Can someone give me some more information on being an archaeologist?
I'm a junior in high school and I am trying to decide on a career I may want to do. Archaeology appeals to me a lot but I need more information about it. So I have a few questions and that would be great if someone could answer them! What kind of college education does it take to become one? Does every archaeologist have a job on a dig site? Or is it hard to get one? Is it a lot of traveling if you get a job on a digsite? How long do they last? What is a good college to attend for this? If anyone has any other informations please share!! Thanks!
Law: How long does it take to be considered an archaeologist?
Different nations have different rules. Many native American groups insist that any excavation of a body on their land, no matter how many thousands of years old, and in spite of the fact that they can't prove the body was a member of their tribe, is a desecration. This has made it increasingly difficult to do archaeology in native American lands, and they have begun to demand the return of archaeological specimens excavated decades ago. Generally if nobody is aware of the existence of a cemetery, and you find it on your own property, it should be possible to excavate without a problem -- but you personally might not be allowed to do it. Some countries have adopted laws preventing unauthorized excavation of archaeological sites, even on private land, because they are considered to be the common heritage of the nation and they don't want the data wantonly destroyed by people looking for artifacts that they can sell. You would have to inform whichever regional agency is responsible -- in the USA, the state archaeologist. As for "how recent is too recent" -- well, if it's a graveyard with markers and the person has known living descendants, it's too recent. Cemeteries do occasionally consolidate graves, but only when they have lost track of the families of the people interred in them.
How long of schooling does archaeology take?
Education requirements for Archaeology are similar to most other science/humanities/social science professions. It typically takes 4 -5 years to earn a BA or BS. If you are in the US you will generally want a Bachelor's in Anthropology with a concentration in Archaeology. In Britain and other European countries, Anthropology and Archaeology are separate fields, so you would get a degree in Archaeology there. You can find jobs in archaeology with only a Bachelor's, however your opportunity for advancement is less than it would be if you had a higher degree. A typical archaeology job with a Bachelor's would be as a field technician in Cultural Resource Management (CRM). Nearly 80% of all archaeologists in the U.S. work in CRM. A Master's degree education takes about 2 years, but could take longer, depending on how good you are at getting your thesis written (if one is required). Master's programs in Britain usually only take 1 year. If you want to be a professor at a university and have the opportunity to become tenured, then you will want a Ph.D., which can take an additional 4 more years. Again, this ultimately depends on how well you are at managing your time and getting your dissertation completed. I would recommend checking out these web sites to get a better idea about what the education/experience requirements are for different types of jobs:
Why did it take so long for an archaeologist to find Pompeii? Also are the bodies actually just casts?
Pompeii was known from early historical times from the writing of Pliny the Younger, an eye witness to the eruption. Although there was some knowledge of the site from 1599 its magnitude was better understood from 1748.The bodies to which you refer are, in fact, casts. People submerged in the volcanic ash died where they stood or lay. Their tissues and bones eroded and dissappeared as a result of chemical and biological processes but the space the bodies occupied was locked within the hardened ash. When it became clear to excavators that that was the origin of the voids they discovered in the hard ash layer, they found that pouring plaster into the voids and then carefully removing the ash would reveal high quality casts of the person, or animal, that had succumbed.
Questions about Archaeology?
1. It takes hard work and dedication. However if you love it, its not really work. 2.There are several, depends where you live, your grades, finances and are you willing to live away from your home. 3.. Fluency in another language is awesome because it expands where you can study and where you can work. Spanish speaking countries would be right up your alley. You need a basic BA with English , Language, Science, Humanities, Statistics, Computer and intro to Anthropology. Archaeology is a sub discipline of Anthropology so you have to get the basics first. 4. In museums, on search projects, archaeological research companies. also see #3 5 BA honours - 4 years, MA usually 2-3, PHD depends on you.
At what point does grave robbing become archaeology?
From and archaeologist’s view point, probably never. “Grave robbing” is the extraction of grave goods for monetary benefit. That said, if you begin with the ethnographic sources in for instance California, then there are a series of concerns among Native Peoples that archaeologists walked right into without any thought, awareness, or even any thoughtful explanation to the descendants of the people they wanted to study. Ethnographies in California make it clear that grave robbery was already a concern among pre-contact people in what would become California. Native people explained for instance the choice of cemetery locations was intended to prevent grave robbery to Alfred Kroeber.Then, in the first half of the 20th century, California archaeologists discovered that contrary to Kroeber’s opinions, California really had a prehistory and prehistoric societies had undergone considerable changes. Unfortunately - in a manner of speaking - at the time the best way to document this was through “grave lots” of associated artifacts. California’s leading archaeologists jumped into the apparent role of “grave robber,” with both feet from the descendant’s view of things. They deliberately sought out sites with high potential for graves. They dug them up in job lots, stored them in “museums” - actually everything from proper curatorial facilities to leaky, rat and mice infested sheds (in some instances it is a wonder lab workers didn’t come down with Hantavirus). But most importantly they never explained to any interested descendant what they were doing with their ancestor’s bones, why they were doing it, and what would be done with those bones later - mainly because none of the “experts” ever, ever thought the process through.