Megan Pugh - BA Archaeology, 2020

Spent placement year at Craven Museum
Currently working at West Yorkshire Archaeological Services as a Site Assistant

Good University choice

I decided to study Archaeology due to studying Classics, History and Geography at College. I thought Archaeology would be an interesting mix of these subjects. I also watched a lot of documentaries with my dad growing up which also fuelled my interest.

I chose to come to The University of Bradford as it was within commuting distance to where I live in Leeds. When I previously visited the University of Bradford, the staff was super friendly and approachable, and the Archaeology course looked interesting, so I decided to study here.

During my time at Bradford, I found all the lecturers were friendly and down to earth specialising in different areas, so you know who to go to if you had particular interest. Looking back at my time at Bradford I found I did enjoy myself despite all the hard work and stress. At the end it made it all worth it to come out with a good degree, friends and lecturers who I know I will stay in contact with.

I wasn't sure what area I wanted to go into once I finished University, but a job opportunity came up as a site assistant and I decided to go for it, and I'm really enjoying it.

Sensational memories

One of my favourite memories of Bradford, was spending a month abroad in Portugal on a dig site where I made great friends and learnt about the digging side of Archaeology.

At the end of our first year, we had to do field work for a month as part of a module for our second year. The options were Orkney Islands or Portugal. I chose Portugal as it seemed like an interesting place to work for a month (plus the nicer weather).

I really loved my time there, I made friends with people on the dig site who I am still in contact with now. I learned how to use a trowel and how to dig, which has helped me with my job now. I also did some finds washing of pottery and bones and did floatation by hand.

I also had a chance to go on a trip to Stonehenge with our class, which was such an amazing experience. We looked at other Archaeological features in the area whilst there such as Silbury Hill and Avebury. It was a trip as part of one of our modules in second year to look at the Archaeological landscape surrounding Stonehenge

During my time at Bradford, I found all the lecturers were friendly and down to earth specialising in different areas, so you know who to go to if you had particular interest.

Placement experience

I really enjoyed my placement year at Craven Museum, the staff were so friendly and looking at all the different museum objects was great as well attending outreach events to schools and communities.

The museum was getting refurbished as part of the Heritage Lottery Fund. In result, for the first three months I was at the museum packing up Museum objects, so they would be safe for transport and storage whilst the museum was getting refurbished, editing and writing modes records (The museums database).

The next six months of my placement was mainly outreach such as editing and creating outreach boxes for schools and communities, researching objects, writing blog posts and visiting schools and communities.

I am still a volunteer with the Museum now and help when I can.

Finding job in the profession

Overall, after I finished University, I was looking for a wide range of jobs including museum assistants, archive assistants as well as site assistants. I luckily managed to get my current job quite quickly starting just this October after finishing in May.

My advice to current students looking for jobs in these industries is don't give up, just keep applying you will get something eventually.