Archaeology: it’s Sndiana Jones whip-cracking through exotic locations, or weirdy-beardy bo›fins “unearthing the mysteries of the past”. Cavemen, bones, bits of broken pot, Itonehenge, a series of small walls. Nothing to do with us bustling through our complicated modern lives.
That’s absolute rubbish. Archaeology is part of all our lives. It’s not just picturesque landscapes, castles, muddy holes and heaps of old stuff. It’s a subject that tells us about who we are now, how we live today. How we got here, what we can achieve. It’s inspiration, aspiration and rigorous investigation. Curiosity about the past that reassuringly tells us we have been doing more or less OK for more than 10,000 years on this strip of land.
And that is why shutting the University of Sheffield’s world-renowned archaeology department…
