Jennifer


School: Sawtry Village Academy

Employer: Arcadis

Job Title: Technical Director- Cultural Heritage

Qualifications:

  • x11 GCSEs
  • x4 A Levels
  • BA (Hons) Archaeology
  • MA Experimental Archaeology


Profile

When I left Sawtry Village College I followed a fairly traditional path, taking A Levels at another school then on to university to get a degree in Archaeology. After graduating I worked as a field archaeologist on commercial archaeology sites across the UK for a number of years, working my way up until I was supervising excavations. during this time I lived all over the UK and worked on some really exciting sites including a Roman settlement in Kent, a tannery in London, a site with Anglo-Saxon houses in Yorkshire and a Mesolithic site in Essex. In late 2007 I moved into Heritage Consultancy where I undertake heritage assessments on a wide range of development projects. I currently work for a large international design and engineering firm where I lead the UK Heritage team. My team complete heritage assessments on some of the largest and highest profile infrastructure projects happening in the UK at the moment as well as advising clients on how they can incorporate heritage into their project for the benefit of the people who will be living and working in the places they build.

I have an undergraduate and a masters degree. My undergraduate is in Archaeology and my Masters is in Experimental Archaeology. I knew from an early age that I wanted to go to university and I also knew that I wanted to build a career in Archaeology so I took my degree to achieve those two aims. I completed my Masters because it was a subject I was interested in and it allowed me the opportunity to get involved in a range of activities that would not necessarily be possible in the course of my employment. Some of the things I got to do during my MA included, learning to flintknapp, training as an apprentice blacksmith and making and using an exact replica of a 3000 year old bronze axe found at Flag Fen.


Advice to students

Don't be afraid to pursue your area of interest, be prepared to step outside of your comfort zone and be resilient.


Additional Resources

Careers in Archaeology