Abi Cryerhall
Current position
Principal and Manager, Archaeology, at GML
Where did you study?
Trinity College Dublin
How did you become interested in archaeology?
I was hooked at a young age. I spent my childhood in south west Ireland and in the fields behind my house was a medieval ringwork, towerhouse, church and graveyard, all overgrown and covered with brambles and ivy. I spent most of my free time exploring these ruins, imagining the long forgotten lives of people who once lived where I did now.
What archaeological projects are you working on at the moment?
I am working on salvage excavations for Parramatta Light Rail. Also writing up the results from several excavations such as the Arthur Phillip High School project (Parramatta Convict Barracks c1819 site)
Tell us about one of your most interesting archaeological discoveries.
There are so many - I find most sites interesting!
Excavating on an early Christian hermitage site (7th-9th centuries) on High Island, Co. Galway, we found a pilgrim souvenir from Byzantium. The interconnections and great effort to travel long distances to/from remote parts of the world fascinate me.
Tell us about a funny / disastrous / amazing experience that you have had while doing archaeology.
I’ve been evacuated, by helicopter, from a research dig season on an uninhabited island three years in a row as storms destroyed our camp. We managed to save all the site records and artefacts each time! All three apply - disaster, amazing, and funny (in retrospect)
What’s your favourite part of being an archaeologist?
I really enjoy the variety, challenge of solving puzzles, learning about the past and finding new stories to tell, meeting and working with interesting and dedicated archaeologists, historians, geospatial specialists, artefact specialists.....what’s not to love!
Follow up reading.