Imposter syndrome does not exist on an archaeological excavation

By Mads V.

Every now and then, life seems to grant me one wish to come true. Sometimes it’s that it won’t rain on my birthday, other times it’s that I won’t scratch my tires while parking in an almost too tight space. The greatest wish granted to me, however, was the opportunity to attend a three-week-long archaeological dig on the idyllic island of Kythera just off the coast of the Peloponnese.

Since I was young, I’d always mythologised the role of “archaeologist”. I infused the term with visions of ancient curses bestowed upon an unwanted discoverer — my dad had just introduced me to Raiders of the Lost Ark. Though as time passed, my mind became full of the musings and writings of Xenophon and Cartledge, my favourite topic to quiz people on was the linear relationship from Socrates to Alexander. History, especially that of ancient Greece, it seemed, began to firmly anchor itself within my thoughts. 

Mads carefully excavating at the Vythoulas site

One year ago, almost to the day, I wrote my dream university degree in my journal as an act of manifestation, of ritual, of becoming: Chemical Engineering and Arts (Archaeology). I remember tossing those words through my mind almost every night, longing for the day in the distant future when I could uncover artefacts from a time long gone with my own two hands. At the beginning of this year, I started that dual degree, and my dream, once impossibly far away, is now a daily reality. 

When the opportunity for EVOKE 2026 was first brought to my attention, I was sitting in my work office, pondering how I would spend my cold and lonely Sydney winter. Writing this now, I am sat beneath the warming rays of the afternoon Mediterranean sun surrounded by people who have already positively impacted my life (even if they are not yet aware of it). 

I knew that I was going to be the youngest and most inexperienced student here — with a considerable gap in both age and knowledge — and spent much of my long journey from Australia to Greece debating and overwhelming myself with whether or not I should tell people about my age, and if I would be able to stand my ground among my peers and supervisors. When I overcame my fears and introduced myself to the two students I had been eavesdropping on in Athens’ airport for longer than I’d like to admit, I confessed to them my dark secret: I was an eighteen-year-old first-year undergraduate student with imposter syndrome and no idea what she was doing on a professional archaeological excavation. To my surprise, they hardly seemed to care.

Since arriving on the island, I have met some of the most insanely talented, intelligent, friendly, and kind people in my life. Each member of the EVOKE crew carefully balances professionalism and a strong work ethic with the ability to kick back and relax at the end of a hard day of excavating. I’ve found that we are able to manage with the high heat and humidity, with the long days of digging without finding much to note except for the oddly interesting lithic, because we find ourselves laughing together the whole way through it. When everyone in the trench is trying to figure out whether three stones in a row really will reveal themselves to be a wall, digging out dirt together is fun!

Even while still being here, I am acutely aware that these three weeks will be some of the most treasured in my life. Not just because I’ve been able to learn, interact, and discover the subject of my dreams, but because I have done it alongside people that have made the experience that much more meaningful. 

Perhaps it’s not possible for wishes to come true. Maybe I simply kept digging until I reached them.