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Asked by Christmas dancing turkeys to Zarah, Kon, Kirsten, Jena, Freddie on 7 Nov 2016. This question was also asked by Ebs Trevett, Amy_XOXO, 246pang22.
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Jennifer Bates answered on 7 Nov 2016:
I was inspired by my local archaeologist who asked me a simple question: what are YOU interested in?
I dug a trench in the back garden when I was seven years old (mum wasn’t very happy!) and found a pot and took it to her and she asked me on a dig. While we were digging she asked me what I was interested in and that got me thinking – what is it about the past that I am interested in? It’s not the shiny objects, or the kings and queens. They’re fun when you find them, but actually I’m interested in people, what did the average person do in the past? How did they live?
A few times since then I have been asked that question, by my A-level teacher, my lecturers and each time it has gotten easier, each time I went away and thought about it. Eventually I was asked on an excavation and I was asked, what part of this dig are you interested in, and that time I had an answer: I want to study the everyday lives of people in the past and I am going to do that by looking at food! I was shown a flotation tank (machine for sorting seeds from soil) and advised to join the archaeological science course. And here I am now, an archaeobotanist (archaeological plant geek).
So I’ll ask you to think about it: what are YOU interested in? And hopefully that will help you find a way into your chosen career. ?
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Kirsten Brandt answered on 7 Nov 2016:
Before I started studying at the university, I also considered other options, for example to become a medical doctor rather than a plant scientist. But I have always tried to find other and hopefully better ways to do things than what everyone else does, and science is one of only very few types of job where this is a useful approach.
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