Expert: Ralph Salier - 6/5/2008

Question
QUESTION: I am looking for a good college that will help me earn a masters degree (maybe PhD later) in archeology, and I want to live in the NW while doing this - I like the cold, forests, and mountains. I am interested in all cultures, from European to Eastern (especially Buddhist cultures) to Native Americans, to Mayans and Incans. Any advice on colleges with excellent archeology programs? Right now I'm looking at Western Washington Univ. and Univ. of Wyoming. Thanks!

ANSWER: Hi Brian,

I hate to tell you this but you will need to be a bit more focused.  Most universities tend to specialize in a given cultural area.  U of Arizona is a great school but the specialize in the South West and to some degree the Mexican and Central American cultures.  Columbia University in NY concentrates on European Cultures, especially Greek and Roman.  Etc...

In the Northwest, U of Washington focuses on the Northwest Native Americans and to some degree on Asian cultures.

So,  the more focus you have, the easier it would be for me to help you out.  By the way what is you BA in? and do you have any other marketable skills like Economics, Sociology etc...

The reason I ask is that Archaeology is not going to make you rich. If you plan to ever get married, you may need to have a fall back position in terms of making enough to support a family.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I would actually like to specialize in NW Native American tribes, and I'm very interested in Asian cultures as well. The odd thing though, is that when I looked up U of Washington, they listed themselves as only offering a "Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in anthropology". Is just every archeology (I know that's a subdivision of anthropology) degree listed as a 'BA of Arts' degree? I could not find much info on their Archeology department from their website. And I have no gotten any degrees before this. Thanks again.

Answer
Hi Brian,  

The degree is in Anthropology with specialization in Archaeology.  Most are in the "Arts" area since these are part of the humanities. You can push for a degree in "science" by taking a more technical approach by including ceramics technology, metallugy, survey, cartography etc.... Thus making an argument that it is more technical.

Ralph