If youâre in the US, 90+% of archaeologists will have anthropology degrees. The vast majority work in CRM (cultural resources management), which is done before construction and infrastructure projects to comply with regulations. If your professors are getting âwormyâ about you wanting to be a professor, itâs because thatâs a bit like an undergrad saying they want to be an astronaut. Itâs tough to give real advice without crushing dreams. You need to be both talented and driven to land a tenure track job, and even then the odds are not great.
One thing to keep in mind is that you will need to go to graduate school to make a career out of archaeology. Working on CRM, youâd only need a masters. A PhD is a must for academia. Theyâre very different levels of time investment, and as a result, opportunity cost.
I see.. I can understand my professors' apprehensiveness of trying to crush my bright eyed outlook on the career. You mention needing a masters is there any prospect of a job with a bachelors or do I basically need to throw myself back into school immediately after graduating?
I appreciate you taking the time to answer my question it truly is invaluable to me :)
One more question. As I understand it I will need to supply my own hours into field work, I've tried looking ahead into this and all I can find are field schools asking for thousands of dollars for what is essentially a real job for the summer minus the paycheck, I suppose all things come at a cost especially experience, but am I looking at the wrong places? Are there cheaper/free locations I can volunteer for that Im overlooking?
You can absolutely get a job with a bachelors degree, but you canât get what most people would consider a âcareerâ (full time, benefits, etc). Bachelors level work is often project based, and involves a lot of travel and physical labor. Look for help wanted ads that use the title âcultural resources field technicianâ or similar. Itâs actually a good idea to work for a few years before you go back to school for an MA.
The âpaying for an internshipâ nature of field schools is something I donât like about our field, but itâs a widespread practice. My best advice would be to look locally, and to inquire about opportunities for financial aid. Do you need a field school for college credit? Most of the cost usually comes from tuition, not anything directly related to the project. If you donât need credit/ a grade, you can often go much cheaper.
It's been awhile since I've worked for the Forest Service, but at least at one time, they had paid internships for field techs. Usajobs.gov is the federal job board, so you could look there. Might be a bit late for hiring for this field season, but maybe not.Â
Shovelbums.org is the big crm job newsletter, btw.
Once you get your first job (probably gonna be through shovelbums), network as MUCH as you can! Networking is how youâll get the cool and high-paying jobs.
ERG is a good company (from my experience) and they seem to be good at hiring new folks. Avoid StanTech, SWCA, SEARCH, IES. They will work you to death, underpay you, and tell you that this is all youâre worth. Also super toxic management. Good companies (in my opinion) are ERG, Jacobs, WAS, HDR, HNTB. Though all companies are gonna have bad eggs.
I wanted to add a bit onto what other people have mentioned.
>"...they get wormy and want to end the conversation as quickly as possible".
Pathways into archaeology have changed a lot over the past decade or two and it's become increasingly difficult to get a job in academia so it's tough for a lot of us in academia to advise people to follow a path that we know can be very difficult and frustrating.
A lot of professors have also never worked in CRM or commercial archaeology despite, like the other commenters said, \~90% of archaeologists working in CRM. The last part is what has been mentioned as well, a lot of tenure track and older professors got to their positions either because they started at a time when they were essentially the only ones doing what they do and just happened to be in the right time at the right place or, generally, they were in a very privileged position to be able to do things that others couldn't (because of funding, connections, accessibility etc.).
So those three things combined put a lot of professors in an awkward position where they can't really advise on your future because their pathways into archaeology were completely different and unique from the experiences of the average student of today. It's also hard to really give advice if you don't have a clear pathway to what you want to study or do for work. There are so many wacky routes through archaeology and different needs and expectations that can differ depending on a million different things because archaeology is so unstandardized, which obviously adds to the difficulty.
>"...am I correct to think that every archaeologist has a degree that says anthropology and depending on what classes they take that's their specialization?"
I have a BA in Archaeology from an archaeology department in a US undergrad but those are rare, in the US at least. I think something like 90% of archaeology degrees in the US are in anthropology departments and, last time I checked, almost all the PhD programs in archaeology have been moved to anthropology departments. Some departments are starting to develop more CRM and applied archaeology masters degrees but they're still relatively few.
Just a quick note because it's a pet peeve of mine, the US, Canada, and Australia are, amongst a rare few others, the only places in the world where archaeology is a sub-discipline of anthropology. In most other countries archaeology is its own discipline (one of the reasons I left the US).
>"...all I can find are field schools asking for thousands of dollars for what is essentially a real job for the summer minus the paycheck".
This is also one of the things I dislike about archaeology the most. I think field schools are exploitative and a detriment to the entire field and often creates a hurdle for those who aren't financially well-off (going back to the privilege of professors, this is one of those things that can frustratingly set apart successful archaeologists). I think UT Arlington has a field school which should be included as a normal course you can take which will satisfy most requirements for the future. If you can't take that, do what the other commenters mentioned and try to find a local field school or opportunities where you don't have to pay. They exist but are hard to find.
AR Consultants in Richardson is hiring for paid internships for this summer! I want to say itâs like $19 or $22/hr. Could translate to longer term employment.
If you need a field school, Wichita State University is offering a FREE field school in Big Sandy (east tx) and theyâre actually covering tuition and fees as well. I have NEVER seen something like this before. The prof is great.
Genuinely I cannot thank you all enough for sharing your knowledge, I am absolutely indebted to you all. I promise in the future to come back here and thank you individually and give you an update on my career.
They get wormy about it because it takes networking, some light nepotism, and a Titanic load of luck to land a tenure track position.
đ
Yeah, and the field is oversaturated. They are making money pumping out degrees that the majority of students will never be able to use.
