Personal and Professional

So often our archaeological profession becomes a personal journey, and that was certainly true for these entrants.

A group of people walk along a winding path, with open rainforest around them. A small building is in the distance.

A trip to Pahang, Malaysia - home of the Batek - lowland rainforest hunter-gatherers

By Isabelle Richardson

A large urban area is viewed from high up. Amongst the town, a hill stands with a ruined building on it. In the distance is the sea and hills.

A Journey I have just made from Athens to Lisbon on the expedition ship Silver Wind. I was a guest lecturer in Archaeology on the journey and gave lectures on the Greek colonisation of Italy and the westward expansion of the Phoenicians to Iberia.

By Carol Bell

A long rectangular trench featuring lots of pieces of waterlogged wood that once formed a trackway.

I was a student at the I of A in the 70s, and the year before I came up I spent digging around the country. One of the sites I worked on was the Sweet Track with John and Bryony Coles, the Neolithic walkway in Somerset of which a bit is currently in the BM Stonehenge show. John gave much attention to taking immaculate excavation photos, and he set up this view with the two scales. I took my own shots (with the cheapest film, which didn’t weather particularly well!). I think of it as a site of Neolithic journeys that started my own journey in archaeology. Still walking.

By Mike Pitts

A plain brown-orange jug is being held in a blue gloved hand.

When entering my BA Archaeology degree, I knew I was going to learn and see some amazing objects. But nothing compared to the feeling of holding this 3,000-year-old Greek jug, the first-ever artefact I held in my very first seminar back in 2019. I knew from that moment that I had chosen the right path and my journey has just begun!

By Victoria Judith Igary

An arch in a castle-style building overlooks a path. Surrounding the path are walls with small windows. There is no roof, but a clear blue sky.

This photo was taken in Carlingford, Republic of Ireland during my first field school experience after completing my BA and before moving to London for my MA. Formerly a pastry chef for 15 years, this experience marked the milestone of using my hands for the first time in my new field, sculpting soil instead of sugar.

By Megan Elias

Two black and white photos of artefacts. The first shows them in a glass case in a museum. The second shows a person in a laboratory coat.

Back to hang out with archaeologists: A 20-year personal journey from the UCL IoA to the Cobb IoA at the Mississippi State. At first sight, this petite IoA in the Deep South of the United States reminded me a lot of my old times in Gordon Square. Early this year, I was appointed as a research associate at the Cobb IoA and am hoping to continue my archaeological journey with people and projects here.

By Meg C. Wang

A sepia photo of a group of people with their arms around each other. They are waving at the camera, smiling, or smoking cigarettes.

My team in Tell Nebi Mend, Syria, 1979 and 1983. A different world then, no running water, no electricity, and certainly a different world now. How great to still have these photos of the villagers. When I went there, they were supposed to be "the Baptism of Fire of the archaeological Middle East". But soon they became good friends…I dread to think what happened to them and the site. (Credits for all photos and All Rights Reserved Romana Hope-Mason, 2022)

By Romana Unger-Hamilton

A black and white photo of people standing on a a mound.

At the Camp du Charlat, Correze, France, with Sheppard Frere. Author at left, learning how to dig, the start of a long and continuing journey into the past.

By Charles Higham