Andie becomes an Egyptologist

Andie said...
Hello to everyoneIt is lovely to read all your questions. I hope that all of the answers are included here and in my next replies.

I am 45 years old. I first became interested in archaeology on a family holiday in England, where we saw ancient burial places in modern fields. My father bought me a book on the subject and I decided that I wanted to study it at university. So I studied archaeology at university in Scotland in the 1980s.

My interest lies with the period before the pharaohs, usually referred to as prehistory, so that's where I do most of my research. I spend most of my time in Egypt in the desert areas, which used to be green enough to support wild herds and nomads who herded sheep and goat. The climate changed before Egypt became a single country, so now we find artefacts in one of the most arid places on the planet. The most interesting things that I have found in Egypt are everyday life items used by people many thousands of years ago rather than the more glamorous items associated with kings like Tutankhamun. This is because when I pick them up I know that I am the first person to handle them in all that time. It is like holding hands with someone in the past. I once found a mummified Ibis (an Egyptian bird) but my favourite artefact was an ostrich egg which had been decorated witht he picture of a bird and had been used to carry water.