For my final month of Global Archaeology I’m doing something completely different to any of the other months this year! This is the only academic stop on my year long journey and I am at the Institut für Archäologie, Universität Zürich, in Switzerland. While I’m here I’m helping to bring an archaeological book to publication in the English language and… Read more →

Totem poles are a poignant and important symbol for Canada’s First Nations – but what do they really represent? When I was growing up there were totem poles in one of our community parks. I knew as a child that these were made by First Nations people and that they were important and deserved respect. I learned that the carved… Read more →

For month eleven of Global Archaeology I’ve been in the Anthropology Department of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). I arrived in the midst of a big collection storage move and they needed all hands on deck! Most of my time was spent on the fourth floor of the Louise Hawley Stone Curatorial Centre in the David Boyle Room, named for… Read more →

The saying goes that “Rome wasn’t built in a day” and neither was the ROM! For month eleven of Global Archaeology I’m based at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto, Canada. This is a special treat for me because, as a Canadian from the province of Ontario, the ROM was one of the first museum’s I ever visited. I… Read more →

My time on the Hawaiian island of O’ahu was spent in the Archaeology Collections of the Anthropology Department in the Bishop Museum in Honolulu. It was wonderful to be able to lend a hand with the important in-house projects they are working on. Not only was given the full ‘backstage’ tour of what the Anthropology Department is all about (the… Read more →

The work of museum staff is not solely focused on presenting objects for public display. There is a lot that goes on in the offices and laboratories of museums that the average person never gets to see. One big initiative that is going on in many museums is to use technology to make their collections more accessible – so even… Read more →

Aloha! I am spending month ten in Honolulu on the gorgeous Hawaiian island of Oʻahu, based at the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum which is also the Hawaiʻi State Museum of Natural and Cultural History. I get to spend my time behind the scenes with the Archaeology Collections in the Anthropology Department helping out with some lab-based projects. Princess Bernice Pauahi… Read more →

The Highlands of Scotland is a hill walker’s paradise. Most of my stay in Scotland was spent in the Highlands and while there, as well as visiting many archaeological sites, I made my way (slowly) up a few mountains. The views you can get on a clear day are breathtaking and even on weather filled days you finish with a… Read more →

A fantastic thing about visiting Europe, whether you are an archaeologist or not, is castles! I love them so much that over the years I’ve been to castles in Ireland, Switzerland, Italy, France, Wales, Scotland, Portugal and Greece. These have varied from overgrown ruins to occupied homes and from small square structures to sprawling complexes. It is great fun to… Read more →

Historic archaeologists can often use written records and maps to identify sites and discover details about people who lived in the past. But equally there are aspects of past lives that were not recorded and can’t be learned from ledgers and letters. Investigations at the abandoned settlement of Kildavie on the Scottish Isle of Mull, run by Heritage and Archaeological… Read more →