Expert: Ralph Salier - 10/9/2006

Question
Good morning Mr. Salier,
I would be very grateful if you would please assist me and my son on the below important questions.  Please note that I have also asked the same of your AllExpert Archaeology colleagues

Since my son was a very little boy,(now a junior, high school) he has had a passion for archaeology, specifically Egyptology.  So much so that I dare to say that his self-acquired knowledge would rival (or exceed) that of a BS/BA major.  My question is:  For Anthropology/Archaeology graduates, is there a "standard" career path that he would expect after graduation? (other than immediately pursuing a Masters Degree); What type of work/job descriptions, and where can he expect to be employed.  As a father, I also would be interested in how much he would earn as he progressed within this vocational field.  My interest is to provide my son with every opportunity to excel in an area that he has so much passion for.  I do have some fatherly reservations: When I was his age, my overwhelming passion was the outdoors; I became a forestry major, totally unconcerned about any prospect toward income.  As I learned, this perspective can drastically change following marriage, children and the fatherly desire to provide the best for his family. Since I took a military commission upon graduation, and spent the last 30 years, enjoying the humanitarian mission of the Coast Guard (and received a fair salary), I did not experience the financial struggles many of my forestry peers did.  I hope that I am wrong, but I sense a parallel path of very limited income, for many years for graduates with the passion for archaeology (income that I also believe is grossly disproportionate to many jobs/incomes of lesser knowledge and qualification!).  Please note that I would never squelch my son’s passion for a vocation that provides more $$$; though I hope you do understand my concern.  Again, I would be grateful if you could provide my son an idea of what he could expect in what I assume are many archaeology career path options.  Additionally, he is interested in attending a school in the West (CO), the Midwest (MI, IN, IL) or in the Northeast (PA, NY, NJ).  Any suggestions?  He is a 4.0 GPA student, and is interested going to Notre Dame or the University of Michigan.  Does Notre Dame/U of M have a good Anthropology/Archaeology program?  Thank you for your valuable time.  Our learning curve right now is pretty darn steep; we know of no one in the field to talk to. (I can talk for hours to young people about career paths within specific occupations in the Coast Guard, and this advice can be extremely pivotal to career advancement, …so having absolutely ZERO vocational awareness in archaeology, I can’t help but feel extremely uncomfortable for my son future.  Do schools provide vocational “summer camps” where he may begin to acquire more decision making knowledge.  Again, thank you for your time.  I look forward to your response.

Patrick


Answer
Hi Patrick.

I share both your concern and desire to help your son.  Being an archaeologist is a struggle not just financially but also for other reasons.  I've been in the field for over 30 years and it is very hard to find 1) permanent positions, 2) university position (they are as scarce as hens theeth) 3) one that pays more than $40K year 5) doesn't force you to move constantly....... But at the same time I love it.  However, I have also developed other skills.  I make my living as a procurement officer for a major corporation's international operations.  How did I get into this? Because of my anthropology background, I have a grounding in many different cultures and their behavior.  In this way, I was able to negotiate with different peoples on their level and their societal needs and expectations rather then that of my society.  I am very successful and am in demand in  this field.  But on the side I still do archaeology as a consultant.  The first pays for the second.  In addition, I also have a degree in computer science and construction engineering.  Both allowed me to get jobs which paid better then the archaeology while also allowed me time to do the archaeology.  I had to blend the two.  This was espcially true after I got married and the childern started to come along.  

As for Egyptiology, that is a life long love and desire for your son.  There are very few universities which specialize in the field.  U of Pennsylvania, Oxford, Cambridge are the three that come to mind outside of Egypt.    Please send me a follow up.  I need to break off for a time,  When I get your follow up question, I will provide additional information.


To continue. And I appologize for the break

The most important thing for your son is that you give him all of the help he needs to become what he wants and that he achieve the goal.  Why?  You never want him to say "I wonder what would have happened......"  Just as you went in to Forestry, he needs to go into Egyptiology and discover on his own what that life is like.  BUT at the same time, he also needs to develop and learn other skills.  My masters degree is in Business Anthropology and one in Construction Engineering.  Both provided the alternative areas of employability while allowing me to work on construction sites and keep my eyes open for both historic and prehistoric materials.  I generally negotiated the ability to stop a project for archaeological site mitigation.  Valuable tools for a site engineer.

There are several summer programs your son can work on.  Go to www.shovelbums.com and join up.  Also he should join the American Institute of Archaeology and or the Biblical Archaeological Society.  The British Field Studies Council would be another good one.  All sponser digs in many places and any dig is good experiance.  Then he should also watch all of the National Geographic films about that part of the world and write down the names of the lead archaeologists he encounters (including Dr. Hawass) and begin a written communication with these folks.  Finding them may be a challenge but, it is like the work he wants to do, be a detective.

Then, he needs to consider getting archaeological training in 5 areas:  American style excavation, British style excavation, Paleobotany, comparative osteology, geology.  U of Arizona can give him an excellent education in 4 of them. Cambridge will reinforce and teach him the other.

The Egyptians are very sensitive to "outsiders" coming in to dig.  (Long bad history).  that is why very few universities have such programs.  If you need contacts, please let me know and I will see what I can do to help out.