How to get involved in archaeology

[BAJR Host]

As the good weather is near apon us and it is time to train... how about some ideas for people who want to start out in archaeology?

There are the school age.. the school leaver and the person who has realised that the burger bar job is not as fulfilling as they thought (even if it is beter paid)... so come on and give them a few hints... and try to be positive!!... the fact you have made it here is good enough!

[Pedant]

On this sort of subject, I've been roped in to give a talk to Year 10 at a local grammar school about careers in archaeology and would like something a little more constructive than "Don't!"
Actually I'd like to get hold of some leaflets or similar literature. Anybody got any suggestions? A cursory search of the CBA website didn't throw out anything eyecatching, perhaps I missed the relevant page - can someone point me in the right direction please? Ta!:D

[lucy78green]

When I told my careers advisor (aged 16) that I wanted to be an archaeologist, she told me that I'd be waiting until someone died before I'd get a job and why not try something like office work, a library or teaching!

Lucy

[destroyer]

Well no matter the age or situation of a potential archaeologist they've got to develop their skills in 2 main areas to get a career havent they... experience and education.

Experience is the tricky one, if you can afford to then volunteering for a couple of months with a local unit, be it private/public or a local society is the way to start whether its digging, finds processing, fieldwalking etc. If you are rich enough then paying to go on digs, as listed in the CBA briefing, is another option.

Education ... evening classes, distance learning A levels/degree, there are all sorts of options.

At the end of the day, like any other career you have to build up a cv and contacts, and show you're interested and keen. And you have to be very patient. Personally I've paid to go on digs, volunteered, harrassed my local unit on a regular basis, done evening classes, A levels by distance learning and then after several years finally a degree

[drpeterwardle]

Well done destroyer!

My career route was rather different - at school when I said I was undecided about if I wanted to be a geologist/geophysicist/geochemist/archaeologist I met with the response - you want an ology - have you considered teaching. So I went to read geology at university, a job was more more likely than in archaeology so I thought. Jobs in archaeology in fact were much easier. Do a bit of digging and a permanent job in archaeology was easy. Then in 1979 Margaret Thatcher was elected and everything changed.

Going on a dig was educational - Phil Barker was such a nice chap - and at university the local unit were very helpful. As an undergraduate in my first month I attended a conference - the Rescue AGM wearing an "I dig rescue Tshirt" as a long haired 18 year old. The following summer I dug on Coppergate - an amazing experience. The following year in Trondheim. (Plus a few freebees for the fun of it). After graduation I was in a supervising job within six months. After a couple of years I did the Bradford MA and then a PhD sponsored by EH. Times were tough comparitively - I was signed on for a couple of weeks.

After my PhD I got a job fairly quickly and was horrified that a new graduate with a few weeks experience was able to direct a site with MSC labour. With PPG 16 everything was meant to get better which it did for everybody in a managerial position. Suddenly the oiks drogos minions etc became professional technicans as everybody tried to adopt the approach of the Rescue Archaeology Group led by Chris Musson and Bill Bricknell or the central excavation unit under Dr Geoff. No longer were the labour prisoners exoffenders or the long unemployed or labourers hired from the local labour exchange as Mortimer Wheeler etc did.

What I say to anybody starting out in archaeology is don't do it. Say goodbye to the material things in life fun but.....

A few good bets - learn to drive and have a car
Go digging for the fun of it - I must go on a dig as a volunteer again but I expect my wife will not let me.
Ignore offers of seemingly good experience which will cost you. You have to eat and drink. If you are that good and the work is worthwhile then they will pay you.

But above all else decide want you want from life and if archaeology is going to provide it. You might be better becoming an accountant or teacher and doing archaeology as a hobby. This is what Phil Barker who wrote "Techniques of Archaeological Excavation" did and then dedicated his book to all his diggers.

Would I go into archaeology as a career now - logically the answer is no. It is too difficult.

Peter Wardle

[the invisible man]

For amateurs, I always urge enrolment at a extramural certificate/diploma course. These (in my experience) are excellent courses and hugely enjoyable, and in my view "academic" study is essential for anyone more than "just interested" - you will get so much out of going on training and volunteer digs if you know what and why you're doing, and can put it in the wider context.

