I was wondering if anyone had any advice on getting into the study of archaeology?

Question

my name is troy and im a sophomore in highschool. i just started thinking about what i want to do when i get older. i play football and i want to keep pursuing that ito college but if im not able to play orbecomea profesional then i want something to fall back on and i thought that archaeology would be a good idea.

i've always liked reading about the past and looking up new discoveries and watching people find cities and other stufflike that, but i don't know exactly what i needto betaking or what ineed to doin order to be able to pursue this field. im really hoping to get some answers and i hope you will help me get them. any information or stories you have will be great. thank you. and god bless.

Answer 1

no you dont wanna do that. you wanna learn a good trade and get a license and have really great job security. that archaeology stuff you can read about while you are earaning a good living as a plumber or electrician or whatever area you like best. nothing is perfect. but getting a degree in archaeology is no way to make any money for you food, housing and such. it has no value in the practical, real world. it is interesting and so is studying botany and raising avacados, but you need to think about earning a living kid.

Answer 2

Sorry to hear your a sophyhomo but try not to worry it is probalbly a phase, curisoity nothing more and you will soon start fancying all those young girly girls.  

Yes about your other problem.  If you can get channel 4 on your television set, then on sunday usualy about 6 oclock, during the long depressing winter, a programme called time team is on.  Every week you are brought down by the lack of finds on the first day, a change of plan on the second, and sucess and jubilation on the third upon finding an old busted bit of pot or sometimes a skelington.

To sum up then get a chick sat on your lap, tune in to channel 4 and life will be sorted.

Answer 3

To get into it you'd need to do a PhD in the field which will also require you to have got an undergraduate degree majoring in archaeology.  There will be a lot of competition though to get into that field and also to progress further (since there aren't that many jobs in the real world for something with a degree in archaeology).

Answer 4

Oh, archaeology's not that bad, guys, and it's also not that hard to get into.

What you'll want to do is go to a school with an anthropology program.  Major in that or, if it's available, straight-up archaeology.  Take a field school- this is vital.  Don't worry about where the field school is, but do it somewhere cool if you can.  I went after graduation, so I was poor and cheap and just was in a field in Pennsylvania.  I'm insanely jealous of my coworkers who worked in Italy and Hungary.

After you've got your bachelor's (or associate's, there's at least one associate's degree program that I know of, at Hocking College in Ohio), you can get a job.  Most of us work in the private sector, in cultural resource management.  There are jobs out there.  It's not great security, and you won't get benefits (which you will someday care about), but it's fun.  Check out archaeologyfieldwork.com or shovelbums.org for an idea.  Those two are the go-to sites for job hunts for us.  Eventually, you'll need to go to grad school, to get a master's if you want to stay in CRM or a PhD if you want to go into academics.  Shovelbum for a while first, though, just to make sure it's what you want.  Very few people get rich doing this, and they all own CRM firms.

For now, take your English classes, take some science and history classes, and maybe look into internships.  You can look up CRM firms in your area; they love free labor, but they probably won't let you in the field.  Also, every state has a historic office that oversees the archaeology done there; some counties and cities also have their own departments.  Yours might offer internships or volunteer opportunities.  By all means, take advantage if you can.  You won't be hampered later if you don't, but it'll give you an idea of what this is really like.  We very rarely find anything truly exciting, but it can be fun.

PS  Right now, I make about twenty-odd thousand dollars a year, but I also get a wonderful thing called "per diem".  It's money they give me just to live on.  It's not taxed, and, adding that together, I'd make over $30,000.  I'm at the lowest rung, too.  I do have plenty of unemployed time, though.  This year, so far, I've been without work for about a month and a half, and I'll stop again when it gets really cold and the ground freezes.  You won't starve doing this, although you certainly won't get rich.