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"Ever since I was little, I wanted to be an archaeologist. Lots of people tell me that they dreamed of becoming archaeologist; and I became one! You have to listen to your heart and not let anything hold you back! My father passed on to me his passion for objects and their history. We often visited archaeological sits during the holidays; I wanted to understand what had happened there. In high school, I experienced for the first time thereality in the field and the work of archaeologists. At university, I was able to discover different cultures and I was passionate about the lectures of a professor who would go on to become my thesis director. Her lectures were precise, clear and thorough. I started working on excavation sites with her from the first year. I specialised in Gallo-Roman archaeology, then developed an interest in the dynamics of human settlement, which involves understandind why people settle in a particular location and how they evolve in these regions.

Coming to grips with the field, making the remains speak for themselves, placing them back in their context, we are historians of the materiality of the past. I exploit the resources of Geopgraphic Information Systems - spatial analysis. I apply the concepts of human geography to archaeological questions. We collect data, map it, compare it and try to understand, in a continous interaction between theory and field validity. I developed a prospecting program in the lower Aulne valley to get students involved as quickly as possible in research work and give them a hands-on experience. Although we do not excavate, we look at the soil memory by going into recently ploughed fields to observe wether ploughing has brought possible archaeological remains to the surface. In Brittany, the acidity of the land is detrimental to the conservation of archaeological remains. So when you find something, it's incredibly pleasing, a source of shared pride."

Cristina Gandini,
Senior lecturer in Archaeology, University of Western Brittany

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