Humaira, Trainee archaeologist
I recently moved to the UK from Australia after only just completing my first year of my masters degree in archaeology at the University of New England, Australia. I wanted to find relevant work experience to kickstart my career in archaeology and the UK seemed to be the best place to go for that (and of course, it’s a great place to be to travel and explore). My love and fascination of all kinds of history started from a young age. It’s never really been about a specific time period or culture but rather the many people who have lived across the world through time and the aspects that humanise the past. Sometimes it’s the ‘mundane’ everyday parts of peoples’ lives that interest me most when thinking about history. I’m incredibly grateful and fortunate to be working with CAT. In the short
time that I’ve been here, I’ve met really incredible people who are happy to help in any way possible and I’ve learned so much in just a span of a month. Living in Australia where fewer archaeological opportunities exist, I’ve always been uncertain as to whether a career in this field would be realistic. However
this opportunity provided by CAT has already allowed me to feel confident and enjoy the
many different sides of archaeological work. I hope to stay here for the long term and pursue this job further as it’s
been an amazing time so far and I can’t wait to see where it takes me.
Sometimes it’s the ‘mundane’ everyday parts of peoples’ lives that interest me most when thinking about history.
Digging deeper into Mark’s geoarchaeological training
train and become an in-house geoarchaeologist for CAT. My training so far has involved excavation of 4m deep testpits with sampling of fluvial gravel deposits, as well as monitoring window samples, with subsequent logging of the cores and producing transects of the underlying deposit model. The geoarchaeological training I have received has benefited my role as a senior archaeologist, as it has given me a better understanding of how to describe the soils on our sites and allowed me to have a wider recognition of Palaeolithic material that may be present in evaluations, excavations and watching briefs. Like all new adventures and roles, it has been an already steep
Of all the things I have done in my archaeological career, I never would have thought that digging even deeper holes and making sense of really old dirt would be where I would be today... I was drawn to the role when it was initially advertised as I have previously undertaken some geoarchaeological monitoring works when I was previously employed with Wessex Archaeology - one highlight being the monitoring of cofferdams in a river for a new bridge. Over the last few months, I have been undertaking geoarchaeological training with, and being mentored by, Dr Martin Bates of University of Wales, Lampeter, in order to
learning curve, with spare moments of my time reading through the South East Research Framework for Palaeolithic Kent, as well as getting to grips with a whole new recording language with terms such as GISH, BISH, ORBR.... I look forward to undertaking more geoarchaeological works, and to attend lectures, seminars and training courses to expand my knowledge and understanding.
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