Potential employer: So, you have archaeology in Turkey on your resume.
Me: *smiles* Yes!
Potential employer: That must have been a fun vacation.
Me: *confused* Um–
Potential employer: Why did you waste your time on a vacation?
Me: *shakes head* Allow me to explain. This was no vacation… though I did have a great time.
Let’s assume that this interview is for my dream job in the British heritage sector.
Even though I might be pursuing another, more specific avenue of historic preservation (i.e. historic houses and collections management in the UK), I now have a greater appreciation for efforts worldwide towards the protection of any kind of heritage. Just two weeks into the internship I have gained a working knowledge of this process, which includes the excavation, recording, and conservation of artifacts and archaeological sites.
I’m able to explore the larger field of historic preservation and gain exposure to many different opportunities therein. This trip is not a vacation, nor is it simply digging in the dirt; I’ve collaborated with professionals in both surveying and ceramic pottery, and excavation. With these come certain technical skills. My teammates and I discuss using terms like “leveling” and “articulating,” we take elevation measurements, and we consult each other on the nature of the items we find on site. One can spend several minutes determining between schist and ceramic, or a nail and a stick, or a bone and a root.
My experience here in Turkey has been rewarding not in the sense that I’m able to “vacation” abroad this summer. Rather, I wake up at 5 a.m. everyday to dig in 100℉ heat, obsessing over an ancient puzzle piece with a team that’s as absorbed in the project as myself. Discipline and patience may seem like rudimentary skills, but the fact that I willingly share a bedroom and shower with five other girls speaks volumes. And, I like to think that intensive manual labor builds character. I certainly don’t count myself “above” hauling dirt and rocks around for hours each day. It’s at least a much better learning (and humbling) experience than internships that require you to go fetch coffee from the Starbucks down the street.
Besides technical experience and character-building, I’ve learned quite a bit about working with other people – Oles, supervisors, professors, directors, volunteers, tourists, and Turks. As much as the introvert in me prefers to work alone, I know that teamwork will always be necessary in a future working environment. This trip is another, very intensive lesson in teamwork, and I’ve grown close to the people (shout out to Bria and Gabriel!) in the dirt next to me. On the other hand, there’s a degree of responsibility and autonomy here that has prompted team members to take more active roles in their dig site. Leadership is on an everyday scale. I may not be the director of the excavation, but I have the choice each day to help determine the course of my team’s dig site.
In short, I hope to convince this blog’s readers and potential employers alike that this internship is not the “vacation” one would expect. There are so many valuable skills I’ll continue to cultivate during my time here.
If nothing else, I now know how to use a pick ax and trowel… I’m unstoppable!