I'll try to answer as many of your questions as I can, though I probably haven't had adequate enough coffee this morning to be reasonably coherent. :wink:

"Is this close enough to a "related field" that I could land a job as a field tech if I've been through a field school?"

This really depends upon the company who is doing the hiring. Many firms insist upon having a BA in Anthro or Archaeo, but it seems like the field school or field experience requirement is more of a universal. The more experience you get under your belt, starting out with that field school and perhaps volunteering, and augmenting that with your first few paid jobs, will make you a stronger candidate for other jobs down the road.

"I just want to work a steady enough stream of jobs to not need to start paying rent anywhere and to afford to travel when I'm not working"

I've known a lot of folks who were able to do this through the years, though unfortunately there aren't any guarantees. If you have trouble acquiring that next field teching gig, you have to be prepared for that possibility, and what it may entail (such as getting a non-archaeology job temporarily, and where you will live). Many shovelbums have had greater flexibility and less pressure to acquire that next job if they've had somewhere inexpensive or free to crash, such as staying back home with the parents or on a relative's couch from time to time. In many cases, it really doesn't make sense to keep an apartment back wherever "home" is if you aren't going to see it very often.

"Ideally I'd even like to field tech outside of the states, but what little I've found about that seems to indicate that it's not so easy to do."

Someone else here may correct me if I'm wrong, but from everything I've heard through the years, I'd say you are absolutely correct with this statement. Acquiring paid archaeology work in another country with having prior experience, schooling and contacts there is likely difficult if not impossible to pull off.

"Fieldwork sounds like a confluence of everything I love: spending copious amounts of time outside, learning about the past, physical labor, travelling frequently, meeting lots of interesting people... did I miss anything?"

There are many pros and cons to shovelbumming in the U.S., and perhaps others here would like to chime in. You will get to travel to places that you may have never chosen to experience otherwise, meet new people, and be exposed to different sites and how archaeology is done all over the country.

"Is this plan sane? Or at least feasible? oh - and how important is having a vehicle?"

I believe it's feasible. I can't answer the sanity question, as I think most nomadic archaeologists are a little bit odd for wanting to take on a disruptive, nomadic lifestyle for little job security, low pay, and a life of physical discomforts. ;> I believe that having a vehicle is absolutely essential. I've worked with a few folks here and there that didn't have a car at their disposal, but they usually had a more difficult time even getting hired on, and in CRM you are often required to drive your personal vehicle to wherever the jobs are. If you were fortunate enough to live in a place within walking distance of a contract archaeology firm's office that uses company vehicles, you might be able to get away with not having one if you could make it to the office with all your clothes and gear for the project... but that is the exception and not the norm.

I hope that helped to answer a few of your questions. Good luck to you, whatever decision you choose to make. Working as a field archaeologist in the U.S. isn't always the easiest job to have, but I think if you go into it armed with information and with your eyes wide open, you'll be in a better position that someone who hasn't done their research.

Jennifer

Jennifer wrote:


"Ideally I'd even like to field tech outside of the states, but what little I've found about that seems to indicate that it's not so easy to do."

Someone else here may correct me if I'm wrong, but from everything I've heard through the years, I'd say you are absolutely correct with this statement. Acquiring paid archaeology work in another country with having prior experience, schooling and contacts there is likely difficult if not impossible to pull off.


...and don't forget working papers for that country. A church group I am associated with took a bunch of volunteers to Ireland last year to help some communities in need, and were not even allowed to volunteer as a result of recent legislation. Given the current world economy - getting approval to work abroad may not be so easy. ....Any one have practical experience with this??

I'm sure BAJR could help with the papers necessary question.

I can only speak for the UK... but as far as working her goes, good luck!

You do need a visa - either the highly skilled migrant worker visa or a tier 2 sponsored general worker visa. Both are much harder to get now than previously. For the sponsored one you'd need a company to sponsor you and I don't think any archaeology firm could or would do that.

The highly skilled visa is now based on a points system - and most of your points come from how much you've earned in the 12 months prior to applying for it. I've not been able to get this one this year since I don't earn enough as an archaeologist over here to qualify for enough points. I'd have had to earn between 21-24K (pounds, not dollars!) to get enough. As a field tech in London the most I earned was 16.5K...haha. Barely enough to live on. Pay over here is even more pathetic than in the states.

The other problem is that there are very very very few jobs here. Just look on BAJR - job postings are few and far between. And there are many archaeologists over here going for them. Most of my company got laid off in the recession - I now do something completely unrelated to archaeology just so I can stay in the country. Hopefully after working a couple more years I can get a permanent visa and go back to archaeology.

These days there seems to be a lot less work than 13 yrs ago when I shovel bummed around. But, I did it for 2.5 years and never was without a job. I had no permanent ties like family or a house/apartment to keep from going wherever I wanted. I think that flexibility helps with staying gainfully employed since you can look for jobs all over the country rather than just within your region. I had a fairly reliable truck that I practically lived out of when I wasn't in hotels on a project. I also had scattered family and friends around the country that I could crash with for a weekend, if not I just found a nice place to camp. I think the longest I went without work was a week. It was nice not having any bills aside from some car insurance and a small credit card bill every month. It was also a lot of fun getting around the country, seeing different places and meeting all kinds of people.

I think having the means to get to any job is vital if you want to keep having jobs, especially so in this economy where projects are slim. Plus once you get in the "system" you hear about jobs from other people or stay on with companies doing stuff that is not necessarily advertised. If you have something to fall back on like some saved money or understanding family, then I say go for it. With a field school and an art history degree it may be tough to get started, but I think you could do it. As far as working out of the country, Australia and Japan have similar CRM industries to the US, and there is a CRM in Europe, but I don't have a clue as to how one would get started working in those places. Another option, once you have the experience and/or education (like an MA), is working for the Federal govt overseas doing CRM on military bases.