• Question: have you been to another country to get inspiration for something if so what and where

    Asked by Rosie to Jena, Freddie, Kirsten, Kon, Zarah on 13 Nov 2016. This question was also asked by becca, happy26222.
    • Photo: Jennifer Bates

      Jennifer Bates answered on 13 Nov 2016:

      I get to travel a lot in my job, mostly to get my samples!

      I was actually inspired to become a scientist on fieldwork in Turkey. It was my first excavation abroad and I was asked to run something called a flotation tank. It’s a machine that separates ancient seeds from soil and I realised I wanted to know more about the things I was collecting – what were they, how did they survive for thousands of years, and what did they mean? It inspired me to take the archaeological science course, to answer the BIG question that underlies everything I do – how did people live in the past?

      Oh, and the seeds were mostly cereals, like wheat and barley, with some beans and weeds! 🙂

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