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Tim Owen
What
is your current position?
Project Manager at ERM in Sydney. Heritage Consultant in Aboriginal, historical and public archaeology.
Where
did you study archaeology?
Leicester University, UK (Undergraduate and Honours) and Flinders University, Adelaide (PhD).
How
did you become interested in archaeology?
I was going to do medicine at university, but decided that I wanted to do something more interesting. Archaeology at Leicester University allowed me to do a BSc involving archaeology and chemistry. I took an additional year abroad at Flinders University, where I ended up doing my PhD following honours in the UK.
What
archaeological projects are you working on at the moment?
I am currently working on two excavations of Aboriginal sites and a heritage survey of a 100 hectare land area that will be redeveloped. I am also co-excavation director for the upcoming excavations on Isle of the Dead, at Port Arthur, Tasmania. I will be conducting chemical analysis on the skeletal remains to determine diets, health, migrations etc…
For more information see http://www.portarthur.org.au/archaeology-new/
Tell
us about one of your most interesting archaeological discoveries.
The ability to encapsulate the absolute wonder of children when taking them onto an archaeological site for the first time. Children possess an awe and astonishment about the world that adults often loose and make me glad that I am an archaeologist.
Artefact wise – I was pretty happy with discovering Bronze Age bone hair pins on a site in Spain.
Tell
us about a funny/disastrous/amazing experience that you have had
while doing archaeology.
Almost every excavation where you spend a length of time ‘away’ from civilisation with a small group of people allows you to bond and really get to know people. Also ‘funny things’ happen when one is isolated for a while!
What’s
your favourite part of being an archaeologist?
Allowing the public/children to experience the cultures and world that is behind us all.
Piecing together a site through the results of background research/excavation and then coupling it with scientific data (ie isotope results) to create a bigger picture.
Follow
up reading:
See the web site above for some public stuff I have done.
http://www.portarthur.org.au/archaeology-new/
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