I didn't start out as an archaeologist.
Although my background and interests had
always been in the past,
I had grown up a book nerd.
I had never even considered the possibility
of studying history first-hand in the field!
My undergraduate study was done at a small liberal arts
college in upstate Vermont. I was one
student in a small department, studying Classics. I was learning the history and culture of the
great Mediterranean civilizations: the Greeks and the Romans. It was during this program that I spent a
term abroad in Athens, Greece. This
period was my first time in Greece, and the first time I would ever see the
sites and artifacts of my study first-hand.
I was living in a city thousands of years old, surrounded by a culture
that was a beautifully chaotic mix of old and new, taking classes that were
taught in and around the ancient buildings themselves.
I was hooked. I knew
that, whatever my future job, it had to bring me back to this feeling of experiencing
and living history.
During this time, I took a one-week tour on the island of
Crete, home to the ancient Minoans.
Walking the corridors of the famed Palace of Knossos, I was left
speechless at its sophistication and size.
That awe turned to intrigue as I learned just how little was actually
known about the culture and its people.
When my term in Greece
finished, I returned to my college in Vermont.
I continued my studies in the later Classical civilizations of Greece
and Rome. But I could not forget the mystery and lure of the Bronze Age Minoans.