[Oxbeast]

My careers advisor (so many years ago) advised that if I wanted to study archaeology I should go to Bradford, Brum, Cardiff 2 other I can't recall or Nene college. At the time this was the all time worst college, on teh bottom of every league table. But the careers advisor went there as as far as he was concerned, it was cool. The moral is, don't believe everything you hear.[:p]

[Limey]

What do people think about graduate volunteer work? Should people be expected to pay for their own accommodation, food and travel? Obviously the point of volunteers for units is free labour and the chance to give some opportunity to people.

[EarlySlav]

No. No. Never!!!!!!!! Unless abroad as a summer dig. Wages are far too low as it is. Also if you have a degree have a very hard think about how archaeology may not be worth it in the long run until wages go up so you can support not just yourself but a car, house, and a family ( like in any other job ).:(

[Leon Capon]

Listening to the radio this morning I caught the tail end of a discussion about Archaeology GCSE. I never knew such a thing existed, but apparently about 350 people took it this year, though it is being dropped by the exam board.

What do people thing about that? Should Archaeology GCSE exist? Would people have taken it if it was available? I think I would. And what about A-levels? How about A-level entry into professional archaeology?

[?]

[lucy78green]

i only found out about the GCSE recently but my memory of GCSEs (9years ago) is that they weren't very in depth so I'm not sure how they manage to teach the subject, A-levels might be better but i'm not sure that they would be goodtraining for a job in archaeology. There are more vocational courses available that would probably be more useful on site!

Lucy

[the invisible man]

I've just got back from the fieldschool I'm involvd in, and this year there were half a dozen 17 year old A level students on the course. I'm not sure about their academic side but although none had dug before their practical knowledge, in theory, if you see what I mean, was very good - better than many undergrads or recent grads in fact.

Back in 2000 I was a dig as a volunteer and there were some adult A level students there who took their exams during the dig. They brought their papers in and I couldn't have done it. That itself doesn't say much but the various supervisors, director and his colleague said they couldn't either! The subject matter is so wide and varied and there is an individual practical project too.

For O level - oops, sorry, GCSE - and A level courses in schools one wonders who acually teaches the subject. A "proper" archaeologist won't have teaching qualifications and generally speaking I presume the reverse is true.

For adults I still reckon a Certificate and Diploma course is the best option though. I did courses at Birkbeck and Oxford and thoroughly recommend them - especially the latter.

[lucy78green]

yeah I used to know someone who did an NVQ or something similar and I'd rather have him on site rather than some of the lazy layabout students I've worked with... of which I was one once but the difference was I actually wanted a job in the end. I know one guy who lied on all his context sheets to avoid finishing any of his features which he got away with until on the last day someone decided to check all the levels and guess what - the numbers didn't add up and of course it was too late to bottom all his postholes....

Lucy

[Mole]

With regard to experience/qualifications it all depends what you want out of archaeology

Qualifications of any kind give a good background to archaeology - but in the field don't really mean a great deal initially.

Practical Experience is probably more usefull to start with but as has been discussed ad nauseum can be difficult to gain.

If you are quite happy digging on site then you do not nessasarilly need any qualifications - some of the best site staff I have supervised have no qualifications and no great desire to move up through the ranks. However, if you do envisage yourself supervising sites (or more) then it probably is a good idea to get some form of qualification (ok - you may not use your education to its best for a few years but you can dust it off when you need/ want)

The best advice I can offer as to gaining experience is to fire off C.Vs to as many units etc that you can find - if you can afford it offer to vollenteer - even as a finds processor you will gain valuable experience and may get the chance to get out on site. Many local societies also run digs or have links with their local units which can get you some on site experience - and paying society subscription fees if often cheaper than paying for field schools. My last suggestion is the many field schools and although I do have a personal problem for paying to dig their is no doubt that you can gain vaulable practical experience.

Finally although it is quite difficult to get into archaeology and can be even more difficult to stay in archaeology it is possible and most of the time quite rewarding.

