What archaeological projects are you working on at the moment?
Archae-aus specialises in north-western Australian Indigenous archaeology so we have many projects running. The most interesting at the moment is the research and dating of stone arrangements in Banjima/Naiparli country in the Pilbara.

Tell us about one of your most interesting archaeological discoveries.
One of the most interesting discoveries I’ve made so far is that the patterns of stone arrangements are also reflected in rock engravings. This suggests that the

Tell us about a funny/disastrous/amazing experience that you have had while doing archaeology.
One of the most amazing experiences that I’ve had while doing archaeology is walking into a cave in the Kimberley with some fellow archaeologists and Indigenous people. The cave was so dark that we couldn’t see a thing. Torches were turned on, there was nothing on the floor of the cave and then someone looked up and the sharp intake of their breath was all that was needed to let us know we were somewhere very special. The cave ceiling was black and over the entire ceiling were white hands, large, medium-sized, right through to babies. The roof looked like it was covered in stars. It was exquisite, but those stars were people like you and me.

What’s your favourite part of being an archaeologist?
Ah, this is so hard to answer. The favourite part for me is meeting people in their place, especially Indigenous people who bring a freshness to the way I look at the archaeology of their land. Oh and being in so many remote and beautiful places and I get paid for it – that thrill has never evaporated from my first job.

Follow up reading:
Hook, F. (in prep) Why so many blades?: Pointed trigonal blades in the inland Pilbara. Archaeology in Oceania.

Hook, F. and Di Lello, A. (in press) Gurdadaguji stone arrangements: late Holocene aggregation locals? In British Archaeological Reports Series

Hook F., A. Paterson, C. Souter (Eds) (2005) The Archaeology of Trade & Exchange: Program and Abstracts of the 2005 Australian Archaeological Association (AAA) and Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology (AIMA) Conference, Fremantle, Western Australia (27-30 November 2005). University of Western Australia: Perth

Souter, C., A. Paterson & F. Hook (2006) Archaeological sites on Barrow Island and the Dampier Archipelago, Pilbara, Western Australia: a collaberative approach. Bulletin of the Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology 30, 85-92.

Veitch, B., F. Hook & E. Bradshaw (2005) A note on radiocarbon dates from the Paraburdoo, Mount Brockman and Yandicoogina areas of the Hamersley Plateau, Pilbara, Western Australia. Australian Archaeology 60: 58-61.