The Romance of Archaeology
September 30th 2006 02:25
I felt it was time to mention one of my other great loves (apart from writing romance novels, reading, watching romantic television shows, and pink champagne...oh, and Astoria, Oregon, but we'll get to that another time)...
Archaeology.
Perhaps Brian Fagan summed it up best in his book, 'In the Beginning: An Introduction to Archaeology':
"Archaeology has always been thought of as a romantic subject...Many people associate archaeologists with buried treasure, the Great Pyramid, and grinning skeletons. They believe archaeologists are romantic heroes, like Indiana Jones in the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark. Cartoonists depict them as elderly, eccentric scholars in sun helmets digging up inscribed tablets in the shadow of Egyptian temples. They are thought to be typical absentminded professors, so deeply absorbed in the details of ancient life that they care little for the pressures and frustrations of modern life. Archaeology is believed to open doors to a world of romance and excitement, to discoveries like the spectacular tomb of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun..." Fagan, Brian, In the Beginning: An Introduction to Archaeology, 1988, p3.
Is it any wonder one of my (many) obsessions centres around this fascinating field?
I began studying archaeology at university in 2002, and somehow got distracted along the way by a fiance, then a husband (yes, the same man), then Miss Toddler...
And what a nice way to get distracted!
Then, of course, my writing, that has completed enveloped me and taken me over...
But archaeology is still there, in my heart, in my thoughts, in my daydreams...
And in my writing.
Yes, my novels feature this topic/career/field/obsession throughout...you could say archaeology even has a starring role in my work. And, after how Fagan describes it, and after seeing, through my studies, how it actually is, how could I not incorporate this fascinating field?
Archaeology is more than a field to me. It is a way of life for these scatterbrained professors...its a hobby for some, a job for others...
An obsession. A personality for some...Kit, my infamous (or not so famous, since so few have had the honor of reading all about her) heroine, her personality is a restless one, an adventurous one, a treasure-seeker, a digger.
This to me is archaeology.
Its a romance. A romance with history, with civilizations long-gone, with individuals buried by their loved ones in such a loving manner. Archaeology is creating stories out of a fragment of bone, out of a pot shard, and coming up with whole histories. A way of life, once there but now gone.
Archaeology is a romantic adventure, a journey through time, through ruins now ravaged by jungles. Yes, I had visions of myself, in the jungles of Central America, in the cavernous tombs of the Pharaohs, in the ruins of Pompeii, having all kinds of wonderful, amazing, treasure-filled adventures.
If you're going to dream, you may as well dream big, I say.
Perhaps this is why I've become a writer...if you're a writer, these dreams are seen immediately. You don't need a degree, money, knowing the right people...
My dreams are realized. I have these wonderful adventures.
They are all in my books.
Archaeology.
Perhaps Brian Fagan summed it up best in his book, 'In the Beginning: An Introduction to Archaeology':
"Archaeology has always been thought of as a romantic subject...Many people associate archaeologists with buried treasure, the Great Pyramid, and grinning skeletons. They believe archaeologists are romantic heroes, like Indiana Jones in the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark. Cartoonists depict them as elderly, eccentric scholars in sun helmets digging up inscribed tablets in the shadow of Egyptian temples. They are thought to be typical absentminded professors, so deeply absorbed in the details of ancient life that they care little for the pressures and frustrations of modern life. Archaeology is believed to open doors to a world of romance and excitement, to discoveries like the spectacular tomb of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun..." Fagan, Brian, In the Beginning: An Introduction to Archaeology, 1988, p3.
Is it any wonder one of my (many) obsessions centres around this fascinating field?
I began studying archaeology at university in 2002, and somehow got distracted along the way by a fiance, then a husband (yes, the same man), then Miss Toddler...
And what a nice way to get distracted!
Then, of course, my writing, that has completed enveloped me and taken me over...
But archaeology is still there, in my heart, in my thoughts, in my daydreams...
And in my writing.
Yes, my novels feature this topic/career/field/obsession throughout...you could say archaeology even has a starring role in my work. And, after how Fagan describes it, and after seeing, through my studies, how it actually is, how could I not incorporate this fascinating field?
Archaeology is more than a field to me. It is a way of life for these scatterbrained professors...its a hobby for some, a job for others...
An obsession. A personality for some...Kit, my infamous (or not so famous, since so few have had the honor of reading all about her) heroine, her personality is a restless one, an adventurous one, a treasure-seeker, a digger.
This to me is archaeology.
Its a romance. A romance with history, with civilizations long-gone, with individuals buried by their loved ones in such a loving manner. Archaeology is creating stories out of a fragment of bone, out of a pot shard, and coming up with whole histories. A way of life, once there but now gone.
Archaeology is a romantic adventure, a journey through time, through ruins now ravaged by jungles. Yes, I had visions of myself, in the jungles of Central America, in the cavernous tombs of the Pharaohs, in the ruins of Pompeii, having all kinds of wonderful, amazing, treasure-filled adventures.
If you're going to dream, you may as well dream big, I say.
Perhaps this is why I've become a writer...if you're a writer, these dreams are seen immediately. You don't need a degree, money, knowing the right people...
My dreams are realized. I have these wonderful adventures.
They are all in my books.
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