Andy[:p]

[BAJR Host]

Many thanks for that Andy... that really sums it up in a nutshell... In the field your knowledge of late roman advances in the German frontier provinces will be of no (though you never know!!) use when it comes to whacking out a ditch section..... I recently scared people with an ability to trowel with my eyes closed... just listening and feeling the soil changes ..... but in teh end a degree can matter.

I myself did go to Uni (over and over again in fact.... but only made it as far as 2nd year!!) and although I am now a County Archaeologist and did Direct a Contracting Unit it did take me nearly 25 years to get there.... perhaps with a degree I would have got there quicker... but I chose the hard way... and the hard way means that I now have experience in everything from digging to illustration, survey and building recording work, database creation to planning law..... so choose wisely.... the slow route to sucess and madness or the quicker one without the chance to savour each step for bloody years!! [xx(]


Keep it up or enjoy it while you can.... thats my advice :D

[the invisible man]

I was trying to keep quiet but it's been so quiet on here....

Mole, if people offer to work for free, won't that help keep wages down or put others out of work?

Would it not be more desirable for units to engage one or more trainees or entrants to the profession, call them what you will? Yes this would be an "overhead" as the trainees contribution would initially be small but would rapidly increase and you have a well trained workforce available. This used to be the case in many professions - offices would employ a school leaver(s) as a "gopher" and you learn on the job. This has died out somewhat for a number of reasons though.

Why do you have a problem with paying for training excavations, I wonder?

[Mole]

I was not suggesting that in general people work for free - however, the sad reality is that often without any experience it is difficult to get paid work. Also not everybody actually enjoys the practice of archaeology, however much they find the actual subject matter interesting, and vollentering allows you to try it out generally on your own terms. I doubt whither a vollenter would keep somebeody out of work or keep wages down - they are more likely to do jobs that already done and take some of the pressure off of already employed staff, either that or do jobs that would not normally get done.

I agree that idealy more units should offer entrant posts but at present this is unlikely to happen as very few units can afford to carry all the costs, both in time or the money,to train somebody when project budgets already tend to be squeezed to support other existing overheads.

I said that I personally don't agree with paying to dig - but they can give valuable experience. The bottom line is that really people should be allowed to gain experience without it costing them the earth. This said their is most definately a place for training digs - my unit runs a yearly one and it is always full, however the demographic of the dig is quite interesting with very few of those who attend wanting to make a 'career'(if this isnt a contadiction in terms) of archaeology but want to try out the 'hole' experience, it is often seen as an activity holiday. I don't think that going on a training dig is the same as vollentering in a commercial unit.

This is prob a little to much of a polemic for this string but what the hey.:face-approve:

[Boris the Cat]

In regard to field schools and paying to dig I would just like to say that these field schools need to be funded somehow. The costs of fencing, site welfare facilities, machining and so-on all add up, even if the staff running the project are not paid (as is so often the case). The only source of income is from the participants. It can be difficult to set the level of fee correctly to cover the costs.

I think that for a recent graduate a sensible course of action is to go on one of these field schools (whether in the UK or overseas). They are good fun and can lead to valuable contacts being made.

Such projects are of course entirely different from commercial (contract) archaeology. In this case, if a unit wants to take on volunteers then they should be additional to the staff specified in the WSI and should not be used as 'free labour' to rack up profits. I think this topic has been discussed at length before on this forum (or its previous incarnation) so I shall leave it there for now!

[8D]

[BoltonSquanderer]

quote:Originally posted by Boris the Cat

In regard to field schools and paying to dig I would just like to say that these field schools need to be funded somehow. The costs of fencing, site welfare facilities, machining and so-on all add up, even if the staff running the project are not paid (as is so often the case). The only source of income is from the participants. It can be difficult to set the level of fee correctly to cover the costs.

I think that for a recent graduate a sensible course of action is to go on one of these field schools (whether in the UK or overseas). They are good fun and can lead to valuable contacts being made.

