HUMANITIES

INDIANA LONG

On Thursday 11 March, Year 7s gathered in the Lecture Theatre to hear about Dr Long’s fascinating adventures in archaeology. We learned that Dr Long got the archaeology ‘bug’ when he saw the Indiana Jones films at a young age. 

When he arrived at Monash University as a young adult, he was thrilled to discover that it was possible to pursue an academic path in his passion and thus his journey began. Where it ended up was in Egypt digging in the Western Desert at Dakhla Oasis. Some of us had imagined this to be a few palm trees and a watering hole. In fact, the Oasis is as extensive as Melbourne.

Another surprising fact was the number of ancient ruins in the vicinity. As these stones and artefacts were unearthed, Dr Long was able to recreate for us the distant past. What was rare and fascinating were the wall decorations which were brightly coloured and geometric. A bit like a kitchen from the 1970s! 

At the end of the lecture there were many questions for Dr Long, a sure indication that his talk ignited a keen interest in history at the very time we are about to embark on our study of Ancient Egypt. Judging by the reaction, there are bound to be many more following in the footsteps of Indiana Long.

Here are some comments from 7F:

I learnt a lot about Ancient Egypt’s housing. Alex Wang

It’s fascinating how big the pyramids are. It’s cool the way Dr Long was walking through these buildings from so long ago. Stirling Gaddie

It was really interesting that Dr Long actually digs up stuff.  Jack Chen

It was really cool the way we learnt about how archaeology works. William Shin

Seeing the paint work on the walls was really interesting. Alfie Davies

Simon Hughes

Head of Humanities