Cranfield alumni hits 2 million views milestone with accessible archaeology YouTube channel

Cranfield alumni Rosie Crawford’s journey is nothing short of inspiring. While pursuing her undergraduate studies, Rosie created ‘JustALittleRoo,’ a free online access and outreach platform across YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok to share her experience as a lower-income student navigating higher education, offering valuable tips for applicants and encouraging more students to explore archaeology and related fields. During her Forensic Archaeology and Anthropology MSc in 2020-2021 at Cranfield, Rosie shared her student journey during her master’s to give others an insight into her life as a forensic student. Today, as an award-winning content creator, Rosie reflects on her post-Cranfield journey, the impact of her master’s on her career, and what it means to have her social media efforts recognised. 

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My career journey so far

I completed my MSc at Cranfield in September 2021, and shortly after I flew to Germany to join a month-long archaeological excavation with the Cranfield Recovery and Investigation of Conflict Casualties team (CRICC), headed by Dr David Errickson and Dr Nicholas Marquez-Grant.

I then briefly worked as an administrative assistant for a TV casting agency specialising in archaeological experts – a job that I would never have come across without my social media channels. A highlight of this period immediately after Cranfield was being invited as a Keynote speaker to the BAFA Winter Conference 2021, where I presented to forensic anthropologists and students about wellbeing in research, and effective study methods, themes that had been central to my social media work since I launched by platform, JustALittleRoo, in 2016.

Something I am continuing from my time at Cranfield, is my dissertation research. My research was on the osteological lesions of smallpox, how we can see them in archaeological populations and presenting a potential new case in an archaeological individual. Since leaving Cranfield, I have continued to work with my Supervisors, Dr David Errickson and Dr Claire Hodson (Durham University, visiting Supervisor at Cranfield for 2020-21), and Dr Fiona Brock, to publish a literature synthesis on the topic, and write-up the case-study for (soon) publication. I also plan on continuing this work further in some capacity as a PhD topic, which I had never considered before undertaking this research, so Cranfield genuinely has been pivotal in my career trajectory.

In March 2022 I started my current job as a Research Assistant on the ERC-funded REVERSEACTION Project, which is using material science methods to investigate collective action and luxury technologies in archaeological stateless societies. Our main case study is pre-Hispanic Colombia, and we’re looking mostly at gold-copper alloy objects, textiles, and beautifully decorated ceramics.

I am enjoying using scientific methods such as handheld x-ray fluorescence, 3D microscopy, and 3D surface scanning to reverse engineer archaeological objects and I’ve had the opportunity to also do this in the field in Colombia. I have also been able to apply the skills I developed as a YouTuber throughout my studies to the official Public Dissemination of our research project (I run the social media accounts). For example, by using short videos to show how scientific methods such as pXRF work, what they can tell us, and why they are important for archaeology.

Building an award-winning platform for archaeology – JustALittleRoo

I created JustALittleRoo during my Archaeology and Anthropology undergraduate degree at the University of Oxford. It is a free online platform spread across YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, to share my experience studying archaeology as a state-educated, pupil premium student, and to provide general tips for future applicants. My main goal was to provide the source of Oxbridge ‘insider-info’ that I never had, through both informational videos and vlog content. During my time at Cranfield I shared my experience studying Forensic Archaeology and Anthropology and now, having amassed over 2 million views on my YouTube channel, I focus more on ‘demystifying’ life as an Archaeological Scientist.

It’s for my social media work that I was recently awarded the ‘Public Dissemination or Presentation Award’ and ‘Early Career Archaeologist Award’ at the 2024 Council for British Archaeology Archaeological Achievement Awards and I couldn’t be more proud of myself. I was at work, mid-pXRF analysis when I found out that I had been shortlisted for both of these awards. I had to stop and turn off the instrument because my hands were shaking so much with the shock of it! And then to get to go along to the awards ceremony in Cardiff and subsequently win both… I can’t describe that feeling. Joy? Pride? Pure shock and overwhelm? Let’s just say I am extremely grateful to the Council for British Archaeology and all of the judges for believing in what I do, and for supporting me with this.

I would also like to thank my tutors at Cranfield for letting me follow them around with cameras and film in my lectures and practicals – thank you for trusting me and understanding my vision! Those practicals were a highlight of my time at Cranfield, especially the Recovering Buried Remains and Mass Grave Excavation modules, where we got to simulate forensic archaeological case-work. I loved sharing my experiences on them via YouTube. The practical experience I gained at Cranfield was instrumental in my achievement of this role at Cambridge, due to the great understanding it gave me of all the techniques that I use now in my day-to-day job. Techniques that I will undoubtedly continue to use as I progress further in my career, as I hope to stay in archaeological or forensic research.

My main hope is that winning these Archaeological Achievement Awards demonstrate clearly just how impactful social media dissemination can be for widening participation in archaeology and sharing archaeological themes with the public for free. I hope that it may also inspire other young people to undertake outreach work, or to start ‘that YouTube channel’, because it really can make a difference to other people’s lives.

 

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Follow Rosie on her social media platforms below to learn more about archaeology and her role as an Archaeological Scientist at Cambridge.

Instagram
YouTube
TikTok
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