Tag Archives: site hut biscuit

Best site hut biscuit with Tash

It’s been an exciting and busy time at AAL and after a short hiatus the blog is now back up and running, starting with a little bit about Tash Brett, Project Archaeologist!

What is your job role?

Project Archaeologist

How long have you worked for Allen Archaeology?

Almost 2 years

How would describe your excavation technique?

If in doubt, wack it out!

How long have you been working in archaeology?

Overall 5 or so years

How did you get into archaeology?

Through Operation Nightingale. I volunteered on their site on Salisbury Plain and have loved it ever since. No one can say their first dig was an Anglo-Saxon burial ground!

What is the best thing about your job?

Seeing all the wonderful finds that come through the office and learning how to differentiate between different types of pottery.

Specialist skills?

I have a couple of years of archiving experience, and I do enjoy that type of work and can do it pretty well, so I would say that might be my main skill in archaeology.

Best site hut biscuit?

Depends on the weather – right now it’s sunny so could happily go for a bourbon!

Best Site Hut Biscuit with Hazel

Introducing Hazel Taylor, Trainee Project Archaeologist

What is your job role?

Trainee Project Archaeologist

How long have you worked for Allen Archaeology?

6 weeks

How would describe your excavation technique?

I try to find an edge and work from there… although my sections definitely need work!

How long have you been working in archaeology?

6 weeks but I did two training excavations with my university whilst studying for my degree in History and Archaeology

How did you get into archaeology?

By watching a lot of TimeTeam and visiting Pompeii and Herculaneum as part of a Latin trip when I was at school

What is the best thing about your job?

Learning lots of different skills like using GIS

Specialist skills?

Being able to get mud all over my face and arms without even knowing how it got there…

Best site hut biscuit?

It’s hard to choose between a chocolate bourbon or a fruit shortcake!

Best site hut biscuit with Ben

Introducing Ben Lang, Trainee Project Archaeologist

What is your job role?

Trainee Archaeologist

How long have you worked for Allen Archaeology?

2 ½ weeks

How would describe your excavation technique?

Methodical clearing of half the feature in question, followed by measuring and recording the feature.

How long have you been working in archaeology?

One-year commercial work plus I have volunteered on university lead excavations as early as 2011 when I was still doing my BSc (Hons) Archaeology degree.

How did you get into archaeology?

I first started Archaeology as one of my A levels in 2008 before doing a BSc (Hons) Archaeology degree while also volunteering with university lead project abroad. I also had prior experience doing volunteer work with an archaeologist friend in Switzerland helping to reconstruct metal smelting kilns and techniques from his excavation in Cyprus.

What is the best thing about your job?

All the experience I’m learning

Specialist skills?

3D laser scanning, good with computers

Best site hut biscuit?

Chocolate digestives

Best site hut biscuit with Isobel

What is your job role?

Heritage Research Supervisor

How long have you worked for Allen Archaeology?

Just over three months – it’s gone very quickly!

How would you describe your excavation technique?

By now – probably a bit rusty! I used to take such pleasure in making a straight section…

How long have you been working in archaeology?

2 years and three months.

How did you get into archaeology?

I was studying geography at the University of Reading in 2011 and had the option to take some modules in Archaeology (up until then I wasn’t wholly sure what archaeology actually was). So I thought I’d give it a go (clearly I wasn’t finding my geography degree very stimulating…). The first archaeology module I took was entitled ‘Bones, bodies and burials’ and from then I was hooked. I found it fascinating! Once I finished my undergraduate I wanted to study archaeology in more detail, and in particular I wanted to specialise in human remains so I enrolled on an MSc in Bioarchaeology at the University of York. I absolutely loved it – lots of bones, mud and labs. When I finished this I got a job working in commercial archaeology and here I am!

The Heritage Research office in all its Christmas glory!

What is the best thing about your job?

I enjoy heritage research because it’s great fun to build up a historical picture of an area and combine all the elements of our research (i.e. HER searches, local histories, historic mapping etc) to make one (hopefully) cohesive timeline. I am a self-confessed map geek and I love going to the archives and looking at historic maps – as Harvey will tell you I get pretty excited about this…

Maps aside, I have recently learned how to use GIS programming to create illustrations and for map regression and am enjoying being able to create a nice set of figures!

Specialist skills?

Well I was going to say being able to read old handwriting but I’m still not great at this…

Best site hut biscuit?

Without doubt the chocolate digestive. It was also voted as the favourite site biscuit in our recent Christmas poll in 2017 so this gives me confidence that most of my colleagues agree with me on this matter!

Best site hut biscuit with Chris

Chris cracking the whip as Director (any resemblance to other archaeologists, living or dead, is purely coincidental)

What is your job role?

Director, for my sins

How long have you worked for Allen Archaeology?

Since the beginning…

How would describe your excavation technique?

Rusty

How long have you been working in archaeology?

20 years, there or thereabouts

How did you get into archaeology?

I would probably have to blame Indiana Jones for that one

What is the best thing about your job?

