爆料王

Dr Craig Barker鈥檚 office is right outside the door of the Nicholson Museum so he doesn鈥檛 have to travel far when school groups, students, staff and tourists arrive for one of his classes or tours. When Barker鈥檚 not there, he could be in Cyprus at the Paphos archaeological dig that has fascinated him for more than 20 years. We asked him to dig around his desk, and a few of his other obsessions turned up.

I鈥檝e been reading Agatha Christie鈥檚 books since I was a teenager and these days I give talks about her. She worked as an archaeologist, with her second husband, in what is now Iraq and Syria. Part of the reason she was so prolific was that she was stuck in a desert dig house for four months of the year with nothing to do but bang out a book on a typewriter. What鈥檚 amazing for me is that we have material in the Nicholson collection that Christie actually cleaned. The card has a joke on it that was attributed to Christie but it was really written by her publicist. It says that every girl should marry an archaeologist because the older she gets, the more interested in her he鈥檒l become.聽

A lot of the Agatha Christie books popularised archaeology and, of course, so did Indiana Jones. I鈥檓 a real movie buff and I don鈥檛 think educators should be afraid of using popular culture to engage people in what they鈥檙e talking about. That hat is great for engaging kids. We just have to point out what鈥檚 accurate in the movies and what鈥檚 not. I鈥檇 give Indiana Jones a high score for fun and a low score for archaeology - he doesn鈥檛 spend nearly enough time in the library.聽

These books represent 20 years of my excavations and research. At the moment I鈥檓 going back through them and asking lots of questions like: 鈥淲hat were we doing back in 1999 when we were digging trench 1ZZ?鈥� What we thought then was a Roman wall in Cyprus we now know was a Medieval wall that was reusing Roman architecture. These books let me revisit my thinking when we first uncovered those structures. The popular perception is that archaeology is five weeks out in the field having fun then that鈥檚 it. There鈥檚 actually far more time spent in the library, laboratory and in museums than in the field.

I鈥檝e spent five weeks a year working in Cyprus for the past 20 years. During that time, we鈥檝e worked closely with the Cyprus Department of Antiquities, which has given us various acknowledgements for the work we鈥檝e done for the country. This one was given to us by the President of Cyprus. It鈥檚 just a little handmade replica of a 4500-year-old figurine, but it was great to receive it. You couldn鈥檛 imagine an Australian Prime Minister giving a gift to a French team excavating Australian sites. But in Cyprus, they really value what we do.

I just picked this up randomly on a beach in Cyprus and put it in my pocket. It doesn鈥檛 look like much, and it isn鈥檛. But if I鈥檓 having one of those days, I can look at that pebble and know that there鈥檚 still Cyprus. It reminds me of great times I have there with friends and colleagues. It鈥檚 probably the most valueless thing here, but in some ways it鈥檚 the most sentimental for me. Near where I picked this up is a beach where local myth says Aphrodite was born.聽

These bandages are about our school holiday programs where we have kids wrap themselves up as mummies. It鈥檚 interesting that alongside my academic research I鈥檒l often have kids鈥� colouring-in sheets - it shows the duality of what I do. I also run a lot of Master of Teaching courses here about object-based learning. To be honest, all a museum really needs to run a great school program for kids is a mummy and a dinosaur. You鈥檙e off and running.

I鈥檓 happy to call myself a nerd. One of the things you learn teaching children is that you鈥檙e never going to be cool so you may as well just go with it. So yes, I鈥檓 a Doctor Who 蹿补苍.听

Photography by Victoria Baldwin (BA '14)