ASE Takes Stock: Steve White, Archaeologist

Current work and situation

Now that I’m working from home I’m still able to do the site write up! I’m currently writing the PXA & UPD (or Post-excavation assessment & updated project design) for a large excavation we undertook in Whitechapel, London, from January of 2018 to July of 2019. I’ve actually been working on this since we came off site. To fully report on a site of this size (18 months of fieldwork, 7000 contexts, 1000s of plans, 6912 photographs, 1000s of person hours on site) you have to check, quantify and then digitise the site archive. Thankfully, when our offices closed I had already completed this stage, so I didn’t have to take 30 lever arch ring binders full of contexts sheets home to our one bedroom flat! I’m now at the stage where I’m actually drafting the assessment, with an eye to completion in June of this year.

Working from home is quite good fun, I’ve done it quite a lot since coming to work for ASE’s London team in 2014. The key thing I’ve always found is to try and stick to a routine, like we do on site. So, I always try and start work for 8am, have a tea break around 10am, lunch at 1pm and then generally finish around 4pm where possible.

I am lucky enough to have a partner who also works as an archaeologist, so I can pick her brains if I come up against something that doesn’t make sense.

I also have three furry assistants who are always willing lend a paw….although little Ralph seems to think I am a seat for her to snooze on more than anything else!

Looking back on last year

Successfully completing the fieldwork for our site at Whitechapel was a huge achievement, and only possible because of the amazing team of archaeologists we had!

Looking forward to post-lockdown

Post-work pub with colleagues and getting back into the rehearsal studio with my band!