Written by Ben Downie

Produced for online by Jessica McGrath

Today marks the beginning of Australia’s National Archaeology Week held in museums and universities across Australia.

The Australian Archaeological Association launched the celebrations this morning at the Queensland Museum.

National Coordinator Fenella Atkinson says there are lots of opportunities to talk to curators in Australia’s great archaeological departments and the Queensland Museum this week with events running until Friday night.

“They’ve got a lunch time session on a different topic, so you can duck in there at lunch time and find out about a different aspect on either Australian archaeology or the archaeology Australians are working on.”

Australian Archaeological Association media liaison Megan Gigacz says the week is all about showcasing some of the amazing work archaeologists do.

“I guess this is a special week for archaeologists too because it really gives us a chance to get together as a discipline across the country and celebrate our work because we really do think we’ve got an amazing job.”

University of Queensland environmental archaeologist lecturer Christina Giovas says archaeology tells us a story about our past.

“I think it gives us context for who we are and where we’ve come from.

“It gives us an understanding [of] the depth of human history and its breadth of adversity and that’s really important as we move forward to know where we came from.”

To find out more about the event and what’s on, visit the Australian Archaeological Facebook page.