Have Trowel, Will Travel, The Series
- Part 1: Shovel Bums, Unite
- Part 2: So what experience or education do I need to get a field crew job?
- Part 3: Suggestions from a former "Lord of the Trowel"
- Part 4: Acquiring dignity
- Part 5: Finding and keeping that job
- Part 6: The darker side
- Part 7: Steps to protect yourself
- Part 8: Suggestions from an employer of field technicians
(If not, go back and read the series.) Assisting in the excavation of an archaeological site is a job that is quite simply a critical one to the profession. A skilled field or laboratory assistant is a joy to have around, and a requirement so that the science gets taken care of; but the downside is, such jobs can never last forever, and only in rare cases do they maintain health and pension benefits.
In addition, as Digger pointed out last time, the conditions of a job may be awful. Often times, archaeological work is carried on in rural areas, away from your homes. If you're lucky, you stay in a motel paid for by the project; if you're unlucky, you sleep on someone's floor or pitch a tent. The crew is generally an assembly of strangers, brought together in a situation far from home, and suddenly living and working in quite close proximity. Although it may not bother you directly, the Principal Investigator is undoubtedly under the twin guns of deadlines and tight budgets. And, excavating an archaeological site is one science that cannot be replicated, and as Flannery put it, in the process we kill our informants.
Screw up an excavation and you've destroyed a non-renewable resource forever. That realization often makes Principal Investigators cranky.
Furthermore, if the project is a long one, personal problems can develop. People have an unpleasant habit of falling in and out of love during field work. And, don't forget, there are just as many jerks in archaeology as in the real world, and you will meet them. And just like in the real world, the jerks can make your life miserable.
One of the advantages of being a field crew, indeed your best asset, is your willingness to travel. If a situation gets bad, pick up and leave. If the situation you're leaving is not caused by you, you'll be able to find another job, even if the last principal investigator hated you. If there's one thing we as archaeologists understand, it's that personal problems are unavoidable in the pressure cooker that field work can create. If the situation gets bad, pay attention to what's going on, take notes so that you can avoid the problems in the future, and leave.
Use the contact list to find a job. And when you go looking, ask about whether living expenses are covered, find out how long the project is likely to last, find out how large the crew will be. Go far away if you can; this is your chance to travel and experience all the kinds of archaeology that are available in the world, so take it. Look at each job you get as a learning experience, try to absorb the science while you're at it, and pick up skills whenever you can. Don't fall in love, if you can avoid it. Try to stay out of personal problems in the field--don't take sides.
SHARE