I get to see all the shiny things without having to dig them up

Specialist skills?

Remembering site codes

Best site hut biscuit?

Well it is quite obviously the Bourbon biscuit. No question

Best site hut biscuit with Faith

How long have you worked for Allen Archaeology?

I have been working for the company as a PA for almost a month after completing my 3 month Traineeship through ‘Allen’.

How would describe your excavation technique?

After being given a feature to excavate, I like to ponder at the rather often ambiguous impressions on the ground (if there are any!) to establish a starting point. Or ‘Edge’ as a finicky Archaeologist would like to call it. I then use my trusty trowel and spade to scrape and dig away the mud that is almost identical, but not identical to, the mud surrounding it. Aka the ‘Fill’ and the ‘Cut’. During the time of excavation, I will sometimes over-analyse the hole I’m digging which helps me think about the bigger picture. It’s amazing how much the history and the apparent irony of a muddy hole can teach you!

How long have you been working in archaeology?

4-6 months

How did you get into archaeology?

I wouldn’t leave

What is the best thing about your job?

The awareness that people before you stood where you stand and lived their lives in the same world that would be totally unfamiliar to us.

Specialist skills?

Hawk-eye

Best site hut biscuit?

Caramelised Biscuits

Best site hut biscuit with Harvey

What is your job role?

Project Archaeologist working in the Heritage Department. I do desk-based assessments, occasional building surveys, and general GIS work for illustration.

How long have you worked for Allen Archaeology?

About five months at the time of writing.

How would you describe your excavation technique?

Messy unfortunately. I’m better at keeping my desk neat than I am at cleaning up section edges…and my desk isn’t exactly tidy…

How long have you been working in archaeology?

On and off since 2015, starting from the end of my second year of university.

How did you get into archaeology?

I stumbled into it really, and found it a good fit. I was working in a bookshop on the high street looking for something better to do, so on a whim I looked into Hull University and chose archaeology. While I was there I found my way into research projects and volunteering on digs and in museums, then after that I ended up working in geophysics with little bits of excavation here and there on evaluation jobs. It was a really fast trajectory, especially given I didn’t do history or anything similar at GCSE or A-level. Everyone I’ve met in archaeology has been very encouraging, which helps. It’s a very friendly profession.

Archaeology in its natural environment

What is the best thing about your job?

It can push you towards being a bit of a generalist I think, at least it has done in my experience, so it’s a really good excuse to keep buying more and more books (‘I need them for work!’). Being able to keep reading up and applying that knowledge immediately is one of the most rewarding things about archaeology. I like going out on site visits too, there’s nothing like seeing archaeology in its natural environment!

Specialist skills?

Asking questions that lead to more questions rather than answers…so maybe research skills?

Best site hut biscuit?

Fruit shortcake! The little round flowery shaped ones with sugar on top, lovely with a cup of tea. Plus because they’re small you can eat quite a few at once.

Best site hut biscuit with Rob

What is your job role?

Geophysics Project Officer

How long have you worked for Allen Archaeology?

6 years and 9 months

How would describe your excavation technique?

Hulk Smash

How long have you been working in archaeology?

6 years and 9 months

How did you get into archaeology?

A long and complicated story involving being a medical student, a holiday entertainer in Cyprus and then finally a stint at Bristol University studying Archaeological Science (mostly playing hockey). That’s very much the short version.

What is the best thing about your job?

Having minions to boss around is certainly a plus, but actually it’s getting out to new sites and through the magic of fluxgate magnetometry getting to be the first person to see archaeological features that have been buried for hundreds if not thousands of years.

Specialist skills?

The ability to continue walking all day every day and cover ridiculous amounts of area whilst surveying in a remarkably short period of time.

Nothing stops Rob’s dedication to walking for geophysics

Best site hut biscuit?

Bourbon. And if you don’t think so, then you’re wrong.

Best site hut biscuit with Charlotte

What is your job role?
Project Supervisor

How long have you worked for Allen Archaeology?
I started working for AAL in October 2013, so three and a half yearsish?

How would describe your excavation technique?
A fellow colleague once told me that if my digging style was an animal, it would be a ‘Chattering Brummy Peacock’

How long have you been working in archaeology?
My first commercial job was with Wessex Archaeology in Salisbury in July 2013

How did you get into archaeology?
I took a break from education after finishing my A-levels because I had no clue what I wanted to do. During the first few months of part-time supermarket checkout worker boredom I watched A LOT of Time Team episodes and decided to give it a go.

What is the best thing about your job?
Working out the story of a site. Finding Quernstones (Oh, and sitting opposite the handsome specimen that is Roger Evershed in the office)

Specialist skills?
Inventor of the infamous ‘Mud or Poo’ game, which I now hear is sweeping the nation. Founder and CEO of ‘Gin Wednesdays’…and I quite like Earthwork Surveying

Mud or poo?

Best site hut biscuit?
Milk Chocolate Digestive… Every. Single. Time.