Michael Slack
Current Position
Director of Scarp Archaeology, Partner Investigator at Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage (CABAH), current Vice President of the Australian Archaeological Association.
Where did you study?
The University of Sydney, the Australian National University and the University of New South Wales.
How did you become interested in archaeology?
I always loved exploring as a kid, and archaeology is one of the few areas where you can still explore! I got into archaeology from studying Aboriginal history and soon realising that the exciting part of history is the people and the landscape, and in the case of Aboriginal history they are both still out there to learn from!
What archaeological projects are you working on at the moment?
We always have a real range of exciting projects going - I am just about to jump on a plane and start assessing over 1,000 caves in remote Western Australia, then its off to Borneo where I am helping a friend with excavations of massive limestone 20,000+ year-old caves, then back to excavate our own caves back in Western Australia! It’s never slow in archaeology...
Tell us about one of your most interesting archaeological discoveries.
We have found some of the oldest rock shelters ever excavated in Australia... i think about 20 caves that are over 40,000 years old now, and in the soils there have been ancient skeletons, stone tools and food. The most exciting thing though is seeing a new place for the first time with Aboriginal elders, especially if there is a big story they know about it!
Tell us about a funny / disastrous / amazing experience that you have had while doing archaeology.
There are plenty... most involve Richard Fullagar and I will let him tell those stories...
There was the one time I was opening some other peoples excavations and found a coin dated 2004 in the bottom of an old test pit we thought was from 1984....
What’s your favourite part of being an archaeologist?
It’s either the thrill of discovering the past, or the fact that I am my own boss, don't wear a security pass, work outside, and don't have to shave every day!
Follow up reading:
"The early occupation of the Eastern Pilbara revisited: New radiometric chronologies and archaeological results from Newman Rockshelter and Newman Orebody XXIX", Quaternary Science Reviews 236:1-19