#PRIDE2024

Here at CAT we pride ourselves on being an open and inclusive team to work with. This year, we decided to join in the celebrations for #Pride2024 and highlight some of our wonderful LGBTQIA+ colleagues – Bronagh, Xander and Vikki! 

Bronagh (she/her) – Senior Site/Post-Excavation Assistant

I joined CAT in 2018, and have spent most of the last 5 ½ years being spent in charge of our environmental sampling department. My particular interests lie in foodstuffs and ancient diets – reading about the food found during the Fenwick excavations was mind blowing to me!

I’ve been out as bisexual since the age of 14 (over half my life at this point!) and I’ve been privileged to not ever particularly felt the need to hide who I am. I also feel like I’ve been lucky to always have worked in open and safe spaces – the archaeology community is pretty welcoming as a whole! The team at CAT has been especially great – we’re all free to be ourselves with no judgement of our sexual orientation or gender identities! Outside of work I love reading, playing Stardew Valley and supporting local queer events such as drag bingo or cabaret nights!

Xander (he/they) – Senior Site Assistant

Hello! I’m Xander, I’m Queer and Non-Binary. I am a senior site assistant at CAT and live in Colchester with my husband-to-be and our tortoise Mocha .

Among archaeologists I’ve never felt unwelcome or unsafe, there have always been people with poorly worded questions, but I have noticed since I first went to university that those questions have moved towards a genuine interest in queer issues.

This basic progress is extremely important, because it shows a trend towards active allyship rather than simply malign tolerance within archaeology.

Vikki (she/her) – Senior Post-Excavation Assistant

I have been working with CAT since July 2021, and as a Senior Post-Excavation Assistant, my days vary greatly. From being knee-deep in archive boxes, to running our fantastic volunteer team, you can always find me somewhere, speeding around the office Outside of work, you can find me in the library studying for my Masters, or playing a few online video games!

Over the last ten years or so of studying and working in the archaeological sector, I have found archaeology to be the most accepting and inclusive community. I think, as a profession, we welcome LGBTQIA+ colleagues and allies, and that is something we should really pride ourselves on.