‘Archaeology isn’t all Indiana Jones’
To tell us more about the profession, Review spoke to someone who really digs her work, Liesel Stegman, who is a qualified archaeologist and specialises in Iron Age sites (sites occupied by African farming communities for the past 2000 years).
POLOKWANE – For many, seeing someone dig up bones or ancient ruins seems like a boring job and a dirty one at that, but there are many stories to be told from being an archaeologist. Stories of ancient civilizations and how people would live back in ages such as the iron age.
To tell us more about the profession, Review spoke to someone who really digs her work, Liesel Stegman, who is a qualified archaeologist and specialises in Iron Age sites (sites occupied by African farming communities for the past 2000 years).
Her special interest lies in historical buildings and Review spoke to her to find out more about her job and her advice to young learners who want to study towards an archeology degree.
“Firstly they need to realise that it isn’t all Indiana Jones, not even by a long shot. It involves grueling hours of physical labour in the hot sun, followed by even more hours indoors figuring out what everything means. You need to be meticulous with record keeping and be able to organise your thoughts.”
Research generally involves excavating- digging in the ground (you must have a permit to do this) and then spending months figuring out what each artifact means and joining all the bits and bobs to form a coherent description of the past.”\
To peruse a career in archeology you need to get accepted to either a BA or BCom degree, with Archaeology as a major. “Unisa, Wits and Tukkies run really good programmes which will help you decide in which fields to specialise, such as Stone Age, Iron Age, Maritime or historical etc,” she adds.
A bachelor’s degree is considered the minimum educational requirement to begin a career in the field, but most archaeologists need an advanced degree and extensive field experience.
Her advise to learner who is thinking on embarking on this field of study, is to first test the waters by shadowing a practicing archaeologist for a holiday or two. “Learning the practical side of things is probably more important than the university theory they will study and it will help them understand the hard work that will be required. You need to be able to walk in the veld and identify the minute traces left behind by people. It took five years of fieldwork before I saw my first Iron Age hut floor in the bush,” she says.
Liesel explains to Review where her love for archeology began.
“I was a third year student and completing my BA degree, with three majors: archaeology, anthropology and history. I couldn’t decide which I wanted to specialise in at the time so I went on a fieldwork excavation for a week in the Waterberg with Unisa. I actually went with the express idea of hating every minute of it, and thus being able to cancel out one of the choices. My husband was actually my team leader and I totally embarrassed myself. First off, I raised my hand once we were up the mountain and asked “So where exactly is the site?” I ended up standing on top of the rocks gently poking their heads out of the ground. After laying the grid out, he told us to “Get to it”… So I raised my hand again and asked How exactly do we do that”… Being a third year student he was shocked that I knew nothing. I knew all the theory, but had never been in the veld before. Needless to say, we clicked, and I eventually ended up moving up to Polokwane from Welkom in the Free State, to work for his father, Frans Roodt also an archaeologist,”she says.
Liesel has been active in the field of archaeology for 10 years now.
Read more about her passion for all things historical in this week’s Polokwane Review.
