Ulrike Krotscheck

SO YOU WANT TO BE AN ARCHAEOLOGIST?

Or: a pathway for pursuing the career of archaeology at Evergreen.

Career Prospects:

In the United States, there are many federal and state laws that require archaeological surveys and excavations prior to large (and sometimes small) construction projects. As such, there are many archaeological jobs available – from independent contractors who work for themselves, to archaeologists working for agencies such as State Parks, the Depart of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, the tribes, transportation and natural resources departments, environmental consultants, federal agencies, and, much more rarely, college professor.

You can get an entry level job with a BA or BS from Evergreen if you add some field experience. With just a Master’s degree or CRM (cultural resource management) certificate program (available at many WA universities) and some fieldwork, you can get a job at an agency or CRM firm. You do NOT need a PhD to be an archaeologist unless you want to teach at a college – but those are the rarest of archaeology jobs.

How to get started?

Evergreen offers almost everything you need already in its existing curriculum. The exceptions are 1) Cultural Resources Law and 2) Fieldwork. You can get experience in either through internships and field schools (more on that below).

Here are some subjects you should definitely study:

• Anthropology: archaeology is best, but other branches are also helpful, such as cultural anthropology
• History (not just colonial!) of the area/region in which you want to pursue archaeology (we have many programs in PNW history and culture, including native history).
• A lab science such as geology or biology
• A forensics program (offered about every 2 years)
• A program that incorporates data acquisition using fieldwork, like an ecology program
• GIS (geographical information systems)
• Statistics
• Cultural Resources Law

Field schools: many colleges and universities offer summer field school opportunities in the US and abroad. You can transfer the credits you earn back to your Evergreen transcript (unless you have exceeded the maximum number of credits).

Internships: You can use your Evergreen credits to design an internship in which you help a local archaeologist with fieldwork or administrative work. Internships could be organized at a variety of state agencies or with private companies. A list of CRM firm can be found here: https://washingtonarchaeology.org/consultants-list/consultant-list/

Contact information:

For more information on the different pathways and careers in archaeology, or to figure out how to navigate the next years of your Evergreen education to help prepare you for a career in archaeology, email  me at ulrikek@evergreen.edu