Do archaeologists have to go to really poor countries?

Question

I want to be an archaeologist when I grow up and I look up to Indiana Jones! I really like traveling and studying, but I don't want to go to extremely poor and the high crime countries, because I'm afraid of really bad criminals, I'm afraid I'll get killed if I go to a horrible country. I hope my fear doesn't ruin my dream career.

Answer 1

The standard of living in a country has nothing to do with whether it is of interest to an archaeologist or not. What determines their study sites is the information that is available on long-gone civilizations. Sometimes these sites are found in populated areas, other times they are in almost inaccessible sites. Most often, they are away from urban areas, however, and archaeologists must be prepared to do field study - live in primative conditions - to do their work. If you don't want to do field work, you might think about forensic archaeology, which uses the cutting edge of modern scientific technology, to unlock the secrets of past civilizations.

Answer 2

No they don't have to but they want to in search of invaluable ancient treasures!

Answer 3

Not all poor countries are very dangerous. You can research the risks for that particular country before you go. I don't know a lot about archeology, but I assume you would end up specializing in a particular area that interests you, so you don't have to travel everywhere. When you are traveling in a poor country, if you arrive prepared for known risks, you are friendly with the locals, and you don't wear anything expensive looking that says "please rob me", you will do fine. You will have many eye opening experiences.

Here, this government of Canada website is a good resource to find out what countries are actually dangerous and what to watch out for:

http://www.voyage.gc.ca/dest/ctry/report...