International Women's Day 2020 In her own words... - Nicole Brandon   I chose archaeology as a profession because it combined my academic interests with my personal hobbies. My journey began at Wilfrid Laurier University where the profs were enthusiastic and encouraging. At the time, I was learning about Canada’s First Peoples. The trajectory of my career path changed one summer when I ventured east and took a job excavating at the Fortress of Louisbourg NHS in Nova Scotia. The reconstructed 18th-century town was enchanting, and the incredible variety of artifacts discovered daily was nothing short of amazing. I was hooked. Louisbourg was the inspiration to do a material-culture based M.A. thesis, which eventually landed me at TMHC as a material culture analyst and the lab manager. [caption id="attachment_3844" align="aligncenter"…

International Women's Day 2020 In her own words... - Sherri Pearce Hi, I’m Sherri and they call me the Sherriff… Archaeology has been my passion since a young age. My first foray into archaeology was volunteering at the Museum of Ontario Archaeology. From there, I started working as a field tech and then eventually a field director and here I am still, some 20+ years later and now managing projects at TMHC. I am fortunate to have been mentored by and work with many amazing and inspiring women archaeologists, and still do to this day. In fact, it was woman that inspired me to get into archaeology, albeit in a round about way – Wonder Woman! In reading the comics as a child, I developed an interest in Greek and…

International Women's Day 2020 In her own words... - Kelly Gostick I’m Kelly and I’m a Staff Archaeologist, Report Writer and Field Director at TMHC. My love of archaeology started after my mom took my siblings and I to a public archaeology day that Laurentian University was hosting during their field school at the LaVase North Bank Site in North Bay.  After learning more about archaeology from shows I watched on TLC, the Discovery Channel and the History Channel (back when they actually showed educational programing!), I knew that I wanted to be an archaeologist. Kelly's MA Thesis: If Pits Could Talk: An Analysis of Features from the Figura Site (AgHk-52)           My love of archaeology took me to Wilfrid Laurier University where I earned a…

International Women's Day 2020 In her own words... - Breanne Reibl Hi everyone! I am Breanne, the Archaeobotanical Analyst at TMHC. I also work as a Lab and Field Technician, meaning I wear a number of hats. I came to TMHC in September 2018 to mainly work on botanical material from The Ward project, but my research interests began in Ontario Iroquoian archaeobotany. For those of you wondering just what an archaeobotanist does, I look for seeds and other plant materials in soil samples that we take from sites. After the samples go through a process called flotation, I sort out the botanical remains and then identify what I can under microscope. The data gives me an idea as to which plants people in the past were using or eating…