A massive pyramid looms over his back. The oppressive heat of an unrelenting sun beats down on his shining head as he slowly works his way deeper into the golden sand. Suddenly, an old, worn step begins to outline itself against the desert. Soon there is another, then another, still more. Eventually, there is an ancient stairway, leading to the depths of the earth. He shoves his shoulder against the strange, symbol covered door at the end of the steps. The hinges begin to creak, the dust begins to fly. Finally, the dust settles and he can’t believe his eyes.

That is the stereotypical archaeologist.

Archaeology is a massive field, covering all of mankind’s history. It is unfortunate, then, to find that archaeology is a field as foreign to many as the places being excavated. A slew of media and entertainment attention has created a mixed and often inaccurate message about archaeology. Many people do not realize that archaeology is a constantly evolving field. The methods developed in the early to mid 1900s are now long obsolete. In the place of those old methods are new, modern methods, methods that continue to evolve based on location in the world and improvements in technology. “Archaeology in Hawaii is a lot different from [archaeology] on the East Coast,” said Alton Exzabe, an archaeologist working for the Army at Schofield Barracks. Archaeologists cannot just go wherever they choose. “You would have to adjust, you would have to learn the archaeology of the East Coast,” Exzabe continued. Most do not realize how in depth this job really is.

An aspiring archaeologist cannot just choose a spot, and start digging. There are many steps on the road to becoming an archaeologist. First and foremost, you must have the appropriate education. Most archaeologists get a degree in anthropology, the study of humans. After getting that degree at a four year university, most archaeologists will go on to field school. Field school is the final step of education. It’s basically a month of on the job training at an actual dig site. After that, the real work begins.

Contrary to the idea that someone can just force their way into some long lost tomb, field work as an archaeologist is a very slow and painstaking business. “You have to very slowly scrape away earth one centimeter at a time,” said Laura Gilda, another archaeologist at Schofield, “and most of the time you don’t find anything.” There are a lot of rules and regulations that need to be followed at a site. Any type of handling of artifacts that breaks the rules is considered vandalism. Everything has to be very accurately documented as well. If you were to find a piece of pottery lying on the ground, you could not pick it up. First, you would have to take pictures and document location. Then that one piece of a pot can be analyzed and can tell you an amazingly large amount of information about the people who made the pot. Tests could tell you what was in the pot, which will increase information about what that particular civilization used for sustenance. The fact that the pot was there at all proves that the people in the area had a knowledge of pottery and the materials necessary to make it. The location of the fragment of the pot tells us that there was probably some kind of building or city nearby where the pot was stored. Making those kind of inferences is what archaeology is all about. Archaeologists must have a very open and questioning mind. They do not just pick up the pot fragment and see a piece of clay. They see a clue, a puzzle piece that when pieced with other artifacts forms a beautiful mosaic of a culture that may have disappeared long ago .

It takes considerable training for an archaeologist to be able to see something and make accurate inferences in the field. In high school, there are usually no courses directly involving archaeology or anthropology in general. One thing you can do in high school is start to develop writing skills. Writing is an important part of being an archaeologist, but it’s not easy. “If you can write, that’s a miracle. Technical writing is not easy,” said Gilda. After high school, there is a wide variety of colleges with anthropology departments you could choose from to study anthropology. There are several course requirements. “At my school you had to take two of three classes from physical anthropology, from cultural anthropology, from archaeology, from geomorphology,” said Gilda. Most universities that have an anthropology department also offer field school. It is important for an archaeologist not to stop their education with an undergraduate degree, though. “If you only have an undergrad, you’ll be a tech, what they call a technician,” said Gilda. Technicians do more menial jobs, because they are not qualified for advancement. Before getting an advanced degree, however, it is important to gain some experience in the field. “Both [education and experience] are equally important,” said Carly Antone, also an archaeologist on Schofield, “If you get some experience and then go to graduate school, that’s worth a lot because you’ll be better off in school, because you’ll understand the issues out there.”

Even with all of the education necessary to get a job, archaeology is not a very high paying profession. You have to be driven by a love of what you do, and not by wealth. An entry level archaeologist will make between $20,000 to $30,000 a year. Even median level archaeologists with five or more years of experience will only make about $47,000 to $70,000 a year. “Archaeology is not the most employable career. If you’re dreaming about getting rich, this is not the job for you,” said Gilda. You also have to be enthusiastic about your job. “It definitely takes a specific personality type to do this [archaeology]. If you are looking for big excitement every day, you’re not going to be happy being an archaeologist,” said Gilda. A lot of archaeology is sitting in a small hole, scraping away dirt. You have to endure considerably long hours in an often hot and uncomfortable environment. “You have to settle for that once every three months you find something, and that’s going to have to be it for you,” said Gilda.

If you can recognize the potential you have as an archaeologist, though, you can make your job enjoyable. You get to travel to unique areas around the world and essentially learn more about who you are and what your history is. You are in control of where you want to go and what you want to study. “When I just got into it, I was running around the Northwest in my car doing projects here and there. I got to decide, do I want to work on a bison processing site, or an Indian tepee ring site? I did a lot of traveling, I went to places I otherwise never would have been to,” said Gilda. Archaeology is an important field, and is not all about finding golden statues and mummies. Archaeology is about giving us insight into the lives of people in the past, insight that gives us information that is still relevant and useful today.