Hi guys, Im from Portugal and Im currently make my master in Archeaology in Lisbon (Bachelor degree in Porto) and want a lot move from here and have new experience and better life quality. My english is not fluenty but I keep learning. I was thinking to move to Germany (I can learn german) or UK but I want tips about jobs, salary, life quality and your experiences. My field of specialization is medieval/ modern ages, but I know a little about pre and proto historic and roman ages. Im currently work in comercial archeology but I dont think that is that right way for me. I like digging but not for the rest of my life. I like office archaeological works and museus works, but Im the person whos like dinamics jobs so...

I really want your opinion, no judments, only the kind and true tips.

U can ask me anythinhg u want for better awnsers

hello! i am currently in community college in california and i'm majoring in anthropology, and i ultimately want to get my phd in archaeology, ideally with a focus on near eastern studies. i will be transferring to a four year next year, and want to know what school i should focus on getting into. at present i'm most interested in ucla, with the hope to double major in anthropology and middle eastern studies, but if there are other options that have better programs then i would like to know about them. thank you!

Hello,

I know the best way to find a PhD program that align with what one wants to research is to read articles in your topic of interest, look at whose writing them, and where they teach.

But, there is also something to applying to big schools that will have resources and put you in a better position to get a job afterwards (please correct me if I am wrong).

1. I am interested in what the experience has been for those applying to programs and what has counted the most in being marketable to teaching positions afterwards

2. If anyone has any suggestions for schools/programs to look into, preferably in the US, in the vein of the following short list of interests, I would be ever so grateful!

Very generally, these are my interests:
Environmental Archaeology, Landscape Archaeology, Coastal Archaeology, Visual Culture, Experimental Ethnography, Rock Art

Thank you for taking a look and any ideas you may have.

Good Morning,

I'm looking for some overall thoughts on the book "The Handbook of British Archaeology" by Roy and Lesley Adkins and Victoria Leitch. I wanted to start exploring British Archaeology as I'm considering doing an advanced degree there in the next few years. I'm only a few dozen pages in, but I find it to be more of a pop science style book than a truly academic read. The style seems to be pretty easy to read and comprehend, and it seems to jump from topic to topic fairly quickly. It seems to lack a lot of in depth analysis especially early in the book.

Is this a good book to start with when learning about British Archaeology? Is this simply an overview of a very dense subject that will introduce me to common topics in British Archaeology? Again, it feels like an easy read, and I just want to confirm that this is worth my time as it is a fairly large text.

What is the best advice for an undergraduate beginner looking for internships to broaden their experience in the field?

With some rough back of the envelope calculations, one can estimate that the supernova responsible for the Vela Supernova Remnant (that I'll call SVela from now on) was of apparent magnitude -12, maybe even closer to -13. For non astro nerds, that makes it about as bright as the full moon, all concentrated into a single point. It would have been easily visible in daytime and would have lit up the night sky for weeks. Interestingly, my googling has yielded no results as to how this may have been seen from earth (hence my own rough estimation of its apparent brightness, I haven't even seen guesstimates out there). While 10 thousand years ago is a long time (it exploded 11k years ago but is about 1k light years away), humanity was very much a thing back then. Writing only goes back 5k years, what's called proto-writing about 9k, just a thousand short of hitting the mark. But cave paintings have been around for 40k years. I'm certainly not an expert on all things anthropology, my own training is in cosmology, but I'm surprised at the complete lack of discussion or even theorizing around this point. It would have been a truly spectacular event with massive and generalized cultural impact. If you had gods then you definitely started thinking up more stories about them and how they blew up the sky one afternoon.

Sure, more northern observers missed the show. But it's not exactly on the ecliptic so at least some people saw it both night and day, more and more guaranteed for the more southernly observers. But past that I feel like I'd be widly speculating in trying to figure out more about what impact it must have had on humanity, however minor. I suppose I'm more curious about finding resources from actual archaeoastronomical researchers about this, but there seems to be little if not 0 interest in this, even though it was the first thing that hit me when I looked at the properties of the Vela supernova remnant. So I'm very open to actual research on this if any of you have seen it, or to hear the musings of actual archaeologists on the topic.

I was half hoping that a quick google search would reveal that there was an explosion of drawings of an ultra bright star around 10k years ago, but alas I've found absolutely nothing on this. So really, I'm very open to any and all opinions and resources on this.

I'm part of an archaeology journal club that reads a relatively short (roughly 5-10 PDF pages) journal every week. I'm looking for some new, interesting, maybe a little silly/odd journals to suggest we read. They don't have to be "good" archaeology, we often enjoy bullying authors. Let me know your favourite finds that have shorter papers written about them!

I'm an undergrad student looking for hands-on archaeology opportunities for this summer. Does anyone know of any field schools in the US that are happening this summer? I am located in Wisconsin but I am willing to travel. I haven't had much luck searching in my area.

What are some general tips you might have for someone with entry level knowledge in the field of archaeology who is going to their first dig.

(I’m an undergraduate student looking into an internship in Alaska this summer working with a WWII military encampment. The internship lasts two months over the summer and will be located on a remote site)

I’ve been looking to replace some of my companies survey poles because they’re getting pretty ragged. The old suppliers we used to get them from seem to have stopped making them. I've tried a few of the ones that pop up on google searches but they've been really low quality and haven't survived the rough treatment they get in the field.

They’re the red and white metre long poles with 20mm graduations.

If anyone has a good source it would be hugely appreciated.

Hello everyone I am a bit confused of what to choose as a speciality in archeology, i get to choose between "prehistory" and "conservation and restoration" , which one's got better job opportunities in UK and US?

