Could I still do Archaeology?

You can certainly read books on the subject, and sometimes they'll take volunteers on digs where they'll teach you basic things if you wanted to do that as a hobby. However if you're considering any sort of job or career in archaeology you'll need a field school and a degree.

So this may be stupid and to much planning ahead, but i’m 16 and I’m going to be a junior next year and that’s when they want us to start picking careers to make the next years of our lives about; and I’ve always been interested in the past (to mean animals, ancient civilizations, and old architecture). Now, without saying to much, I wanted to go to school for that kind of stuff but it’s not looking likely so I was just going to see about art.

I got into Archaeology when I was 28 years old after spending a considerable about of time doing manual labor jobs. Most universities have Anthropology programs and in the US that is major you would study to do Archaeology.

Anyways, is it still possible to research archaeology, go on digs, and have opinions without going to college for a degree in the subject; or I guess another question is, how do I start studying archaeology without college (or before)?

It is popular for states to have advocational archaeology societies and this may be a resource. As a college student you can take Archaeology Field School (teach you how to excavate) during the summers for college credit.

You can read "Archaeological Theory: An Introduction" by Matthew Johnson. You can get used copies of this book on Ebay for ~$5 and "Archaeology Essentials: Theories, Methods, and Practice" by Colin Renfrew and Paul Bahn for ~$6 used on Ebay (if you get the older editions).

I won't push but if you want to talk about why you don't think you can get into archaeology, I'm available to talk about it (on this thread or through DM). A big push for me is getting people into the field and making it more assessible, so I'd love to talk you. As a non-traditional student from a diverse demographic, first generation college student, and blue-collar worker, I didn't think I would ever be an archaeologists but it is possible (just usually not the life people think) and would be more than happy to talk to you about the challenges of the field, the field going forward, and some recommendations on how to reach it (if you still want to after learning what the field is really like).

It’s not too late to get into archaeology! I changed my major to archaeology during my Sophomore year of college, and I turned out just fine.

But without a degree, it’s unlikely to go on proper digs and you may not have a super respected opinion on archaeological matters. I don’t say this to gatekeep, only to warn you about how it may be viewed.

I didn't start until I was a decade out of high school so it's far from too late. Hell I have a coworker who's in her 50s and she just loves gardening so much she got into volunteer work and eventually broke into professional.

Digs are fairly rare due to funding. Most digs are done over the course of decades as the funding allows. If they’re going to hire people, they’re going to hire specialists who have gotten Masters degrees related to the research being conducted.

I don’t know your situation, but you could always work, save, and plan on going to college for it eventually. Maybe try to volunteer or find related jobs at museums (even as a receptionist).

Okay, so while the history of archaeology has largely been a bunch of amateur archaeologists, professionals archaeologists today are not very fond of amateurs doing much of any archaeology. I’m in the States, not UK, but we do a lot of fixing what amateurs have done. Without proper context, artifacts can never be properly understood or repatriated like they should be. Amateurs have made our jobs much harder. An amateur archaeologist is basically just a looter.

While you don’t need an archaeology degree, (historian, GIS, library science, museum studies, environmental science are all degrees of colleagues of mine) going to a field school is really the best way to do it. And those are mostly associated with universities.

Well, if you’re in the state of California everyone is qualified for free college. For the interim I think you could start with learning the fundamentals of Anthropology e.g. biological anthropology, cultural anthropology, forensic anthropology, linguistics, etc. You cannot be an archaeologist without having an understanding of all those fields. If you live near a local college, you could track down their anthropology dept and see if there are any volunteer positions within their department- that alone could send you in so many different directions. Good luck 🍀

I’m from Kansas, and the state’s anthropological association and historical society do a short 2-week dig every year that’s primarily worked by volunteers. If wherever you’re from has something similar or if you’re close to KS, I definitely recommend it! It cemented my love for archaeology and now I’m about to apply to a masters program!

Even if you go with art, archaeology can still be open to you if you take some art history while you’re at it. There’s plenty of archaeological studies on both prehistoric and historic art.

As for seeing more of what it’s about, you might be able to take an intro class through a community college (usually there’s some room for fun classes when you’re getting a degree). There’s also organizations like edX that let you audit classes online or like Khan Academy that might offer intro stuff on archaeology.

It definitely is possible. Field techs for cultural resource management generally don't need a degree anyways. But also it depends where you are located, in the UK and I would think a lot of the rest of Europe it would be more likely that you'd get this opportunity to go to actual research pits. But reach out to local Archaeology associations or groups in your area to see your options.

