r/AskArchaeology

I want to study archaeology, but I don't know what the job market is like. Is there a lot of jobs?

I'm a Canadian CRM archaeologist who has a couple years of experience, and recently got sent to work unsupervised for the first time in my career. I know for a fact I made at least a few mistakes, and I'm super stressed out about it more than I probably should be since I have a bad habit of overthinking/ruminating on everything that I do personally and professionally. I was wondering what the worst mistakes other archaeologists have made as a way to reassure myself that making a few errors on my first solo project isn't going to somehow cost me my job or something.

I'm curious as to what the archaeology hive mind thinks of using craniometrics being used to determine ancestry, especially in small populations? I've been reading up on the different theories about the migration of homo sapiens into Southeast Asia and Australia, and it seems like the Two-Layer model is built upon a small sample size. I know that there are comparatively less skeletal remains in the region to work with, but I feel like there's not enough of sample size to reliably base a theory on. Thoughts?

Hello! I am a Turkish student who, due to political issues, desires to migrate to Europe. I've been interested in history and natural sciences ever since I was young, and it's always been my dream to work in a field that utilizes both. My interests are mostly in Classical and Medieval periods, though I'm also open to Prehistorical Archaeology.

In Turkey, archaeology is not a very good and well paying job, with the public perception of it being generally "idiots who dig up old stone houses under the sun during summers" and I definitely don't trust Turkish universities enough to study in them.

I'm currently in high school and have enough time to learn a language. I know English to an advanced level (though I haven't entered a certification exam yet) and have studied German in the past, though not to an advanced level.

Which country offers good salaries for comfortable, middle-class living conditions? Which countries have the best job opportunities? Where to study archaeology in universities?

BA in Anthropology from a very small university, but I feel such a pull towards Pompeii or the Herculaneum. Am I just totally cooked and born in the wrong country to work on this? I have no idea if any schools in Canada or even any professors at those schools work in that area for me to study it for my Master's.

I don't come from a well off family so I likely wouldn't be able to afford to move to Italy for a Master's with the cost of visa, international tuition, housing etc :(

I understand that the answer is likely no as I am a brokie from Alberta without the means to move to Italy LOL but who knows maybe someone on the internet knows of someone who knows of someone at a school in Canada who studies Pompeii !! Optimism never hurts!

So I've heard of the Ginsburg Elephant experiment since taking archeology in college, and it's still talked about today as an ambitious but enlightening project and one of the first in the field of Experimental Archeology. Well I was reading a tangentially related news article about Cornell students butchering and processing a black bear in the dorm and it made me think... Did anyone try a piece of the elephant? I mean, this is probably the only ethical way you could ever find out what an elephant tastes like, and they were already cutting her down for the meat. Surely, it had to have crossed somebody's mind right? I think I would probably fry up a chunk out of morbid curiosity even if it's been sitting out for the experiment. The ensuing stomach pain and diarrhea would just be part of the learning experience.

I just found out our 811 ticket expired last week. I've already told my crew to stop digging immediately. The thing is my project is time-sensitive and I need to get back to digging very soon in order to meet the deadline. How can I get this expired ticket resolved ASAP?

I am in my second year of community college and im starting AMPC field school in San Bernadino next week. Everytime I look at examples of detailed journal entries or other things i'll be doing I get so anxious and start freaking out. Just looking at all the specific data that will need to be collected makes me feel overwhelmed. I've never done such detailed notes where I'll be having to use latitude and longitude, direction, and measuring centimeters or inches of stuff. I have been so excited for this field school to start and I believe I have a genuine passion for anthropology/archaeology but now I am just so scared and I don't know if I can do it. I just feel so overwhelmed and im scared that I won't do well enough or that whatever ive done so far just isn't enough. Is my concern genuine or am I just freaking myself out?

