Jessie

I usually tell people that I got into archaeology because I'm indecisive - I couldn't choose between history and science, so I chose a path that let me do both (really, archaeology is a path that lets you study anything that people have ever left behind – what’s not to like about that?). There was probably a bit of classical Green and Roman mythology and a couple of Indiana Jones movies nudging me along as well. 

 

Mostly, though, I'm an archaeologist because I'm fascinated by people, especially the people of the past and the worlds they lived in. How else are we supposed to understand how we got to where we are now (and where we might be heading in the future)? The choices, actions and interactions of the people who came before us, individually and collectively, are the foundations of the world in which we now live – from the ways they lived their daily lives to the physical world they built around themselves. I think it’s important to study that, and to hold that information in trust for the days when future generations find themselves asking the same questions.

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I also think my work has given me a different perspective on the world I live in – the objects I use to navigate my day to day life, the rituals and traditions I participate in and the choices I make. It makes me question, makes me think about why and how. It reminds me, every day, of the simultaneous diversity and universality of humanity, throughout time and across space. And that’s important, I think.