Before beginning my archiving internship last Monday, I was really daunted with the prospect of being left to sort through an archaeological archive. Having worked primarily in a cinema archive, my historic and archaeological knowledge was non-existent. However, after having catalogued a number of excavation records this week, I can confirm that my worries were completely unnecessary! I have really enjoyed working alongside the archaeological archives as archiving is, for me, one of the most fulfilling and enjoyable activities, a fact which I have been consistently told is really unusual!
The process unearths things which you would not have thought to look for and opens up a direct link with the past. On my third day, I was able to visit a dig in process in Somerset. Viewing first-hand the process which I had previously only encountered from behind a computer really made me excited about archaeology. Unlike a lot of other archiving forms, archaeological digs seem to me to be concerned with objects which are still living. Unearthing new finds brings the past to life again. Following my first week, I feel really excited to learn new things and stumble across new objects in the archives.