James Flexner
Current position
I am Senior Lecturer in Historical Archaeology and Heritage at the University of Sydney.
Where did you study?
I did my undergraduate studies at the University of Virginia, where I spent half my time studying and half digging up the hill at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's plantation. I also spent a semester at the University of Otago in New Zealand, which is where I became really interested in the archaeology of the Pacific region, which is my current area of expertise and research focus. My honours thesis was based on fieldwork I did in Pemba Island, Tasmania. I did my MA and PhD studying the historical archaeology of the Pacific Islands at UC Berkeley, where I focused on Hawaiian archaeology. My PhD research was about the archaeology of the leprosy settlement in Kalaupapa, Molokai.
How did you become interested in archaeology?
I've always been interested in travel and other cultures and histories since my first trip abroad to visit my Aunt in Austria when I was nine years old. I also grew up reading National Geographic and dreaming of adventures in the world's deserts and jungles. I started studying Archaeology and Anthropology in First year at UVA, and did my first field school in 2002 at Monticello, which I loved. I got my first paid work in archaeology shortly thereafter and I never considered any other career.
What archaeological projects are you working on at the moment?
I'm currently wrapping up a four year project excavating among the small islands of southern Vanuatu, focused on the Polynesian Outliers Futuna and Aniwa. I'm analysing artefacts from another four year dig in southeastern Tasmania, which was a field school where we excavated a site used as a pub, hotel, bakery, and post office from the 1840s until the 1960s.
I've also got a few new and developing projects in the pipeline, including one exploring the sugarcane plantations of tropical Queensland in collaboration with Australian South Sea Islanders, though these have been put somewhat on hold since fieldwork is not possible at the moment.
Tell us about one of your most interesting archaeological discoveries.
This is always one of the hardest questions, it's almost like asking someone who their favourite child is! One of my more relevant ones for our current situation under Covid-19 quarantine is an analysis of alcoholic beverage containers I collected during my PhD research in the Hawaiian leprosy settlement. I figured out that they were mostly from the early-mid 20th century, after the area I was investigating had been 'abandoned'. Turns out people were taking long walks and having quarantinis long before Zoom happy hours. I published this research in the journal Hawaiian Archaeology in 2011.
Tell us about a funny / disastrous / amazing experience that you have had while doing archaeology.
Last year I brought some students to help out with a survey of the Rose Bay Flying Boat Base with some colleagues from NSW Office of Environment and Heritage. Rose Bay was Australia's first international airport and we were doing some geophysical and topographic survey work to see what might remain below the surface. Halfway through our last day on site everyone stopped working because Chris Hemsworth (AKA Thor) had just landed on one of the current sea planes to film an advertisement or something. Channel Seven were with us that day, but to film archaeological fieldwork so I guess we were the real celebrities that day!
What’s your favourite part of being an archaeologist?
Getting to travel, meeting interesting people and learning about different languages and cultures, DIGGING, drawing site plans is a particular personal joy, as is drawing ceramic profiles. I also love seeing how communities come together and following their interests about the past while applying my skills and knowledge.
Follow up reading.
There's a list of my recent publications on my faculty page at Sydney:
https://www.sydney.edu.au/arts/about/our-people/academic-staff/james-flexner.html
Some of my papers are free to download here:
https://sydney.academia.edu/JamesFlexner
And I've published two books with ANU Press that are free to download:
Archaeologies of Island Melanesia (2019) https://press.anu.edu.au/publications/series/terra-australis/archaeologies-island-melanesia
An Archaeology of Early Christianity in Vanuatu (2016) https://press.anu.edu.au/publications/series/terra-australis/archaeology-early-christianity-vanuatu