Archaeology or museum studies?

Question

I am a year away from graduating with a BS in anthro with my focus on archaeology. I am now trying to decide on graduate school. I love archaeology, but since I am a single mom of a 3 yr old, it is not practical to be an archaeologist full time. So I was considering museum work. However, I would like the option when he gets older to pursue arch. more fully. Or is museum work satisfying enough? My real question is which to get my masters in, which will make me more employable and which I'll enjoy most. Any advice is appreciated.

Answer 1

I would choose the Master's in Archeology and make sure to take Museum Studies courses.  Material Culture is an important aspect of both fields and can be applied across the spectrum.  As a social anthropologist with a lean towards Archeology I took a few museum studies courses and loved them.  I have also taken Arch courses which I loved but they seemed more focused and less applicable to other fields.  If you think you eventually want to get into Arch field work ten that is what I would take my Master's in but with a focus or concentration on Museum Studies you will easily be able to apply yourself to that aspect of the study (and cataloging) of artifacts.

Answer 2

Any is not practical. You might make 35,000-40,000 a year with either after a few years on the job. You'll have a better chance of getting health insurance with a museum job but they are few and far between and you really need a PhD in it.

How old are you?

Age can be a limiting factor in getting CRM jobs as people in their mid twenties tend to work the fastest.

Have you had a field school yet?

It appears to me that you haven't fully understood exactly what entails "pursuing" archaeology. For you to pursue it academically you must either work in a museum, PhD needed to be anything other then the bottom rung, or you must become a professor at a university. Every other job, CRM being the number one employer, is tied heavily by both politics and money in ways that academic jobs don't have. Academic jobs are entangled in politics and money but at the very least you can study what you want to.

The company I currently work for pays it's field techs about 27,000 a year and gives them health insurance. This is practically unheard of in the business.

Answer 3

Do you even know what archaeology is?  Archaeology is NOT just about digging, traveling, etc.  You can find work in offices such as the government or private sector doing archaeological literary/document research, archival work, curatorial work, etc.  I have my master's degree in anthropology with a concentration in archaeology and for my job I work in an office doing mapping and non-excavating archaeological research.  It is not what subject your master's is in it is about what your thesis and research entails that makes you more employable.  For example I did GIS (computer mapping) and public archaeology for my thesis and because I have a technical skill in GIS, that makes me more employable.  Either way it just depends on what you focus on.  My point is there are archaeologists (me) out there that do work in offices full time.  If you are majoring in anthropology with a concentration in archaeology I would think that your professors would have told that 60% of archaeologists work for CRM firms and are not neccessarily digging.

Answer 4

to get answers from people that are already doing it, go ask your question at archaeologyfieldwork.com.  Similar questions have already been asked and people got lots of useful information.  (as well as possibly making some useful connections).

Good Luck