wevs

there are archaeologists who are poc. (this is the same reason why the popular “all historians are homophobic and erase queer history” rhetoric is not only untrue, but also harmful. see, some of us are queer. we don’t contribute to our own erasure. same with poc)

secondly, i don’t get why people seem to think that archaeology is about white people hopping on a plane to dig some graves in africa/asia/south america. like, that’s not how it works at all. sites in europe are excavated just the same as they are in everywhere else in the world. it’s regulated by laws of the local government everywhere. most of the archaeologists working in a country are usually from that country too (in fact, most of us work in our home countries all our lives). a foreign team needs special permissions to excavate somewhere and then too, they are usually aided and supervised by their local collegues. and even if an excavation is carried out by a foreign team, artifacts stay in their country of origin, not taken to some european museum (this isn’t the first half of the last century anymore). only a small amount of samples can be taken - with special permission, yeah i hope you guessed - to laboratories, for scientific analysis.

and this is something i noticed that a lot of people don’t know, but the biggest chunk of archaeological work happens to preserve and save a site that would otherwise be destroyed by modern construction works. excavations that only have a purely scientific goal (i.e. they are not threatened sites) are actually the minority.

see, archaeologists spend years studying, and like, we don’t do it just to find some treasure and steal it from the culture and country it belongs to. hearing people reduce a whole scientific field to that is just so tiring if i’m really honest

Archaeology is NOT a well paid profession at all. In fact, many archaeologists are forced our of the profession of they want to have a family/buy a house/etc because the salary is very poor given the amount of training and study it takes to become an archaeologist. I trained for 4 years at university in archaeology, and my starting salary was £10,000 lower than most graduate entry starting jobs in the UK. I was paid less than the secretarial and support staff. I know this is very similar in other countries. We don’t go into this profession for profit, we do it for the love of it. We do it because we are fascinated by the past, want to learn from it, and want to protect it.

In my time as an archaeologist, I have been honoured and privileged to have been invited to dig in Egypt twice, and in France and Belgium. I’ve always been part of a team where the majority of archaeologists were from the home country. It was an amazing experience to work with my archaeological brothers and sisters at different sites, and for us to share our knowledge and experiences in our field.

25.08.20// going up to Ottawa today to hopefully get some school things sorted out! Getting excited about getting started! 📚📝☕️

Are you guys online or physical planner people?? Personally I love taking the time on Sunday to plan my week in a planner!