Forensic archaeologist Dr Estelle Lazer visited Dubbo's Macquarie Anglican Grammar School on Wednesday where she conducted student lectures.
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Dr Lazer specialises in the identification of human remains and spoke to the students about the ethics of studying and displaying human remains from an archaeology context.
"We've [her and the students] been looking at what we can tell from the bones of skeletal remains, Particularly those from Pompeii and Herculaneum," Dr Lazer said.
Dr Lazer said they discussed how the victims died from those eras and tried to reconstruct their lives, from before they died, from their bones.
"I believe understanding our past is understanding ourselves," she said.
"I think it's something everyone is interested in, in one way or another. I got into archaeology because I found it fascinating.
"When I was about eight, I found a picture in a book about Pompeii and thought - that's amazing."
Dr Lazer said she would recommend anyone interested in becoming an archaeologist to get a good education, have an open mind, and consider doing an arts degree at university.
"It's good to come out to regional areas and share information. I think it's really important."
Dr Lazer has been an archaeologist for "way too long," but she loves it.
"I have been in archaeology way too long, I started working, well, since the last century," she said.
"I think I'm fortunate, it's great, I get to experience things, I get to meet different people, learn different cultures, I love it".
"Archaeology is a very transferable skill, I've done work in Antarctica, that was pretty exciting, and the middle east, and in Australia up near Orange.
"Someone once said to me, the quote from George Santayana, people who don't study history are doomed to repeat it."
