Career Paths in Archaeology
Archaeobotanist
An archaeobotanist analyzes plant remains collected from an archaeological site; here's a profile of what this person's career path in archaeology is like.
College Professor
Care to sit in ivied halls and teach the next generation of Indiana Joneses? Then maybe you should think about a career as a college professor of archaeology.
Computer Specialist in Archaeology
Are you a computer scientist with a yen for archaeology? Perhaps this job career path is for you.
Cultural Resource Lawyer
A cultural resource lawyer provides legal advice and services in connection with cultural resource related issues. Colleen McCarthy, who has practiced cultural resource law for many years, describes the career path.
Editor
Are you a writer with an interest or background in archaeology? This career path may be for you.
Field Supervisor
The field supervisor or crew boss of an archaeological excavation has a vital role in the science. Is this the career path for you?
Field Technician
A few people choose field technician as a career and successful keep doing that for ten or twenty years, but for most, field tech is the first step to becoming a working archaeologist.
Geoarchaeologist
Do you have a thing for soils and archaeology? Then maybe a career as a geoarchaeologist is what would suit as your parachute through life.
GIS Specialist
The past decade has seen the development of Geographic Information Systems as a career; and archaeology has not been slow in including GIS as a subdiscipline.
Graphics Artist
Graphics illustration is an important part of archaeological investigations and report writing.
Historian
A historian is one who provides background information for archaeological research and develops context for the material culture. Nice work if you can get it.
Laboratory Supervisor
Most of the medium to large cultural resource firms have their own laboratories where they process and analyze a portion of the archaeological data they recover. These labs need a supervisor--could this be your career in archaeology?
Librarian
A tremendous number of cultural resource management reports are generated in each in the western world, so it is not surprising that there are a few archaeological librarians located in the largest cultural resource firms, university libraries or historical societies. Is that you?
Manager, Cultural Resource Firm
Feel the urge to manage something? Archaeological companies need directors of offices and cultural resource groups and this may be the career path for you.
Principal Investigator
The archaeologist who heads up a team of workers on an archaeological investigation is called a Principal Investigator. Can this be your destiny?
Public Archaeologist
A public archaeologist works with an archaeologist or archaeologists to provide news reports, web sites, public talks, and other publications on archaeological information for consumption by the public. Sound like your career path?
SHPO Archaeologist
An archaeologist who works for a State Historic Preservation Office identifies, evaluates, registers, interprets and protects historic properties, from significant buildings to shipwrecked vessels. The SHPO provides communities and preservation organizations with a variety of services, training and funding opportunities. Sound like you?
Zooarchaeologist
Archaeological science has an increasing interest in the analysis of animal remains; is that your career path? This page is for you.
Have Trowel, Will Travel
Shovel Bum. Dig Bum. Hobo Field Crew. That was me, once upon a time. Some of my happiest days in archaeology were when I was poor and just getting started, making the rounds as hobo field crew. It's how many of us get started, and certainly how many of us become educated in the ways of archaeology, and it can be a rewarding and hideous experience at the same time.
The Life of a Field Technician (a.k.a. Shovel Bum)
The first job anybody who wants to become an archaeologist gets is as a field technician---a hired digger on an archaeological expedition. College student and aspiring archaeologist Michael L wrote me recently, with a few excellent questions about the way the job works.