When people think about Careers in archaeology, they think about digging in a muddy field all day, excavating damaged bits of pottery for a living. Perhaps this may account for a small segment of your archaeological life, there are actually many Career Ideas you can do that concern archaeology. Anyone interested in New Careers may not have considered working in something archaeology related, even when they have an interest in history, as the general misconception is it’s all about sleeping in tents and excavating all day. You can do this if you like, but there are also other Careers obtainable. Here are just a few of the Career Ideas you might like to bear in mind to get into archaeology.
There are some relatively New Careers offered in archaeology, and one such career is a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Analyst. A GIS Analyst will operate software to produce maps and graphs with representation of data from discoveries made. They are regularly used in archaeology to record where finds have been made, to help make a prediction to where the next promising dig sites could be found. To become a GIS Analyst you will find to necessary to be educated to degree level. You don’t need to have any experience with archaeology if you want to become an archaeological GIS Analyst, merely an interest in the field would be required.
An additional career which can be branched into as an outcome of working in archaeology could be a museum curator. A museum curator has a number of responsibilities, including selecting what items would be best on display in the museum, and purchasing or borrowing the items. The curator will also maintain the museums records and catalogues up to date, and will oversee the funds of the museum in most cases. They will also be responsible for the planning of displays and exhibitions in the museum, and also planning fundraising and promotion events. This is an amazingly varied and professional job, and as such you will be expected to be educated to degree level. In order to be approved to specialize in archaeology in the museum your degree will be expected to reflect this.
Degrees aren’t the only routes into Careers within archaeology – you can pregress your way from the bottom up. This will require a lot of freelance, perhaps even unpaid work on excavations and sites anywhere you can get it. This way up through archaeology can be very demanding, but many archaeologists say this is when they have the most fun. Temporary work is fairly common, and plenty of it will be digging at the sites. As you gain more experience you may be able to get a more secure role working for either a government trust or university, and then work your way up to the many roles such as Field Supervisor, Project Archaeologist or Project Manager. These jobs have varying degrees of responsibility, and can be very testing roles to enter. Having a degree will help you get a more responsible role, but experience in the field, as well as analysing and processing data from finds is equally crucial. These are just a small assortment of the different Careers available in archaeology.

