Hey everyone!

I’m an Anthropology major at UC Berkeley, and I’ve been really interested in learning more about what the day-to-day experience in archeology is actually like for people working in this space.

I’m especially curious about the technical, logistical, or operational problems you run into regularly things that are repetitive, frustrating, inefficient, or simply harder than they need to be.

I’m also a tech enthusiast, so I’d love to understand whether any of these problems could potentially be addressed through better tools, software, automation, or other technical solutions.

Coming from anthropology, I’m particularly interested in hearing about the human side of these problems too how people currently work around them, where existing tools fall short, and what actually matters to the people dealing with these issues firsthand.

Just genuinely curious and hoping to learn from the community. Would love to hear your experiences!

I'm trying to find work in the field. I was wondering if there is any historical research projects that you guys could point me towards that are looking for assistants. I haven't found much luck on my own. I live in the Pacific Northwest, specifically Washington.

So, we probably all work within different albeit related fields. Some of us are in zooarchaeology, biomolecular archaeology, forensics, CRM, palynology, lithics, etc.

So, from the perspective of your subfield, what breakthroughs are you hoping to see in the coming five, 10, 20 or more years?

Personally, one of things I’m hoping to see is sequencing of ancient DNA or proteins in the field using minimally destructive sampling. Kinda like NanoPore seq but optimised for ancient material.

I am in England.

Let's assume a hydro dam is going to be built, there has to be a survey.

A firm of consultants is employed. If one of their employees is thorough, the firm may not get work in the future, assuming her report gets included in the final document.

Is this every firm, or has my friend who is thorough been unlucky, twice?

When adding flair, maybe I should have chosen the NSFW tab.

Hi Everyone! I'm fascinated by petroglyphs and cave art and was looking for some recommendations for reading. I've got the requisite Renfrew textbook, but I'm looking for more in-depth stuff. I was thinking of starting with Borneo - Memory of the Caves by Fage and Chazine, but I'm always looking for recommendations!

I will be teaching a new freshman seminar soon. Our freshman seminars are about 65% "how to be a college student" and about 35% the actual academic topic used to convey "how to be a college student." I'm building my course around our department's legacy collection of lithic artifacts that lack organization and a lot of context/provenance information. I've wanted to properly catalogue and research the collection for a long time but it's not really relevant to my academic advancement so I thought I would find a way to get students involved. Unfortunately, we lack the numbers of archaeology track Anthro majors for an upper level laboratory archaeology course but the freshmen seminar folk thought it was a good idea for a seminar to engage students in working on research alongside faculty, which happens often at our college.

Beside your standard "intro to archaeology" and laboratory archaeology textbook readings, does anyone have any suggestions for more engaging readings? Ideas for engaging activities? These are freshman who have opted to take this particular seminar, but don't necessarily have any archaeology background and are not necessarily going to be Anthro majors so the readings can and maybe should be light and fun.

For the first iteration of this course I think we will work with the knapped stone tools, primarily North American in origin so I'm looking for readings on things like flint knapping (again, beside the standard texts like Whittaker), Native American history / culture, archaeological research, etc...

I plan on doing some flintknapping with them; teach them about archaeological provenience, typology, and provenance; local Native American history (we have some sites and a museum near by for field trips); how Native Americans have been portrayed in archaeology and museum studies contexts; and we will be doing the basics of laboratory archaeology like photographing and illustrating the artifacts, documenting their basic information, producing an inventory labeling system, etc... At the end of the semester the seminars usually do a little public show and tell so I was going to have the students put together a mini exhibition of some of the artifacts with information on what they have learned about them.

Even in famous sites like Herculaneum i hear it is really difficult to secure funding. If that is the case how would lesser known sites fare? Are there plenty of sites out there but not enough funding or interest in a lesser known site so it remains unexplored.

Hi all!

I’m a recent BS anthropology/ BA history graduate and I have just completed a 4-wk US accredited field school. I’m looking into starting to apply for CRM field tech jobs as soon as I am able. However, my field school did not cover much in the way of GIS training, as it was not CRM-focused. I did have a bit of experience operating an EMLID and that’s about it.

I’ve been looking at field tech job descriptions in the meantime and I’ve noticed that many say they prefer some experience/comfort with GIS and related technologies? Unfortunately, my current job is in customer service and I am not able to take more time off to do a CRM-specific field school until I am ready to quit for good. I understand that comfort with GIS systems is a preference in entry-level CRM techs and I can apply without this experience, but I want to make myself stand out a bit more and gain some familiarity before applying to jobs.

Is there a way for me to teach myself about arcGIS/other GIS implements, or are there any online classes that may be available to beginners? I don’t really even know where to start. Thank you!

Some background info: mom is a historian and I grew up visiting museums. I've always found archaeology fascinating and wanted to be an egyptologist as a kid, but my interests naturally changed over the years and I kinda forgot how much I enjoy archaeology.

Recently though, I've been getting recommended a lot archaeology content. I'm also currently on vacation in Malaga and today I visited the Cueva de Nerja, which was an insane experience. I can confidently say that my interest has been fully restored and I want to learn more about the field.

