Different sections of archaeology?

Question

Can someone explain the different jobs in archaeology? I'm curious... I want to know things like what are the names of different jobs people do in obtaining materials for study? What do you call the people who go into the sites (like different ruins, old buildings, etc...) and retrieve things for study, people that research it, the people that dig it up... things like that. Any information would be very greatly appreciated. Even a link would help. I've had trouble finding this information so I would prefer you give me the answer rather than a link but either is fine.

Answer 1

Archaeologists, for the most part.  There are a billion subdisciplines within archaeology, each with their own name, and they can get quite specific.  Generally, though, there are field techs and lab techs, who are often the same people.  There are crew chiefs and principal investigators, who are the bosses of the sites.  They often do the research and the analysis of artifacts as well, and they write the reports afterwards.  The PIs are the big bosses, while the crew chiefs are a bit lower on the totem pole.

There are people who specialize quite a bit more, like geomorphologists, who study the changes in the earth.  There are osteologists, who study human bones.  They get called in when there are remains to study.  There are architectural historians, who study buildings and their histories.  There are Egyptologists, who hang out in Egypt.  What are you interested in?

Answer 2

• Archaeobotanist

• Archaeozoologist

• Artifact Illustrator

• Computer Specialist

• Director/Manager

• Editor/Technical Writer

• Faculty Member

• Field Supervisor

• Field Technician

• Geoarchaeologist

• GIS Technician

• Historian

• Laboratory Supervisor

• Librarian

• Public Archaeologist

• Principal Investigator

• SHPO Archaeologist

Answer 3

One of the biggest and most successful areas of archeology today is called Cultural Resource Management or CRM. This practice takes sites that are often discovered by third parties such as developers or real estate moguls and determines whether or not sites need to be excavated or preserved depending on the content of their cultural significance. Check out the link below.

Answer 4

This is a huge question.  Here are some of the basics.  In most countries archaeologists work in either consulting (typically about 90%) or museums, universities or colleges (about 10%).  

I have done both, and most of my income, at present, comes from consulting.  As a consultant, report on the archaeology of places which are threatened by development and help both developers and state officials determine how sites found within those areas should be treated.  I work in a company which specializes in this, history and architectural history, and the staff I work with includes field and lab technicians (field workers and lab analysts), graphics specialists (mapmakers and illustrators), an editor, and several others.  

In academic archaeology, there is a bit less standardization regarding job titles and job descriptions.  

Both fields rely on a host of specialists such as paleoethnobotanists (study use of plants in the past through plant remains), zooarchaeologists (study remains of animals), and geoarchaeologists (one of my specialties - use of geology and geography in the service of archaeology).  

Hope this helps...

You should also see if you can get a copy of any of the field manuals currently in publication.  Most of the ones I am familiar with are out of print, but here are some authors you can look up on Amazon for additional info:

R. Michael Stewart

Thomas R. Hester

Martha S. Joukowsky

William Dancey

Their books (especially Joukowsky's) provide a lot more information in answer to your question.