After graduation I was looking intently for honours positions in universities across Australia and potential supervisors. I hadn't really thought of a topic yet, I just thought, like every other archaeologist that honours is the next step. But I hadn't really found my calling, I was interested in a lot of things and felt trapped if I specialised in one particular area in history. I kept looking with no agreeable results, and for some reason or another the supervisors that I was interested were either away or no longer doing any research I was mildly interested in or I was warned by students to find another. I thought I'd go to a dig to refresh and sort myself out when the Pod Hradem Cave project came along.
After weeks of talking with the Czech archaeologists and impressed with their depth of knowledge I started to look into geology courses myself. I thought, why not, I'm very interested and a Masters in Geo would be great for an arch career. I could be a geoarch. I was always interested more in the science of arch than anything. I helped the director with the cave and supervised some of his students during the dig and came away completely confident in my archaeological skills and refreshed and more focused on life in general. The Czech archaeologists inspired me, and I decided to put aside the honours in the meantime and look into a Master of Science in Geology. I applied, proving that my work is related and got in.
This past year has been taken up working in the Pilbara and finishing that degree. During the course of the degree with many on-campus sessions and field schools, my love of technology came back. I was increasingly getting involved in geophysics during the degree and discovering both its geological and archaeological applications. Suffice to say I've finally found what sits with me, and It feels like I've come full circle since the very beginnings of this adventure. I suspect the I.T background has popped up again but in a new way. From GPR, to Resistivity, Gravity and Magnetometers, to a planned thesis on Remote Sensing, I've found it is pretty awesome to be a Geophysicist, with field schools equally fun. After the Masters, I plan to do a PhD in geophysics and have fun with both industry geophysics and archaeological investigations, If I'm invited.
I hope all is well with you and that you too find an activity, whether in work or play that makes you happy.
I'll soon have a geophys blog up concerning all things geophys in arch and geo if you'd like to know more about those adventures at Sureyya Kose Geophysics.
Cheerio
Sureyya.More of Sureyya's Journey
- Part 1: A Career Change to Archaeology
- Part 2: Career Research in Archaeology
- Part 3: A Bump in the Road
- Part 4: Sometimes Life Intervenes
- Part 5: Being a Freshman
- Part 6: Part-Time Student / Part-Time Job
- Part 7: Full Time Student
- Part 8: Sureyya the Shovel Bum
- You are here --> Part 9: Sureyya in the Field