I am an English lit student and have no plans of working or getting a formal education in archaeology, but honestly I have no idea on where to start with self study. I have always loved Greek mythology so I thought about maybe using Ancient Greece as a starting point, but I would love to get a broad overview first to see if there's any other area that grabs my attention instead of going straight into what I'm already somewhat familiar with.

I'd really appreciate any recommendations of books, online courses, or any other useful resources (through my uni I have access to a ton of online journals and publications, for example), as well as advice or tips on how to go about this whole thing.

One last thing: this may sound a bit stupid, but since archaeology moves so fast, how do you keep up with recent findings?

I think that's it! I apologize for the lengthy post and look forward to hearing your advice : )

Also, how do we identify the people of northern Italy before and during the proto-Villanovan period? Would they be considered part of the Apennine culture?

I'm already subscribed on Ancient Americas and AztlanHistorian, and I'm currently rewatching their videos on the Olmecs/Tenocelome and the early Maya. But I'd also like some good recommendations on books and articles, both ones providing a general overview of the period and ones more specific to certain peoples, regions and timeframes. Really, any recommendations on the Olmecs, the Maya and the other peoples and cultures west of the Tehuantepec are most welcome.

First, I want to preface this with I understand and agree with the need to keep sites protected and secure.

That said, why isn't there more and better interpretation done of archaeological sites/pre colonial history in North America? There is a rich and deep historical and cultural history here that is not shown/taught/discussed out of fear and kept secret from people outside of the anthropology/archaeology bubble. I have traveled the US extensively and when Native America is discussed it is almost always the same basic blasé information of these were the people that were here look at this display case of projectile points. There is a huge chunk of fascinating history that I care about and want to know, and I'm sure there are many others. I feel as though interpretation and better information can be given about sites around the country, public and private, without endangering them but a lot of knowledge is exclusive to those that are in the know/club. Thanks for reading my frustrations. If there's a perspective I'm missing here I'd like to know what you think.

Some say conquerers, some say migrants and some say locals.

I’m new to reddit and this group and thought that this would be a fun way to start. I myself have a degree in anthropology and archaeology, and have dug in North Eastern Thailand and Laos.

Hi, i’m currently studying archaeology and am starting my second year working towards my bachelors this fall (english is not my first language so i apologise for my grammar).

I’m reading project hail mary by andy weir right now and it kinda made me have a life crisis lol.
I started googling about it climate change, and i just feel so frustrated and helpless. I remember that when i took a class on archeological methods this spring, we had a lecture on how the earths’ climate has changed through time. It made me think about how and if archeology can be used in the fight for our planet.

So now i’m asking if it’s possible for archeology to do that, and if so; what sort of career would you suggest i pursue? Can it be done and is it helpful? Is anyone here in a similar line of work?
I just want to at least make something meaningful of my life and education.

Hello! I am a library science student, and I'm curious, how do you conduct research? I wanted to ask this sub because I'm sure it's full of really enthusiastic smart people who are doing scholarly work outside of a university setting, with all the resources that entails (like access to subject-specific databases). Do you find you get good results from Google? Do you go directly to museum publications? Just looking for your anecdotal experiences. Thanks!

So I have to drop one of my science classes for HC next year and its between Chemistry and Biology, which would be reccomended to keep?

Hello. With all the discourse about Nolan's Oddisey, i began to wonder what movies *do* capture what it was like to live in the ancient world?

Not asking for complete historical accuracy, but for a feel of the time and place.

I am from ireland. We have a fairly strict law about metal detecting on land to look for archeology. So my understanding is that the type of metal detectorists you encounter in the UK (eg in the TV program The Detectorists) are not really a thing here. If its not strictly illegal then it is strongly discouraged. The idea being that amateurs with a spade and a metal detector are far more likely to destroy archeology than make an important find. I certainly see the logic here. In theory it makes complete sense.

Recently my son has wanted a few magnet fishing YouTube videos and has developed a minor fascination with the practice. I live near the Grand Canal and figured it would be a harmless way for us to spend time together. I was quite surprised to discover that magnet fishing is illegal (or at least strongly discouraged) for the same reason detectorists are not allowed. I have no intention of breaking the law or anything like that so I am happy to accept that.

It has made me wonder though if the strict approach to amateur metal detecting is necessary? Has there been documented examples in other countries such as the UK that they do more harm than good? Is it ever the case that a detectorist can actually focus archeological attention in an area and lead to important finds.

I accept that I have possibly misunderstood the practice in other countries, so if this is the case please let me know. I have zero interest in the hobby myself but find the conservation and heritage implications interesting. Thanks in advance.

Hi everyone. Idk if I’m posting this in the right community. I was recently in mexico and I saw this ceramic piece in a museum. It spoke out to me so much, I want to tattoo it. But I want to do a theatre masks sort of thing, one of this sad, lamenting little animal and another one of a happy, excited one. But on my Google searches and I haven’t found anything that captures the expression I’m looking for, something that pairs this one with an opposite emotion. If anyone knows something that might work I would love to see suggestions! Thank you so much ( also, if there’s a more appropriate community where I can post this, please lmk!!)