Christopher Biagi
Current position
Archaeologist, faunal analyst, and lithic artefact specialist at Christine Williamson Heritage Consultants
Where did you study?
La Trobe University
How did you become interested in archaeology?
As a kid I was always interested in history and everything old. I had a particular fascination with bones and animals and my mum - to further this interest - used to bury things in the back garden for me to dig up. In prep when we were asked what we wanted to be when we grew up, I wrote archaeologist or palaeontologist much to my teacher’s surprise and I still have the booklet.
What archaeological projects are you working on at the moment?
As always, there are multiple projects floating around, but currently I am working on a number of faunal and lithic assemblages from Victoria and Sydney.
Tell us about one of your most interesting archaeological discoveries.
One of the most interesting discoveries to date is two human finger bones that were excavated out of a nineteenth century cesspit in Melbourne’s CBD. How did they get there? Who do they belong to? Hopefully I’ll find out soon.
On top of this I’m currently analysing another cesspit that has 13 different species of birds in it which is amazing, and definitely not what we normally find!
Tell us about a funny / disastrous / amazing experience that you have had while doing archaeology.
There are too many to pick from but my all-time favourite story is when we were told the electric fences were turned off… Suffice to say they were not and I got quite a shock!
What’s your favourite part of being an archaeologist?
The fact that every day is different, every assemblage has new surprises and every person you meet is interesting and wonderful. You get your hands on history, you get dirty and you’re constantly forced to learn and grow. The places you get to travel to, be it someone’s backyard or a remote part of Australia, always bring with it new challenges and problems to solve. This job is a dream come true and I think most everyone you talk to in this field will agree.
Follow up reading.
Christine Williamson Heritage Consultants website and Facebook page.