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Oliver Brown
What
is your current position?
Consultant archaeologist, Aboriginal cultural heritage management
Where
did you study archaeology?
University of Sydney
How
did you become interested in archaeology?
I was always interested in the way that people engage with their environment, in the present as well as the past. At university I came to realise that archaeology provides one of the best records of how that has happened over a very long time. Then I discovered that archaeology is more than just something to study – it can be a fulfilling career. And I never looked back.
What
archaeological projects are you working on at the moment?
Middens in NSW as much as possible – basically any job I can get with a faunal record (shell and bone). In between times it’s mostly management planning of Aboriginal cultural heritage for local councils and a bit of developer-funded work.
Tell
us about one of your most interesting archaeological discoveries.
Those with an ooh-aah moment have mostly been artefacts – an axe-head in the Hunter Valley, some finely worked blades in western Sydney, a complex of grinding grooves near Berrima, Roman spear heads in England. But the most interesting times come after the field work, when patterns of resource use become apparent from the shells and bones and they can be tied in with our understanding of ecology.
Tell
us about a funny/disastrous/amazing experience that you have had
while doing archaeology.
I used to do a lot of research on the effect that scavengers have removing animal remains and what this means about biases in our record of bones. From the desert to the sea and places in between studying wildlife was an amazing pleasure. But there is no avoiding the putrescent stench of rotting carcasses along the way and any notion of adventure in the bush fall flat on its face when you ruin your notes by vomiting on them.
What’s
your favourite part of being an archaeologist?
To be always learning; knowing that if I won the lottery I would spend the rest of my life happily doing archaeology; the other archaeologists and the Aboriginal people I get the opportunity to work with; being self-employed and free to make the time for my own research.
Follow
up reading:
Brown, O.J.F. (accepted). Saltwater/sweetwater, sandstone/shale: Mapping bioregions, Aboriginal cultural boundaries and archaeological site distribution in the Sydney Basin. Archaeological Heritage.
Brown, O.J.F, Letnic, M. & Field, J. 2006. Variation in the taphonomic effects of scavengers linked to rainfall and the El Niño Southern Oscillation. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 16: 165-176.
Brown, O.J.F. 2007. Tasmanian Devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) extinction on the Australian mainland in the mid-Holocene: Multicausality and ENSO intensification. Alcheringa.
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