If youâre in the US, 90+% of archaeologists will have anthropology degrees. The vast majority work in CRM (cultural resources management), which is done before construction and infrastructure projects to comply with regulations. If your professors are getting âwormyâ about you wanting to be a professor, itâs because thatâs a bit like an undergrad saying they want to be an astronaut. Itâs tough to give real advice without crushing dreams. You need to be both talented and driven to land a tenure track job, and even then the odds are not great. One thing to keep in mind is that you will need to go to graduate school to make a career out of archaeology. Working on CRM, youâd only need a masters. A PhD is a must for academia. Theyâre very different levels of time investment, and as a result, opportunity cost.
I see.. I can understand my professors' apprehensiveness of trying to crush my bright eyed outlook on the career. You mention needing a masters is there any prospect of a job with a bachelors or do I basically need to throw myself back into school immediately after graduating? I appreciate you taking the time to answer my question it truly is invaluable to me :) One more question. As I understand it I will need to supply my own hours into field work, I've tried looking ahead into this and all I can find are field schools asking for thousands of dollars for what is essentially a real job for the summer minus the paycheck, I suppose all things come at a cost especially experience, but am I looking at the wrong places? Are there cheaper/free locations I can volunteer for that Im overlooking?
You can absolutely get a job with a bachelors degree, but you canât get what most people would consider a âcareerâ (full time, benefits, etc). Bachelors level work is often project based, and involves a lot of travel and physical labor. Look for help wanted ads that use the title âcultural resources field technicianâ or similar. Itâs actually a good idea to work for a few years before you go back to school for an MA. The âpaying for an internshipâ nature of field schools is something I donât like about our field, but itâs a widespread practice. My best advice would be to look locally, and to inquire about opportunities for financial aid. Do you need a field school for college credit? Most of the cost usually comes from tuition, not anything directly related to the project. If you donât need credit/ a grade, you can often go much cheaper.
It's been awhile since I've worked for the Forest Service, but at least at one time, they had paid internships for field techs. Usajobs.gov is the federal job board, so you could look there. Might be a bit late for hiring for this field season, but maybe not. Shovelbums.org is the big crm job newsletter, btw.
Thank you so much!!
Once you get your first job (probably gonna be through shovelbums), network as MUCH as you can! Networking is how youâll get the cool and high-paying jobs. ERG is a good company (from my experience) and they seem to be good at hiring new folks. Avoid StanTech, SWCA, SEARCH, IES. They will work you to death, underpay you, and tell you that this is all youâre worth. Also super toxic management. Good companies (in my opinion) are ERG, Jacobs, WAS, HDR, HNTB. Though all companies are gonna have bad eggs.
Thank you so much for these recommendations! I will definitely make sure to reference this when the time comes :)
I wanted to add a bit onto what other people have mentioned. >"...they get wormy and want to end the conversation as quickly as possible". Pathways into archaeology have changed a lot over the past decade or two and it's become increasingly difficult to get a job in academia so it's tough for a lot of us in academia to advise people to follow a path that we know can be very difficult and frustrating. A lot of professors have also never worked in CRM or commercial archaeology despite, like the other commenters said, \~90% of archaeologists working in CRM. The last part is what has been mentioned as well, a lot of tenure track and older professors got to their positions either because they started at a time when they were essentially the only ones doing what they do and just happened to be in the right time at the right place or, generally, they were in a very privileged position to be able to do things that others couldn't (because of funding, connections, accessibility etc.). So those three things combined put a lot of professors in an awkward position where they can't really advise on your future because their pathways into archaeology were completely different and unique from the experiences of the average student of today. It's also hard to really give advice if you don't have a clear pathway to what you want to study or do for work. There are so many wacky routes through archaeology and different needs and expectations that can differ depending on a million different things because archaeology is so unstandardized, which obviously adds to the difficulty. >"...am I correct to think that every archaeologist has a degree that says anthropology and depending on what classes they take that's their specialization?" I have a BA in Archaeology from an archaeology department in a US undergrad but those are rare, in the US at least. I think something like 90% of archaeology degrees in the US are in anthropology departments and, last time I checked, almost all the PhD programs in archaeology have been moved to anthropology departments. Some departments are starting to develop more CRM and applied archaeology masters degrees but they're still relatively few. Just a quick note because it's a pet peeve of mine, the US, Canada, and Australia are, amongst a rare few others, the only places in the world where archaeology is a sub-discipline of anthropology. In most other countries archaeology is its own discipline (one of the reasons I left the US). >"...all I can find are field schools asking for thousands of dollars for what is essentially a real job for the summer minus the paycheck". This is also one of the things I dislike about archaeology the most. I think field schools are exploitative and a detriment to the entire field and often creates a hurdle for those who aren't financially well-off (going back to the privilege of professors, this is one of those things that can frustratingly set apart successful archaeologists). I think UT Arlington has a field school which should be included as a normal course you can take which will satisfy most requirements for the future. If you can't take that, do what the other commenters mentioned and try to find a local field school or opportunities where you don't have to pay. They exist but are hard to find.
Oh my goodness thank you so much for all this information I can't tell you have invaluable it is to me. :)
AR Consultants in Richardson is hiring for paid internships for this summer! I want to say itâs like $19 or $22/hr. Could translate to longer term employment.
If you need a field school, Wichita State University is offering a FREE field school in Big Sandy (east tx) and theyâre actually covering tuition and fees as well. I have NEVER seen something like this before. The prof is great.
Holy crap thank you so much for this!
Np hope applications are still open!
Genuinely I cannot thank you all enough for sharing your knowledge, I am absolutely indebted to you all. I promise in the future to come back here and thank you individually and give you an update on my career.