You'd like to be an archaeologist

You'd like to be an archaeologist?

Tim doing a guided walk

Archaeologists do a range of different jobs. I spoke to a few archaeologists working on a site in Herefordshire and in the council archaeology department and asked them some questions about their work and if they had any advice for youngsters wanting to be archaeologists.

Tim

HHOL: "What type of work do you do?"

Tim: "I am the Archaeological Projects Officer for Herefordshire Council. I run training excavations and do research field work. My job also involves working with community groups, doing guided walks and talks."

HHOL: "What are the best bits and the worst bits of your job?"

Tim: "The best part of being an archaeologist is seeing interesting places and finding interesting things. The worst part is digging in the rain."

Advice: "You will need patience and practical experience. When you are older, you will need to volunteer on sites to gain that experience."

Richard

HHOL: "Herefordshire is pretty exciting, but have you ever excavated in another country?"

Richard: "I found a Neolithic axe head doing an excavation in Portugal".

HHOL: "What are the best bits and the worst bits of excavating?"

Richard: "Being outdoors is best, but the rain and snow are the worst bits."

Advice: "If you want to be an archaeologist, go for it, but you must study hard and do lots of reading."

Julian

HHOL: "What type of work do you do?"

Julian: "As a planning archaeologist I arrange archaeological projects on construction sites"

HHOL: "What are the best bits and the worst bits of your job?"

Julian: "Making unexpected finds is the best bit and the poor pay is the worst bit."

Advice: "Be persistent".

Herefordshire Archaeology excavates at Croft Castle

Paul talking to people at the Archaeology stand at the Three Counties Show.

Marge

HHOL: "Have you ever excavated in another country?"

Marge: "I worked on a dig of a Mayan Town in Guatemala. It was interesting to see how archaeology is often used for political ends."

HHOL: "Here in Herefordshire too?"

Marge: "People use history to prove points. For example, here in Herefordshire there were many conflicts between the English and the Welsh."

HHOL: "Have you picked up on anything else since working in Herefordshire?"

Marge: "I have become fascinated with landscape. It's amazing how much you can see when you really look."

Miranda

HHOL: "You have an archaeology degree. What kind of archaeology do you do?"

Miranda: "I do research archaeology. That means I spend most of my time reading and writing, rather than digging."

Advice: "If you want to do desk based archaeology, you will need to be good with computers and understand the different types of source materials, such as maps, documents and photographs."

Sometimes archaeologists need good stomachs. Aerial photos are useful for archaeology. Dave and Neil went up in this plane to take some aerial photographs.

Chris

HHOL: "What's it like working on a dig?"

Chris: "Hard work"

HHOL: "How long have you been doing it and what has been your best find?"

Chris: "A Time Team dig in 1999 was my first excavation and by best find was an ox shoe."

HHOL: "What are the best bits and the worst bits of excavating?"

Chris: "The hardest is de-turfing and the best bit is cleaning back".

Benedikta

HHOL: "Have you ever excavated in other places?"

Benedikta: "Yes, in Copenhagen and I have worked on Viking sites in France and in York."

HHOL: "What are the best bits and the worst bits of excavating?"

Benedikte: "The best bit is the gin and tonic and the hot bath after a long day on site. Joking aside, the camaraderie is good. I have never been on a site where people are grumpy. The worst bit is not finding anything, it's not like in Indiana Jones. You could dig for two weeks and not find anything."

Advice: "Get some job skills you can fall back on, lots of archaeologists are unemployed."

Melissa

HHOL: "What type of work do you do?"

Melissa: "I am one of two SMR officers of Herefordshire Council. I manage, maintain and update the Sites and Monuments Record which is an archive of all the known sites and monuments in the county."

HHOL: "Does that mean you work in an office?"

Melissa: "Yes, members of the public and professional archaeologists visit the office and I help provide information for projects and research."

HHOL: "What are the best bits and the worst bits of your job?"

Melissa: "I enjoy helping people find out things they didn't know about, but some of the paperwork can be dull."

Advice: "Decide what area of archaeology you want to work in and try to get experience in that area. You need to be focused. If you want to work on a dig abroad make sure you choose a university that provides that experience. Not all archaeology is always exciting."

If you still want to be an archaeologist, and realising you will never be rich,[ even if you do find a treasure - like in the Indiana Jones films - the museum always gets it], you will, from my experience, be working with some extremely nice people and learning about many interesting things.