We’ve all seen them, the circuit archaeologist. Usually found propping up the bar of the cheapest boozer in town… Viz vest, standard issue mud caked boots and of course, the obligatory WHS trowel, stuck handle down in back pocket, primed and ready for inaction.
Thrown together for a few months in the arse end of nowhere, they make close friends and closer enemies, only to be moved again to opposite sides of the galaxy. If this is you then welcome home. Run by diggers for diggers, this site is an answer to the diaspora of Irish, British and World archaeologists scattered to the four corners of the wind. This is your chance to keep in touch with what’s hot and what’s not – this seasons latest look on site, step by step guides to intricate troweling techniques, the highlights of the social calendar, where to be seen and who to be seen with, and celebrity archaeologist gossip.
If you’ve never met an archaeologist before and your just stumbling, then let us explain. Get one archaeologist by him or herself and they’ll happily talk archaeology all day. They’ll tell you how much they enjoy their job, how they love working outside and anything else they can think of which makes their job sound more interesting than your boring (but well paid and dry) office job.
Two archaeologists, and they’ll still talk shop, only this time it will all be about how crap the pay is and how terrible the conditions. They’ll talk about how shite the site is, which ejit’s digging which feature wrong, how the project manager doesn’t know his arse from his elbow, how the site they were working on before was so much better, and last but by no means least, they’ll talk about who’s shagging who, or who’s not shagging who, or who wants to shag who, or who’s shagging who behind who’s back. Because in the archaeological gossip stakes, sex is good but incest is best, and you’ve just stumbled into one of the most incestuous careers on earth.
Any more than two archaeologists, well that officially qualifies as a party, and that’s where diggingthedirt comes in. Earth-shaking parties and salacious gossip. Think of it as a decompression chamber for societies excluded. A shock-horror expose of the seedy underbelly the archaeological profession hoped you’d never see.
And so to this websites excavation team, without whom the dirt would never be dug. Credit to everyone for all the photos, which I’ve purloined liberally from archaeology forums around the interwebs (and if you want something back – just let me know!). Thanks to Jonski for lending us his trowel. And his beard. And his bottle. And his cigs. And ideas, and photos and, that time he doesn’t know about when he passed out on our sofa, his car. Thanks also to Marion Ravenwood, for regularly drinking us under the table, and thanks too to the infinite amount of anonymous monkeys bashing the infinite amount of typewriters that occasionally provide us with ideas, copy and laughs a plenty. You know who you are.
‘If we build it, they will come’, I might have said one night in the pub, and by ‘we’ I meant ‘them’, and by ‘they’ I mean ‘you’.
So welcome to the site and who knows what might happen: when you dig up the past, all you find is dirt…
Hi there, i’m a mexican student of archaeology in France. I was looking in the web for some advices in digging and i ended up in your blog. I found it pretty cool, thanks for sharing worldwide your experiences and stuff in archaeology! Keep on going!
PD: The Eddie Izzard video it’s hilarious!!!
Sincerely,
Susana
Thanks very much Susana, and welcome to the site! There should be new stuff going up weekly, but if that’s not often enough for you there’s the facebook page and twitter too. Looking forward to your comments…!
All the best,
Diggingthedirt
Hi Guys, was directed to your website by a friend of mine. Please feel free to check out my group on Facebook, ‘Pick up lines for Archaeologists,’ for those times when a party needs livening up!
Hi Brendon,
Could you gimme a pdf of your recent current archaeology article as I’d like to cite it in a paper im doing. Peace out.
That is the one about the boom and bust in (celtic tiger and all that jazz)
Please.
Hi Fergie, if you drop into the ‘post-ex’ category, you’ll find all my publications listed in order, with click throughs to PDF copies archived on Scribd. You should be able to download it directly from there. Alternatively, Scibd user name is diggingthedirt… You could have a hunt around on there.
All the best,
Sweet. How’s the form big lad?
Not bad at all! Good to see you on here. They tell me someone’ll be making an honest man of you soon? Happens to the best of us eventually! All the best, and drop us a line if you’re ever in sunny London.
Oh god, I’m humiliated. I read that intro and squirmed, as after finishing an excavation where we didn’t greet each other with hello, but ‘ what did you find then?’ and then proceed to dish dirt on 90% of people we knew , I’ve realised I’m probably I’m the right career. It’s just like my previous music industry stuff, except dirtier 😉 now… Where and when to wear me shag an archaeologist day tee??? Hmmm!
Wow.
as an Archaeology student at Reading this has in fact made my life complete!
That is all!
Cool Abbie. We embrace you!
(You must be… Miss October, right?)
Ah, now that would be telling! 😛 😉
Great preamble – really reminded me of my brief time working as an archaeologist in the late 90s. Lots of showing off to office drones, lots of bitching among fellow diggers. Gave it up because the shite pay couldn’t pay for the nappies. Better paid now, but really miss it so will have to live vicariously through the site!