For anthropology master’s student Boluwatife Oluleye, summer internship opportunities have helped her explore the wide range of career options in the field.
Growing up in her home country of Nigeria, Oluleye would watch National Geographic with her family, which inspired her to work with archaeological and cultural resources.
Oluleye said internships with South Arts and New South Associates helped broaden her perspective on her potential career choices.
“My internships have shown me how diverse the field of anthropology and archaeology is,” Oluleye said.
At New South Associates, Oluleye works in the organization’s laboratory department where she is responsible for recording data for artifacts recovered from archaeological sites. Her work includes data analysis, data entry, archaeological artifact curation and rehabilitation of New South’s legacy collections.
Oluleye said the time it takes to analyze data depends on the size of the collection and the amount of data available.
“Many of the artifacts I work with include historic ceramics and glass, prehistoric pottery and tools,” Oluleye said. “Sometimes it can take a day to analyze all the data, sometimes it can take a week. This is a great place to work and I really enjoy the research aspect of it.”
At South Arts, a cultural arts non-profit organization, Oluleye is helping the organization develop an internal digital archive.
Once Oluleye graduates, she plans to pursue work in areas of research, archaeological preservation and public education.
“I would like to be involved in not just preserving historical and archaeological materials and data, but also educating the public,” Oluleye said.