Such projects are of course entirely different from commercial (contract) archaeology. In this case, if a unit wants to take on volunteers then they should be additional to the staff specified in the WSI and should not be used as 'free labour' to rack up profits. I think this topic has been discussed at length before on this forum (or its previous incarnation) so I shall leave it there for now!

[8D]


Boris,

I have to strongly disagree: paying to dig is anathema to all professional site workers, contractual obligations mean that any research dig will always take paying diggers over paid diggers. If the work needs to be done then people should be be paid to conduct the work, using new or soon to be graduate new diggers as a source of free labour who fund the site work is the worst example of 19th century work practice available.

I remember as a young political activist seeing placards, on demonstrations, calling for the abolition of the wage system, my answer was a snort of derision. Show me a striker calling for no wages and I'll support them, those of us rooted in political and archaeological reality will always argue for a fair day's work being recompensed by a fair day's pay irrespective of the type of the type of excavaton involved, research or commercial excavation is irrelevant.

Oz

[Boris the Cat]

Well indeed Bolton Squanderer I think the key phrase in your critique is 'professional site workers'. I was not talking about professional site workers. I wouldn't expect you or anyone else with some level of experience to pay to dig. On the other hand the absence of any realistic field training by Universities has been noted before in this forum.

On our recent UK field school we had a student from a University in the east midlands who was told two weeks before the end of her second year that she needed eight weeks excavation experience. By paying us a small fee (the equivalent of earnings from, say, 20 hours bar work) she got excellent tuition from professional UK and north American archaeologists and three weeks experience on her CV. Another student was a recent graduate from a University in south wales with no field experience and the desire to learn some skills to get into contract work. After a season on the training dig she proved to be so good we are about to take her on as a formal trainee with a view to long term employment - as Invisible Man suggested.

Both of these had tried being employed 'professionally' and had been told to 'go away, if you please' by commercial units.

So a vacuum exists and these sorts of projects seem to fill the gap, as Mole has pointed out.

Obviously paying to dig is not an ideal solution, in fact ideologically I have real problems with it. Ideally English Heritage would fund our field schools and we could open them up to bona fide trainees wishing to gain professional qualifications. EH would also pay for all our pre- and post-exc time, our time on site, facilities etc. etc. etc. and full shiny publications. But this isn't actually going to happen.

Indeed to continue at a slight tangent I have a real objection for people having to pay to go to University. The Blunkett argument that graduates get paid more is quite frankly b****cks as we all know in archaeology. My view is that society as a whole benefits from people being well educated, so society as a whole (ie. general taxation) should pay for that education.

However we are now in an environment where student fees are the accepted reality. Consequently asking someone to pay extra for further tuition to help them develop essential skills for their chosen career is not such an alien concept to the 20 year olds of today as it was to us oldies who had grants and housing benefit, and could sign on over the summer etc. etc.

I am not saying this is right, by the way, simply that this is the reality of life in today's evolution of consumer society.



(On the other hand perhaps you are right and I am really just a 19th century antiquarian in disguise, who decides to randomly dig holes for the hell of it and then staff my excavations with pretty young ladies. You wouldn't be the first to accuse me of such things, and probably not the last either...:))

[Emily]

Hi, im currently studying for a degree in archaeology and ancient history at Birmingham uni, i graduate in june next year and im just starting to look into what career options are available to me, if any!
As part of my degree i have completed two training digs, one in birmingham and one in Italy so i do have basic knowledge of excavation techniques.

I live in the North East of England and have a job on the list of temporary field archaeologists with Tyne and Wear museums service however they have never actually called me up to work on a site yet.

I know this is what you have been discussing on this thread but i was wondering what advice you could give me into pursuing a career in archaeology (apart from don't!)

Apart from being a field archaeologist im also interested in forensic archaeology so if anyone has any ideas about persuing that area of interest i would be very grateful!

Emily

[Petethedig]

Well done guys! If I was looking to become an archaeologist you just managed to put me off!
Has Time Team done this to y'all?}:)

Evil to him who thinks evil.

