Is real life archaeology similar to the bonekickers series?

Question

Im am currently going into Y10 and have took history, p.e., and french for my options, but i was thinking about being an archaeologist. The thing that put the idea into my head was bonekickers. IS it anything like on bonekickers? Also, i havnt took GCSE geography, does that matter ? Thanks in advance :).

Answer 1

Try and do something in Ancient History- many schools do not have archaeology courses, but A.H. is slightly more common. A focus on world archaeology at higher educational level would be a good start as it covers most of the bases of both applied and theoretical archaeology.

Geography is quite a good choice, and regular history too if you get the chance. A foreign language would help if you were planning on digging abroad. I did geography, history, english and A.H. as my options and they worked well for me.

Good luck, it's nothing like the trash on TV but it is a fascinating field!

Answer 2

No, Nye , Pfui, Nein, Non, Mauvais, Mechant, Fuj, Foei, not even.

One of the shows developers wrote:

"Archaeological advice was provided to the creative team by a number of experts in the field, however sometimes liberties are taken with the facts to ensure that the story can maintain the necessary pace. Nobody wants to watch a carbon dating machine sitting there for hours on end while the archaeologists do some paperwork,"

http://bonekickers.com/?p=28

My last dig had days in the high 90s, nights in the 30s, dust, sun, ticks from the cattle (and what the cattle leave behind) and paperwork, paperwork, paperwork. It's taken 6 weeks to get the carbon 14 tests back and it will be several months before we get the pollen results.Meanwhile "Bonekickers" is out chasing "Excalibur?" My team had the biggest find of the dig, a stone mortar used to grind roots.

Archeology is fun. The work is painstaking and each hour in the field digging is matched by several hours in the lab cleaning, examining and  conserving the results. You have to love the outdoors and be willing to go without TV, internet and cellphones.

Suggestion: contact some of the local historical societies, schools that have anthropology or archeology course and be a volunteer. Don't expect to dig at Giza and find a wrecked spaceship.

Answer 3

Just today i was in a field full of sheep poo,stumbling about over grass tufts, just to look in a trench where there were some very ancient postholes. They were VERY exciting to me,but I would imagine most people would go 'huh? it's a hole.'

  the 'big' finds (such as in Bonekickers)are like winning the lottery-that said, a spectacular bronze age burial was found completely unexpectedly just a few blocks from my house...

Answer 4

No, it is nothing like it. Whether you're in conservation archaeology or academic archaeology, this show does not portray what it is like to study archaeology. If you go into forensic anthropology you might get a taste of this, but it is still a long way off. Bonekickers is a TV show. It's fantasy, don't take anything you see on TV seriously.

As for you choice of classes you're looking pretty good. I'm guessing you might be British as Bonekickers is a BBS series. I'm not overly familiar with the British system, but some things are universal. History is obvious, but you should try to study a specific area you're interested in. French is good as a lot of archaeological literature is written in French, but German is be better. Many doctoral programs will require you to be able to read both. Geography isn't that important, but some basic knowledge of geology is. Also, classes in GPS and GIS will aid you greatly.

Answer 5

I was going to answer this but Ichabod has already made all of the points I would have addressed.  The only person really qualified to answer this is a working archaeologist, and I agree 100% with Ich's answer.  

99% of what is presented on TV as archaeology is nonsense or only representative of about 2% of what archaeologists actually do.  

Even classroom knowledge is no replacement for field experience.  get out there and get involved if you really want to know what this field is about.