archaeologists also study submerged cultural environments and coastal settlements, as well as ships, ports and harbours, to set them within the relevant socio-political context. [...]
Industrial Archaeology
October 11, 2009 By Filed Under: Advice, Careers in archaeology, Specialisms, Studying archaeology
The archaeology of the industrialised world is gaining popularity. Although its roots can been seen as far back as the 16th century, the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries was a time of great change in this country and around the world. Its architecture, the emergent technology and the physical remains of the [...]
Cognitive Archaeology
October 11, 2009 By Filed Under: Advice, Careers in archaeology, Education Advice, Specialisms, Studying archaeology
This specialism looks at ideologies and belief systems of previous civilisationsthrough their religious structures,art and practices and covers a broad spectrum of sub-disciplines. Archaeoastronomy comes under this heading. Since time immemorial humans have looked to the skies. Archaeoastronomy concentrates on how ancient cultures traced the movements of the planets and the subsequent significance of their [...]
Battlefield Archaeology
October 11, 2009 By Filed Under: Advice, Careers in archaeology, Specialisms, Studying archaeology
Initially, this area came under the auspices of general field archaeology, but battlefield experts have rapidly developed it into a specialist subject which, due to its very nature, is often a sensitive one, especially – especially when dealing with World War I and II sites, which still affect people living today. Because battles invariably took [...]
Experimental archaeology
October 11, 2009 By Filed Under: Advice, Careers in archaeology, Education Advice, Specialisms, Studying archaeology
In experimental archaeology, archaeological theories are put to the test in a practical way by recreating lost structures or artefacts using the same techniques as would have been employed for the originals. The Iron Age farm at Butser (CA 188) and the Ferriby Bronze Age boat (CA 191) are two examples.
Conservation in Archaeology
October 11, 2009 By Filed Under: Advice, Careers in archaeology, Specialisms, Studying archaeology
Conservators work on archaeological finds and structures, using a knowledge of the cultural background of the subject matter as well as scientific methods to document, examine, analyse and preserve the material. It is often painstaking but extremely rewarding work, and requires an understanding of the environmental conditions in which the archaeological material has been preserved [...]
Environmental archaeology
October 11, 2009 By Filed Under: Advice, Careers in archaeology, Specialisms, Studying archaeology
Environmental archaeology is the study of the long-term relationship between humans and their environments. It has emerged as a formal sub-discipline within the last 30 years, and become firmly established as an essential component to most excavation projects. The subject is, itself, broken down into further specialisms, including: • Archaeobotany (also known as paleoethnobotany) is [...]
Forensic archaeology and Osteoarchaeology
October 11, 2009 By Filed Under: Advice, Careers in archaeology, Specialisms
A relative newcomer to the world of archaeology, forensic techniques have been responsible for startling revelations – such as that Napoleon Bonaparte suffered arsenic poisoning, with significant traces of the toxin found in his hair – and is increasingly being employed to solve modern criminal investigations. • Osteoarchaeology is the detailed study of human bones, [...]
Archaeological Science
October 11, 2009 By Filed Under: Advice, Careers in archaeology, Specialisms
Scientific investigative techniques are constantly changing, improving and significantly enhancing our archaeological knowledge. Archaeological science, also known as Archaeometry, comprises many furthe rsub-divisions which often overlap. Broadly, it involves the dating and the detailed scientific analysis of artefacts. Dating techniques include: Thermoluminescence (for inorganic material), Radiocarbon dating (for organic material), the use of Bayesian statistics [...]
