Expert: Ralph Salier - 3/22/2011

Question
Dear Mr. Salier,
I am currently junior, and believe I want to go into archaeology in college.  I have heard of many colleges with good archaeology departments, but I have also heard that many will only offer or focus on a specific area or time period.  Do you have any recommendations on colleges that focus on old world archeology?  Also, do you know what a good process for finding such specifics about a college's program such as these?
Thank You,
Brianna

Answer
Hi Brianna,

First of all when you say "Old World" do you mean Europe? And if you mean Europe, do you mean the classical period (Greek and Roman empires?) or do you mean Eur-Asia as the "old world" vs. the Americas as the "new world"?

So, if you answer the following questions, I can point you in the right direction for where your interests are:

1) are you interested in a a defined area of the "old world"
2) what is it about archaeology that you find interesting and why
3) are you willing to travel, work hard and be dirty most of the time
4) as a digger you will make "minimum wages", difficult to live on, are you prepared to live on the edge
5) are you prepared to get a Masters degree at a minimum and a PhD?
6) Do you need to borrow money to go to school

These are not ment to disuade you or lower your expecations but the reality is that while there is lots of work to be done, it is at the bottom of most budgets especially with the current economic issues around the world.

The other thing I need for you to think about is a "back up plan". A bit of advice I got from Mary Leaky a very long  time ago was: "If you are going to be an archaeologist, then you have to have a back up plan since finding work in the field is not always possible and you still have to eat.  Get a degree in Archaeology but also minor in economics, history or teaching or become a plumber, electrician or learn another craft.  This way if you can't find work in the field, you can still support yourself".  This was great advice and I took it, and it did keep me alive.

At the moment, you need to focus.  Be sure to take as much science as you can, get great grades and shoot for the moon. The better your grades, the better the university you can get into and the higher the possibility of getting scholarships. Start looking for those now. www.scholarships.com, www.fastweb.com, www.money for school.com.......