Hi everyone! I recently moved in with friends in Portland and trying to look for work at a CRM firm but few have gotten back to me. Thought I might as well ask if anyone has any advice or connections. For more info, I have a BA in history and anthropology and an MA in archaeology. My field experience includes a field school and doing fieldwork for my research.

First off, because I've read some of the other career advice posts on here: I will be graduating from undergrad with a double major in Anthropology and Geoscience and a double minor in Geology and Evolutionary Studies. I have completed a field school along with two seasons of excavation in Europe and 4 semesters of archaeological gcms analysis lab work. I am sure that archaeology is what I want to pursue even considering all of the potential cons. I am very interested in research, and hope to specialize in methods relating to climate and diet reconstruction in prehistoric sites.

On to my main issue: I was accepted to my dream program in the UK... Without any funding. Tuition is £33000, and I already have some loan debt from undergrad. I was really hoping to get accepted to a program with some sort of funding. That being said, this program perfectly aligns with what I hope to research and there is no comparable program in my home country (US). That being said, the tuition plus living expenses will put me back several figures in debt. I've been weighing the pros and cons, and I'm just not sure what to do. I was wondering if anyone with professional experience has any advice on if the value of the degree outweighs the cost?

Hi, I’m wondering if anyone here would be able to help me create what would basically be a personal archaeology course for myself.

I am interested in learning in-depth about the stone age (Specifically from the lower Paleolithic until at least the mesolithic). I would get a degree in it if I had the time and money, but since I don’t have those things I thought I’d basically just teach myself. 

I was wondering if anyone here has any suggestions for how I go about doing that.

My current plan is to focus on learning about each sub culture type/tool culture etc in depth by focusing on learning about, or at least taking note of, the following aspects:

• Species, and which human species were living on earth at the same time
• Geographical area 
• Shelters
• Clothing 
• Tools 
• Non-material and other culture (eg, what we can know about the potential spirituality, trading) 

And in order to help myself cement the knowledge, I would make guides of / art of (since I’m an artist)

• The Species notable characteristics 
• Overall timeline
• Art of the tools etc used

And would focus on learning from 

• Research articles, literature reviews
• Recent books on the topic (I’m still getting through Kindred right now)
• Books that are listed as suggested course readings on university websites 
• Textbooks, if I can get my hands on any (I do have a digital version of Cultural Anthropology (4th Canadian edition))

I am a little unsure of how to best learn about the various theories in relation to archaeology. My background is in social sciences, so I am somewhat familiar with theories relating to eg. power dynamics, modes of production, etc., but most of what I know specifically has to do with modern Homo sapiens, and I’m not sure how applicable theories of performativity and institutional discourse are to Homo erectus, lol. 

So my main questions are:

Does this overall guide for my learning make sense? What am I leaving out? 

How can I learn more about the various archaeological theories?

Do you have any suggestions for useful resources? 

Thanks!

Original conversation started here since I like to express myself through memes, but I'll reiterate it here: I spent my undergrad experience having multiple professors talk about how since California had all these cultural resource laws basically mandating that archaeologists review every construction project, they all but constantly higher BAs on as field techs and all you have to do is apply.

Exaggerating slightly, but it's really the gist.

I try to look for job postings and find out that, at least as far as postings go, there seems to be more work out east where I can't efficiently get to. I can go to places like Anthrosource or Linkedin to look for jobs more local here and I've sent plenty of applications to any job I could just barely fit into. Haven't heard back from any of course. The rest want like 3 years of experience but would still pay you like you're a greenhorn. The closest job I could apply to is doing archeaology in the Channel Islands but wants "demonstrated experience with performing archaeological studies on California Channel Islands" like they're just flirtatiously looking for specifically one guy who fits.

My current plan is just to build up volunteer experience, but boy I wish my profs were more straightforward of the reality of the situation and were more detailed on how to get these jobs.

I didnt know where to ask but it has been a year or so this has been on my mind. I truly have no idea who to ask or how to go about it.

Basically there is a small patch in my garden i have used in the past to bury some small pets in the past (rats) for a few years. After that i switched to burying them in pots.

The thought had come to my mind, that if i were to move i would not want to leave the ones buried in the garden.

I am not entirely sure where each one is buried as stuff moves over time however the patch of soil is relatively small. I wouldnt have to go deeper than a few feet.

My question is how would you personally go about digging up without potentially destroying the skeletons whilst searching through the soil.

I am aware a few rat skeletons are hardly a archaeological discovery but to me they are precious, so how would you go about doing this and making sure they didnt get broken/destroyed in the process?

Again i am so very sorry for the dumb question, i had no idea where else to ask where i had a chance of being taken seriously. To me they are no different than a dog and i never want to leave them.

I get the feeling it will require more finesse than going at it with a shovel.

This is a question that's been bugging me for a while. I am in my second to last year of college, meaning if I want to go to grad school straight out of undergrad, I should be researching this year and applying in December. I am definitely dead set on pursuing archaeology, but the academic part of it is most appealing to me. I want to be a professor ultimately. In other subjects, it would be normal and expected to jump straight in to a masters or PhD program. However, with archaeology's uniqueness as a profession I've heard of people taking many different paths to get to where they are. I've talked to quite a few grad students, who mostly tell me they did CRM work before going to grad school or are currently doing it while attending school. Many professors did not, but tell me it's not a bad idea to get professional experience because academia is hard to get in to.

My main gripes with CRM is that 1. I don't have a car and don't want a car, and 2. I'm not particularly interested in American indigenous archaeology.

I want to hear more opinions on other's experiences with and without CRM experience. Does it matter?

(I won't have zero experience out of undergrad though as I'm doing a field school this summer and have worked in my school's lab for a year and a half)

Title pretty much says everything.