Archaeology major here. Whether or not you ‘should’ do archaeology vs some other field is going to depend on a lot of different factors and would be a long conversation not suitable for this post. If you want to have the discussion feel free to dm me. Whether or not you ‘could’ however is a yes. If you want to do anything outside of volunteer work you would need to have completed a field school (absolute minimum) and a have an archaeology technician certificate and or AS. Most archaeologist have atleast a BS however. In order to be a “registered professional archaeologist” as dictated by the department of the interior you would want a masters. This will open up positions as a crew lead or principal investigator. Academic positions are almost always reserved for PhD holders. However you can do a lot of other things in industry with the PhD outside of academia. Offices dealing with SHIPO, NAGPRA, or related will often have people with PhDs. It’s also possible to dabble in archaeology with a degree in other fields. Geospatial information systems is used a lot in archaeology but would also be marketable elsewhere. There are also labs that do archaeology work but would lean more towards back grounds in chem/bio.

As far as books go I would recommend “archaeology” by David hurst Thomas and Robert Kelly. It is methodology based and is what my university uses to teach intro courses. If you want something more culture based there are plenty of books focusing in on different areas and or time periods depending on how specific you want to get. If you want to a starting place to look at North America I’d suggest “seeking our past: an introduction to North American archaeology” by Sarah Neusis. For Asia I’d suggest “handbook of East and Southeast Asian Archaeology” by Junko Habu.

YEA!!!! its never too late!!! We need as many archaeologists and anthropologists we can get in this world

Absolutely! I didn't know I was going to go into archaeology until I had already started in university down the historian/museum studies path.

Rules about archaeology vary by region. Degree requirements vary with them, but generally speaking, you are welcome on archaeological sites to help without any degree, but if you want to be writing articles and overseeing sites, you need a degree. Initially, find some field schools that will take you. You don't need to be pursuing a degree to go on many of them, and it's a great way to learn the basic concepts, make connections in the field, and get some experience. That experience is the first thing that employers look at when considering hiring workers.

A lot of archaeological databases and resources are available to the public for free. If you could tell us what area of archaeology you're interested in (Roman, Greek, Mayan, etc.) we could recommend some more specific resources.

Myself I focus on the ancient Mediterranean, so I'm of most help there. If you want, I can send you a bunch of resources for Ancient Mediterranean archaeology, just let me know!

Hey, I am almost fifty and wrapping up a degree in archaeology with a minor in writing (I got a full scholarship for a nontraditional program, fortunately). I spent two years making sure I wasn’t romanticizing archaeology while still majoring in writing, then made the switch last summer after surviving three weeks of field school in 90f + degree weather and working a year on another dig in all seasons.

Check out archaeological field schools with scholarships or volunteer dig opportunities in your area. Find a local city/town historical society that reflects your interests; odds are they’ll know some folks and assist with mentorship (if they’re decent people). This will guide you in practical terms.

I’d still suggest a degree, only because there are spaces you will have access to as a result that you wouldn’t without one. That’s why I had to make the call to switch majors — aside from being in the dirt, which is the one thing that keeps my brain quiet, I wanted the research techniques, archival methodology, and historical insight for anything I might do writing-wise. I might still pursue a PhD just because I want to keep learning. I don’t want to teach per se, but I don’t want to be inhibited or not taken seriously in any area I want to explore/research.

I follow a ton of archaeologist IG accounts, but Dr. Gino Caspari is pretty transparent about the field, doesn’t b.s. shows the good, bad and the ugly, leverages the academic world for its scholarly access but has no time for the less than stellar aspects of it in terms of workplace culture. He’s out in the field in often challenging conditions, doing amazing work. I’m not on board with everything he posts but that’s more to do with me having a more conventional and guarded social media situation because of professional scrutiny. However, he’s got no-one to answer to in that regard and I absolutely respect his work and ethic.

I recently graduated with a degree in Anthropology, which in the US includes Archaeology. Most people didn't know until after their first two semesters that they wanted to do Anthropology/Archaeology, some as later as after their second year (hi, that's me. I was a History major for two years before switching). Believe me, it is not too late.

I decided I wanted to be an archaeologist at age 7. I went to a field school at 16, got a BA in anthropology, and an MA in Archaeology. Got my first paying field job in college and have made a living doing it for 45 years. There are often volunteer opportunities, but if you want to make a career of it, you will need a degree and a grounding in relevant preservation laws and regulations.. You will also need to be able to write (proposals, memos, reports, etc.).

With a degree, you should be able to make a living in a job with benefits. Due to ups and downs in the field, be ready to change jobs, especially if you want to move up in responsibility.

of course! i only started seriously considering archaeology at 16 and went on a training course at 17 before going to university, now i'm 20 and 2 years into an archaeology degree!

you don't need a degree to do archaeology. it helps, but archaeology is built on the backs of amateur archaeologists and a degree is not strictly necessary unless you want to make a career out of it. i'd recommend looking for training digs/courses or field schools you can sign up for, get some hands-on experience, decide if it's really something for you.

as for books, i'd recommend starting with Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction by Paul Bahn for the theory side and A Practical Handbook Of Archaeology by Christopher Catling for the more practical side (digging, finds processing, enviro sampling etc)

very important note though, this is largely anecdotal and i'm in the UK. i'm gonna guess you're in America somewhere so this might not be entirely applicable, i don't know lol