A day in the life of an archaeology student

10am: 'Archaeological Detective' lecture

Headed to Willoughby Hall for my first lecture. It’s a bit unusual for me to be in one of the halls of accommodation for a lecture, but it’s in one of the meeting rooms and quite fun to have a bit of variety! Usually I’m in the Humanities Building, so it’s a nice change. 

The first hour was a lecture and the second was a quiz, summarising what we’ve done. The module is called 'Archaeological Detective' and it’s different from most of the modules I’ve done before. We have series of lectures, the one at the moment is on Ötzi the iceman, the oldest mummy in the world, and it’s very discussion based.

While we’ve already briefly spoken about Ötzi in previous modules, it was really nice to get a recap and go more in-depth. Being in third-year, I feel a lot more confident in my knowledge of archaeological science and so I really enjoyed going back over topics I’d done briefly before, but actually understanding the intricacies of them now!

12.30pm: Archaeology Society committee meeting

Rushed to Hallward Library to get a drink and a table for an Archaeology Society committee meeting. This was our first meeting back after the Christmas break, and we had a lot of trips and socials to plan, as well as organising society hoodies and elections for next year.

It was really lovely to catch-up with the rest of the committee after what felt like so long, and it was so exciting to be able to start planning events again! 

1.30pm: Lunch and study time

After the meeting, I had a quick browse in Blackwell's Bookshop next door. I decided to go to George Green Library, have my lunch and study in a silent study room for a few hours to try and get some of my dissertation written!

My dissertation is on whether roads can be considered meaningful places in their own right or if they are just links between places with islands of place present. I'm exploring if this has always been the case, focusing on human activity in the North Downs, an area in the south-east of England, from 620,000 years ago to today. While it’s archaeology-focused, I’m able to add bits of philosophy and sociology, which is so interesting.

3pm: 'Life and Death in the Medieval City' lecture

It felt like I’d only spent a few minutes studying before I had to go off to the Humanities Building for my second lecture of the day – a two-hour slot on Life and Death in the Medieval City. This is a whole year 'special topic' which is worth 40 credits (a third of the year!).

While medieval archaeology is not something I’d ever really looked into before, I’m so glad I chose it and find it so interesting now. The lecture was on the role of the church in the medieval town, focusing on how the masses interacted with the church in their daily lives. 

5pm: Dinner

Time to dash to the tram to try and get a seat on my way home! Going to make a quick dinner before I head out again. 

7.30pm: Archery practice

Gone to archery for a few hours! I shot quite well tonight which I’m proud of. I’m not the best at archery, but definitely getting better with time. It’s also just really nice to go and chat to people for a bit without being in an academic setting. 

9.30pm: Home

Finally heading home for the day to watch TV with my housemates before getting ready to do it all again tomorrow!