I was wondering if anyone in the community has been looking at boardgames in the archaeology realm. There are numerous boardgames where we know what the board looked like from archaeology but the rules have been lost. I am looking at a bit of a side project to try and bring those games into the light and get people playing them. A classic examples is Penne Grammai. It’s an Ancient Greek game, depicted on urns and ornate mirrors with Ajax and Achilles playing it with Athena looking on. Also appears in primary written sources. So we know the game existed but the rules dont survive. I’ve been looking into it and it’s a pretty cool detective story. My idea is to set it up to play on the web for free, then get people to play the different versions from the different scholars and rate them as a game. Sort of experimental archaeology

I'm looking to stock up on some giveaway table items for a vendor table and I'm curious what freebies you all usually pick up at conferences and actually find useful or practical? Or do you wish you'd see more of, or any at all?

What things do you avoid grabbing at the tables because they're silly cheap or you just already have too many?

Doesn't necessarily have to be something for fieldwork, could be lab work, travel, desktop, pet, or personal.

I've had a lingering assumption that Neolithic people were emulating glacial erratics in their stone circles. The thought is, maybe people used to use the erratics as landscape markers and seasonal meeting points,generating a cultural need for them . Maybe it's a question of proximity. Were the people who make stone circles likely to see an erratic in their lifetime? Do stone circles have a higher occurrence when erratics are in the region?

Hey everyone!

I’m an Anthropology major at UC Berkeley, and I’ve been really interested in learning more about what the day-to-day experience in archeology is actually like for people working in this space.

I’m especially curious about the technical, logistical, or operational problems you run into regularly things that are repetitive, frustrating, inefficient, or simply harder than they need to be.

I’m also a tech enthusiast, so I’d love to understand whether any of these problems could potentially be addressed through better tools, software, automation, or other technical solutions.

Coming from anthropology, I’m particularly interested in hearing about the human side of these problems too how people currently work around them, where existing tools fall short, and what actually matters to the people dealing with these issues firsthand.

Just genuinely curious and hoping to learn from the community. Would love to hear your experiences!

i used to study art restoration, since i’ve always felt deeply interested in heritage and cultural artefacts, but unfortunately i ended up leaving because i felt extremely disappointed by the studies. i would have went for archeology later, but ended up changing majors (now in textile design), and i’m not sure if i will ever have a chance going to archeology for masters again.. i have some experience when it comes to cultural artefacts preservation and restoration, including a lot of textile techniques, but is it really possible to get into archeology after this? i feel like these two fields are not really related, and it makes me have some doubts. not sure if this is a right subreddit for this, but tell me what you think.

Hi everyone,

I recently graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Cultural Anthropology, and I am currently looking for internship opportunities in Europe. I am particularly interested in: Medical Anthropology, Biological Anthropology, Forensic Anthropology and Archeology. Of you know of any interships, traineeships, field schools, or scholarship opportunities that support practical training in these fields, I would really appreciate your recommendations.

If you know of any universities, museums, research institutes, or organizations that offer these opportunities, or if you have any advice on where to look, I’d be very grateful.

We travel a lot and like to meet interesting people on our trips. This year we've started reaching out to people who work in the region (in many different fields), and ask if they would have an hour or so to meet over coffee for a conversation.

While most cold emails obviously go unanswered, we will often find a couple of people who are happy to chat with two curious and respectful travelers. We've had a number of fascinating encounters that would be impossible within a regular tourist infrastructure.

On our upcoming visit to Mongolia, we reached out to a well-known archeologist leading a dig there, who graciously invited us to visit. We are excited about it, but are concerned about one thing.

In our outreach email, we mentioned that we would be happy to offer an honorarium or a donation to the project. Oftentimes in the response, it is clear what we are expected to do (we read "happy to have a coffee with you" as a purely social visit , "your support will be very appreciated" denotes something else, or there is an obvious request for an amount). Here this was not addressed in any way. We are thinking it will be a brief chat. Is there an expectation of a compensation? I would think it's almost insulting to hand over $50-100 to a distinguished professor... but maybe not?

Just trying to be respectful and consistent.
Your thoughts would be appreciated.