Any archeologists or anthropologists out there??

Question

if so, id really like to know what acheology and anthropology is all about. i know the definitions and the study stuff, but i am really intersted in majoring in one of those two...

so maybe just tell me if i was to be one of those jobs, what would i do? is it lab work? or is it where you travel places to dig up stuff??? im totally clueless, but for some reason im so interested in them!!

ps- whats the difference between the two?!

thanks a lot!!

Answer 1

Archaeologists are the diggers. They research human history by uncovering relics of our past civilizations. Archeology is a sub-category of Anthropology. They hope that learning more about the past can teach us something about the future.

Anthropology is a much broader term. It's the study of human culture across the globe. They often study cultures that are relatively unknown to the rest of the world (Jungle tribes and stuff). They examine various cultures, and compare them to understand human nature. They may also study other human behaviours like violence/aggression, marriage traditions, etc.

Answer 2

I'm an archaeologist.  The above poster is absolutely correct: we're the people out there with shovels.  Since archaeology is a subset of anthropology (at least in the US; I hear they do it differently in Europe), I can also consider myself an anthropologist.  The people I'm studying just tend to be dead, although not always.

There is plenty of lab work to be done in archaeology, but there's also lots of field work.  The vast majority of us work in cultural resource management, in the private sector.  We do what used to be called rescue archaeology- go in before they build something and make sure nothing important's there.  If there is, we dig it up before it's destroyed.  All building projects that receive government funding must send in the archaeologists first.  You can check out shovelbums.org or archaeologyfieldwork.com for an idea of the kinds of jobs out there.  Those are the two most popular job search sites for us.

To do my kind of work, you need a bachelor's degree and field school, which would be a credit course you do, usually during the summer, when you get your bachelor's.  Seriously, go somewhere cool.  The field school's more important for having it on your resume than for actually learning anything, so you might as well do it right.  After that, you find a job, probably at one of the two sites I mentioned.  You will travel a lot, you will live in hotel rooms, you will make a pittance (enough to live on, but far, far less than the construction workers behind you make).  You will drink a lot.  Enjoy this time- most people leave within the first five years of doing it.

When you get to that inevitable point, it's time for grad school.  You can get a master's degree in archaeology, stay in CRM, and become a boss person.  There's a bit more stability there, but still plenty of travelling.  You do more of the telling people where to dig, and you analyze the findings and write the reports.  Or you can get a doctorate and go into the academic world.  Or you can go into a related field, like museum studies or geology.  Or you can say to h**l with all this nonsense and become an accountant.

If you want an idea of what this all is like, check out your state's historic society.  They might know of some places you can volunteer.  You might also be able to do an internship somewhere.  I did one with the Anne Arundel (Maryland) County archaeology office; your state, county, or city might have a similar program.  It's even possible to get an internship with an actual cultural resource management firm- they like free labor, but they'll probably have you spend most of the time in the lab scrubbing things with toothbrushes or folding maps or something, just to warn you.