[BAJR Host]

If anything.. TT has made us look more glam than we are..

though I must confess that Digging is more a vocation (and a short one at that) than a career choice. I often tell people who want to become archaeologists... take it up as a hobby... then you will enjoy it. If you have a specialism ... follow that path, as after a few years digging you have to have something to move on to. I have seen very very few diggers in their 40s.

and the only diggers of retiral age I have ever seen are [xx(]

:D BAJR

[CleanerOfEverything]

I read this site with interest (but have never posted before) as my wife is a professional archaeologist and has been for ten years now. She has more intials after her name than I have in my own, actual name

She has a BA, an MA, is halfway through a PHd, a member of more societies than I knew existed and is now a MIFA. She works ten hours a day for a commercial unit, brings home work every nearly every night and weekend and is often away from home; a week in Manchester, 10 days in London, 4 weeks in Dublin, another week in East Anglia, etc. etc., living in crappy £30 a night B&Bs which is all the company will stump up for. The next time she goes away, I will add the extra £45 a night for a decent hotel room.

When she first started out, after leaving uni, I was fortunately in a position to provide for us both as she had no choice but to volunteer for work, some of it very involved and requiring the high standards expected of a professional. Once you factor in travel, food, tools... she was effectively paying to work. Or I was paying for her to work... !

However, that experience got her the place she needed for her masters; that opened up some contacts and some great experiences and slowly but surely she has climbed the ladder and now earns the mammoth sum of £16,000. I know it's a lot in this profession, but if she had chosen some other commercial area to exercise her talents, someone with her experience, qualifications and ability would now be on around £50,000. As someone said previously... forget material rewards !

As an archaeological widower, all I can add is that if you are committed, you will achieve your goal. If you want to do it badly enough, you will find the way to get that experience, get those qualifications and you will get that job. If you are half-hearted about it, or think it's some kind of cool, sub-culture job that beats working for a living.... forget it.

I actually went on a 'training dig' that she was a supervisor on, many years ago in Wales, just to see what it was like. I have to say, it was fantastic. I worked my arse off and met some of the best people I have ever had the privilege to go to the pub with :D

I think it cost me £100 for 2 weeks, but I turned up a complete novice and walked away having learned a hell of a lot. Not good enough to be employable, but I could probably still use a level and draw a context sheet - if you need experience, you're young and new to the profession, there really is no decision to be made, especially if it's an interesting site. Off you go...

Right then... I'm off to clean the car, because it's a 4x4 and the company don't have one so 'would be it ok to take yours on site ?'... those damn stripy poles were covered in mud (and have gouged a little chunk out of the trim in the passenger footwell), the total station (?) was wet and even muddier, and the guys she gave a lift home were muddier and wetter than that. They didn't have cars, as they've just started out and are digging.

Still, she wouldn't be happy in an office :)

Would I do it for a living ? No chance...

Enjoy....!

[mary]

The suggestion by Boris the cat that paying for further training isn't an alien concept to students thanks to fees etc has missed the point, I graduated in the summer and thanks to the fees and the fact that I had a student loan instead of a grant means that I finished with £9000 debt. And this was a lot less than some of my friends because I was living at home. Since I graduated I've been temping, I cant afford to either volunteer or to pay to go on a training dig, but my good 2:1 in archaeology isn't qualification enough to get me a job working in archaeology. Surely there must be some solution to this catch 22 situation that will allow newly qualified (from uni) people to break into the professional sector.

[the invisible man]

I suggest that part of the problem is that commercial units are not terribly impressed with "training dig" experience, which is generally aimed at beginners/the interested public/extramural students/undergrads, and bears no relation to commercial archaeology.

Similarly with university digs. I doubt if universities are capable of providing commercial type training - and indeed I'm not sure that they should.

I see no other solution to the Catch 22 other than for the profession to train its own, as I mentioned above somewhere, on a paid graduate trainee basis. This used to occur in other professions, still does in some (eg Law), but others (eg architecture) have created the same problem in that to cut costs, because of the end of the mandatory fee scale system, they look to others to train their staff.

But the bottom line must be that archaeology offers such mickey mouse salaries because it can. Someone must reply to those BAJR ads and work for that money, and they must have got their 6 months experience somewhere, I suppose.

