What archaeological projects are you working on at the moment?
There are three broad principal research themes which define my work:
1) Finding stuff (The application of geophysical technique to archaeological sites)
2) Finding out where things come from (Comparing the composition of teeth from archaeological sites to rock, soil and plants to track migrations)
3) Finding out what the view and weather was like (Using sediments for palaeoenvironmental and palaeogeographic reconstruction)

Within the framework of these broad questions I’ve worked on a huge variety of archaeological problems around the world. My geophysical research has focused on the location and mapping of features such as historic and Indigenous graves, middens, heat retainer hearths, buried pottery, hidden rock art, shipwrecks, lost anchors, miscellaneous historic features and site stratigraphy principally in Australia but also in Thailand and PNG. My PhD research is focused on using the strontium isotope composition of teeth to work out how people and Neanderthals were moving around in Israel and France. My sedimentological work has been used for reconstructing both terrestrial and marine environments and to help work out the depositional history of rock shelters.

Tell us about one of your most interesting archaeological discoveries.
I never seem to have any “eureka” moments in archaeology! Every new bit of research answers one small component of the question and reveals ten new problems that need to be solved. I shouldn’t complain about it though, as this constant challenge is what keeps me interested in this research.

Tell us about a funny/disastrous/amazing experience that you have had while doing archaeology.
I could write a novel based on this question, particularly if the names could be changed! Anyone who has been in the field with me knows that funny/disastrous/amazing experiences seem to follow me around where ever I go….

Non-exhaustively and in no particular order I’ve fallen down a mine shaft, rolled a car, driven a monk from his seat with my smell, unblocked a toilet with a cactus, knocked out a colleague with a projector screen, broken a makeshift bridge with my heft, avoided a large shark (just!) with a boat full of students, wrangled a small cow, smeared a tent with poo, had a tick on my most sensitive areas, cooked tandoori rabbit in a camp oven, narrowly escaped being imprisoned in an Israeli jail, been stuck in floods and danced to a string band under the stars.

What’s your favourite part of being an archaeologist?
There are two main things that I love about being involved in archaeology.

The first is the challenge and diversity of conducting difficult, high resolution analysis in field environments on very subtle targets that have such important things to say about human history. I often have to be a geophysicst, geologist, surveyor, soil scientist, archaeologist, diesel mechanic and electronics technician all on the same day to get a good outcome on a project. The challenge of doing this, in collaboration with a bunch of like minded people, is what inspires me to keep working on archaeological questions.

The second joy is the characters that archaeology seems to attract to every project. This isn’t confined just to the archaeologists themselves of course, but includes traditional owners, pastoralists, community members, technical officers, surveyors, drillers and (far worse in this respect than anyone else) students. I’ve learnt and laughed more around camp fires and on long drives with these colleagues than I care to remember. As an excellent example, anyone who doubts that archaeologists are colourful, eccentric, innovative and generous with wine clearly hasn’t met Dr Alice Gorman…..

Follow up reading:
Wallis, L.A., Moffat, I., Trevorrow, G. and Massey, T., 2008, Archaeological geophysics in the Indigenous reburial process: A case study from Ngarrindjeri ruwe, South Australia, Antiquity, 82: 750-760.

Moffat, I. and Raupp, J., 2008, A New Approach to Investigating Shipwreck Sites in Littoral Environments: Multi-Technique Geophysical Investigations of Port Elliot, South Australia, Technical Briefs in Historical Archaeology, 3:1-7.

Moffat, I., Wallis, L.A., Beale, A. and Kynuna, D., 2008, Applications of geophysical techniques for the detection and indentification of open Indigenous sites in Australia: A case study from inland northwest Queensland, Australian Archaeology, 66:60-64.