Vale Rachel Horlings

It is with great sadness that the AHSPP team learned this week of the tragic passing of one of our tremendous international volunteers and friends, Dr Rachel Horlings, from Syracuse University. Rachel was conducting her own field research project in Ghana when she suffered an accident and could not be revived.

Rachel self-funded her trip from New York to volunteer her expertise on the Clarence excavation from 26 April until 11 May. Rachel was very excited to go on to travel around Australia for several weeks and later meet up with her husband Al to continue their adventure together.

Rachel was a highly enjoyable member of our team, bringing genuine warmth and a wry, quirky sense of humour, as well as some ecclectic American-style meals for the locals to sample! She made many friends on the project who continued to follow her own exciting archaeological research with great interest.

We have added some images of Rachel at work on Clarence to this page as a tribute; AHSPP participants who wish to commemorate their experience with Rachel or simply offer their condolences to her family and friends can visit the website that has been set up for her: 

http://www.rach.horlings.net/

Rachel, your much too early passing is a tragic loss to many people both personally and professionally. May you rest in peace.