Question: does your work help the lives of people all around the world?

Jennifer Bates answered on 6 Nov 2016:

It’s a difficult question to answer. Unlike some aspects of science, archaeological science doesn’t always have a direct impact on the day-to-day lives of people, but I would argue it is important.

I think we can all agree we are constantly learning from the past, as scientists we build on past theories to develop new ones, that’s how science works: test the old, develop new ideas, test them again and move forwards. Archaeology is doing something similar but on a larger scale, filling in the deep time story. There is a lot of past out there that still has implications for today. For example, modern California is suffering from a water shortage that is affecting agriculture. One solution is to irrigate the crops, but that is leading to increased salinity in the soil, leading to more crops dying. A similar problem has been suggested to have happened in ancient Mesopotamia, and so looking at what solutions were tried there but failed is a way of not repeating history and thus saving time while trying to prevent further damage.

I also think archaeology is important in building our understanding of ourselves. When you think about the UK for example, sites like Stonehenge, Hadrian’s Wall, Nevern castle and Mount Sandel springs to mind. Archaeological places are built into our conscious or subconscious, and help shape us. Archaeological science plays a part in this too, for example, I’m working on the origins of rice use in South Asia, which plays a part in stories of agricultural origins, the movement of people the sub-continent and the development of food-cultures. Perhaps the most important job though is that of a friend of mine who helps with the repatriation (sending home) of skeletons. That is a direct impact for archaeology on people all across the world, and really does help.