Archaeology is everywhere: not only beneath our feet, but all around us. Waiting to be explored, recorded, discovered and incorporated into the dense web of human history both ancient and modern.
I left my house and saw people repairing a hole in the street, I looked inside and saw tiles, bricks, clay pipes; a lasting record of those who came before and whose legacy we have built upon.
I walked my dog on an old derelict trainline, now a nature walk, and we found Victorian glass, the remains of train platforms and leather from someone’s discarded shoes.
The reason we study archaeology is to explore this material world and gather together a better picture of what our past was; who we were, where we came from, what we created and what we discarded.
Every discovery we make as archaeologists is a new discovery - be it the leather shoe I found 20mins ago or the stones of Stonehenge. Archaeology uses the world around us, and equips us better to understand that world. Archaeology gives us the perspective to grasp what it means to be human – in the past, the present and the future.
Archaeologists have forever inquiring minds, never satisfied with only the written word and always engaging with the world around them. Travelers of near and far, and thinkers always questioning the world today and that experienced by our ancestors.
How do you know if Archaeology is the right subject for you to study? You will have an inquiring mind, a questioning soul and an adventurous spirit. The desire to learn beyond the page and embrace not only the marvellous texts in archaeological libraries but also what is yet to be discovered and interpreted in the great outdoors in order to gather information, to research and to piece together the history of human life on Earth.
What might begin as a 3-year love during a degree becomes for many people a lifelong passion, whatever career they go into. Lots of people do use their archaeology degrees to go and work in sectors that also embrace the curious mind, the soul with the insatiable capacity to search for understanding and the graduate wishing to help the world become a better place through their knowledge of the past. The skills and imagination of an archaeologist make them suited to all kinds of graduate professions.
So, whether you become an Archaeologist, a Lawyer, a Diplomat, a Banker or a Brewer think about the things you can do with Archaeology - think of the places you can go, the people you can meet and the NEW discoveries you'll make.
Think differently. Think Archaeology.
