Skills required for archaeologists?

popelane24 · Post by **popelane24** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 10:26 pm

Hi guys - I am currently pursuing a high school diploma, and after that I plan to study archaeology. I was wondering if anyone can tell me what skills I should be working on in the meantime to become an archaeologist?

Thanks guys.

Lane

Post by **Minimalist** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 10:49 pm

Good question....maybe we should move this to the archaeology forum where more people will see it?

From what I know of high school curriculums, you probably don't have a lot of flexibility in your schedule and even if you did I would suspect the number of ancient history classes would be limited.

To a certain extent, the answer to the question revolves around which area of the world interests you in particular. For Middle Eastern or Greco-Roman archaeology I'd say any time spent learning how to read Greek, Latin, Egyptian, Akkadian, etc. would be time well spent, as an example.

One thing which would seem to be useful to any field (in case you don't know what your area of interest is yet) would be to volunteer for local digs through a museum or local college program. Your guidance counselor might be of some use in that, at least in terms of contacting the departments and then pay close attention to the team leaders and how they do their fieldwork. It strikes me that such experience would always look good on a resume.

What do you think Michelle? Should this one be moved to the discussion forum?

popelane24 · Post by **popelane24** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 11:41 pm

Well, I'm really interested in the Near/Mid Eastern stuff, but human evolution and North American archaeology have been grabbing my interest too. Learn a new language, you say? Is there anywhere to do that online?

There are field schools here in Canada that I will do anything to attend! I can't wait for this summer. I think I'm gonna dig up either an old aboriginal campsite or an old fur trade post.... or both... or more!

And yeah, go ahead and move this posting to the regular forum. I had the thought I should be posting it there anyhow....

Post by **Minimalist** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 11:57 pm

Unfortunately, only the boss can move threads...or, if I can I don't know how.

Try this for a starter.

http://www.virtual-egypt.com/newhtml/hieroglyphics/

You may then decide that Greek or Latin makes more sense.

Post by **MichelleH** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:22 am

Poof....moved!

Post by **Minimalist** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 9:10 am

Is that how you do it.....just go "poof!"

Beagle · Post by **Beagle** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 7:35 pm

Lane, since you are in high school and considering archaeology as a career, I recommend that you take a Latin class (HS curricula does not include Greek I don't think), and spend time studying exactly what archaeologists do. It's not always glamorous.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeology

That's just a starter article from wiki but the internet is full of information. This article gives an idea of the sorts of sciences that are routinely employed, such as physics, statistics, geometry, etc.

Plus, the field now has so many sub-specialties. You might try familiarizing yourself with them and what they mean. Good luck!

Digit · Post by **Digit** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 2:02 pm

Learning a langusge via the Net is not really practical I'm afraid. At college I studied papers taken from Pennemunde and elsewhere and over the years became fluent in the written word.
The snag shows up the moment you try speaking to a German as your pronounciation is largely guess work.
I managed a job interview in German some years later, but my short comings were all too obvious.

Beagle · Post by **Beagle** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 4:52 pm

I recommend Latin for several reasons. It is the basis of all the "romance" languages and makes it easier to pick them up later. But mostly because so much of our scientific language is pure Latin. All of the taxonomy is Latin, as well as the names of bones in the body, and the names of fossils.

For a dead language we sure use it a lot.

Digit · Post by **Digit** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 5:01 pm

Most people don't realise that they are using Latin do they Beag?

Beagle · Post by **Beagle** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 5:13 pm

You're right as rain Dig. Plus we write Latin in this forum every day, as I'm sure you know.

Post by **MichelleH** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 5:58 pm

It took me a day or two to find this again, but here is a fairly comprehensive FAQ on a career in archaeology from an associate prof at Texas A&M. It is from 2002, but most if not all still applies.

Hope this helps you Lane!

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT A CAREER IN ARCHAEOLOGY IN THE U.S.
Texas A & M University
http://www.museum.state.il.us/ismdepts/ ... lcfaq.html

Post by **Minimalist** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 7:07 pm

Digit wrote:Most people don't realise that they are using Latin do they Beag?

Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

Post by **MichelleH** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 7:14 pm

Minimalist wrote:
Digit wrote:Most people don't realise that they are using Latin do they Beag?

Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

Min, you are a pleasantly deranged, yet very enjoyable individual....

Post by **Minimalist** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 8:23 pm

Vidi Vici Veni

I saw, I conquered, I came