What first sparked your interest in archaeology?
I’ve always been fascinated by it. I was one of those quiet, geeky children, and I remember walking into a bookshop, seeing this dinosaur book on the shelf, and pestering my mum until she bought it for me. I still have it now! I was completely obsessed with dinosaurs, and that grew into a love of history generally. And then I decided that I wanted to be an archaeologist – well, it was that or going into musical theatre.
How did you get your first job?
I followed a very traditional route: I did an undergraduate degree at the UCL Institute of Archaeology, and then went straight into field archaeology with MoLAS [Museum of London Archaeology Service, now MOLA], which was like being thrown into the deep end. You do fieldwork as part of your degree, but not to the same extent – I really learned to dig while working. There were so many amazing sites, and the archaeology was fabulous – that deep urban stratigraphy that you just don’t get anywhere else other than places like Rome.
Is there anything you wish you had known when first starting out?
I think the pay could always be better, but they did warn us about that on day two of the degree. Archaeology is such a learning curve – you can go to work somewhere you have never been before and have to learn the local geology. I would tell aspiring archaeologists: just give it a go! It’s not just about excavating, you could go into conservation or the techy side… there have been so many innovations and there are so many ways to be involved. Just go in and see what suits you best. I started as a field archaeologist and now I’m more of a public archaeologist and broadcaster – you evolve.