[JessB]

I can see its been a while since a post... but its april... the dissertations due in a week and once the exams are over I have nothing better to do....:(

Speaking from the perspective of someone who was dead set on being an archaeologist at 16 and is now considering other options at 21 with a degree in it (almost) under the belt there is one thing i would say to anyone considering a degree in archaeology. For god sake get into a reputable university because if you change your mind when reality strikes you'll still have a respected degree under your belt which other employers will consider. Careers advisors in archaeology departments can tell you all about how to waffle about transferable skills.

The other thing i've learnt is the importance of stuff you do outside your degree. If you're dead set on being an archaeologist you need to spend your entire summer volunteering while mum and dad still put food on the table. If you're just doing it for the interesting degree then make sure you have charity work or student society positions to back up your experience. In my last job interview (marketing not archaeology) i mentioned my degree twice in an hour.

I have to say my hopes were somewhat dashed when in a seminar with our departmental careers advisor he expressed surprise that someone actually wanted to be an archaologist before handing me a copy of archaeo-volunteering. I don't regret my degree at all but I'm lucky enough to (almost) be able to carry the weight of my institution's reputation into other fields.

[troll]

Lots of people started out as volunteers and in my opinion, some outshine those who have been in the game as payed types for years. Of course we do have to be careful when we look at the issue of volunteers on commercial excavations. As a "way in" volunteering can be invaluable and I have nothing but admiration for those who are willing to work for free-shows determination an d commitment.I will say however, that there is a monstrous problem that has so far been overlooked. Universities the world over charge hapless but nonetheless motivated volunteers for the right to shovel sh*t for weeks. Sometimes charging thousands-there are even businesses selling other countries heritage to (usually) wealthy Americans to hack away at. There is a very real problem with clearly hedonistic professor-types profiteering in this way-hacking archaeology in other peoples countries using paying un-skilled labour. There is a well known publication that does just that. For my part-I am against "pay as you go" hack and slash archaeology. Having said that, I volunteer my services when I can-it takes me away from the drudgery of ppg work and reminds me of why I got into the job in the first place. Bugg**** if I`m willing to pay for the right to do my own job though-bad enough being paid less than a bin-man in the first place....

[JessB]

Yeah no disrespect to volunteers or indeed volunteering - been there myself on several occasions, enjoyed it and found it a fulfilling learning experience. i was just a bit surprised to get it as finalist careers advice.... much as i'd love to be in a position to make a career out of volunteering I can't see it solving my over-draft. The first year was when such advice would have been most useful.

My point was that my department don't really seem to be geared up to actually producing archaeologists to work in the field (as opposed to archaeologists prepared to pay to do further study) When i asked my first year tutor what modules the dept advised for such a career she didn't really know.... it wasn't like i'd asked what path i should take to become an astronaut!

I kinda feel like i'm at the end of my degree and not qualified to do anything - I think unis have a responsibility to properly advise students about careers in the subject and a responsibility to provide the subject with those suitably informed and qualified to work in it. But maybe these are just my disapointements with my dept talking!

[troll]

See what you mean...If it helps-lots of my colleagues and little old me have had exactly the same experience. After gaining the degree, we found it was`nt the magic passport we hoped for. The problem with universities seems to be that they are unsure as to whether they are obliged to train archaeology students or-student archaeologists. We all have to start from the beginning. Some units take on new graduates as "trainees" and in my humble opinion, this is a good thing. As archaeologists, we will only ever be as good as the people we work alongside-in essence, we are all a product of eachother. The debt-yes, got plenty of that too. Every journey starts with the first step mate-I wish you luck-be persistant and take what there is on offer to start with-you`ll get there.:DJust a caveat to that-when disheartened, please don`t make the ubiquitous mistake in believing that commercial archaeology is THE only archaeology there is and, that a masters will suddenly cure all...Good luck mate.

[deepdigger]

This is why we as proffesional archaeologists will never be able to command a proper wage, any time we said "stuff that i'm not working for that money" the army of unpaid or paying volenteers would come marching on site.
game over.

deep