I'm spending some time at the Midwest Archaeological Conference this week, and one of the things I'm doing is quizzing my colleagues on the state of the profession in the US. I have been hearing some awful things about how much work there is, or rather, isn't, in the field of archaeology these days, and I wanted to get the straight story from folks who have been in the field this year.
Windfarm near Hays, Kansas. Photo by etharooni
The people I'm talking to over the next few days are about 300 working archaeologists from the American midwest. I've only spoken directly to a handful, but I think I already have an inkling of how it is going.
The news is not all bad. Some of my colleagues warn that President Obama's stimulus money for transportation projects—bread and butter for cultural resource management archaeologists in the United States—is being spent on upgrading roads and bridges within current right-of-ways. That's not good news for us—cultural resource fieldwork is conducted for federal projects that will impact previously undisturbed land. However, I'm told that only a fraction of the stimulus money has been spent yet, and it may be that the current right-of-way projects were those that were "shovel-ready" and there may be others that will require new construction. New construction equals new jobs for archaeologists, not to mention everybody else who works on such projects down the line.
But others tell me that the new projects this year are focused on energy—whether it's new wind farms or new pipelines, the bulk of the American construction projects that include the purchase of new right-of-way these days are associated with energy projects. Typically, these projects buy less right-of-way than big old 4- and 8-lane highways. However, pipeline projects often traverse several states, with right-of-way paths about 10 to 20 feet wide. The surveys ahead of pipeline projects can last months and sometimes years—that is a pretty good deal for a working archaeologist looking for a job.
Most agree that the economic climate right now is worse than it has been for quite some time—but most also say that they do not foresee cutting staff and some even talk about how they are looking to increase staff over the next year.
More later...
Comments
Your observations mirror what I am hearing in the southeastern US. It also is my impression that academic hiring is on the upswing as college enrollments increase and old-timers like me are retiring. You might want to see how that is playing out in the mid-west.
Dick Diehl