Wessex Archaeology’s Coastal & Marine team is pleased to introduce our latest student placement, Anthony Gilchrist!
Anthony says:
I am from Pennsylvania, USA, and spent my summers growing up on Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire. I have a BA in history from Plymouth State University in New Hampshire and an MA in Applied (terrestrial) Archaeology from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. I’m currently studying for an MSc in Maritime Archaeology from the University of Southampton. In the United States, I am currently employed as a diver for AE Commercial Diving which specializes in the removal of invasive aquatic species. For my placement, I have been working with Wessex Archaeology’s Coastal & Marine Department. Weekly, my advisor includes me on Microsoft teams meetings with her different colleagues to discuss their roles in the company. Some of their specialties have been geophysics, diving, ROVs, and managing the marine aggregate industry. The task I have been working on is a build, use, loss, and survival analysis of different shipwrecks. After this analysis is completed for a specific shipwreck, I will assess its archaeological significance along with completing a risk assessment for the site. These analyses are giving me a better comprehension of what archaeologists actually do in a commercial setting in the United Kingdom.
We in the Coastal & Marine team really believe strongly in upskilling students and early career professionals, and student placements offer a fantastic opportunity to continue our teaching and capacity building for the sector. Our student placement program in conjunction with the University of Southampton began back in 2018, and Anthony is our fourth student placement. Obviously with Covid restrictions in place, this year’s placement has been very different to previous ones, but we’ve been delighted to be able to share our experiences working on development-led projects and for national archaeological curators.
