How Much Do Archaeologists Get Paid?

The movie, Indiana Jones, made archeology seem like a glamorous and exciting career.

If you work for a university or for the government, then you will most likely have a fixed salary. This salary will depend on your experience, among other things, and might range from forty thousand up to one hundred thousand. If you are a freelance archeologist, then your income will change from assignment to assignment.

What Is Archeology?

Archeology is the study of past human societies, civilizations, and cultures using such resources as artifacts, environmental data about the time, biofacts, and architecture. These are only some of the resources that archeologists use to piece together information about past societies.

Most archeologists consider the middle of the nineteenth century to be the origin of modern archeology. This is when geology was evolving, and it helped archeologists understand a little more about the climate and the environment of the cultures that they were studying.

Further, the development of geology meant that scientists were able to date resources and artifacts more precisely. It also told archeologists that the world was actually billions of years old—much older than any archeologist had realized. When Darwin placed the development of humans as occurring only approximately a couple million years ago, archeologists were given some strict time frames to study within.

Some of the early archeologists include Heinrich Schiliemann who explored the ancient city of Tray, Arthur Evans who explored Crete, Flinders Petrie who explored ancient Egypt, and John Lloyd Stephens who studied the Maya civilization. 

Becoming an Archeologist

To become an archeologist, you generally need higher education past high school. You need to attend a university, and you most likely will also need graduate education beyond your undergraduate education.

If you know that you want to become an archeologist before you enter into college, you might want to select a college or university that offers archeology courses, or a major in archeology. Not all colleges offer this. Some of the colleges or universities that do offer an archeology major include the following:

• Boston University
• Bowdoin College
• Brown University
• Bryn Mawr College

However, you do not need to major in archeology if you want to become an archeologist. You can also major in such disciplines as Near Eastern Studies, Anthropology, and even History and still become an archeologist. The important thing is that you should choose a discipline that allows you to study past cultures and civilizations so that you begin to develop the background and knowledge necessary to succeed in this career.

Fieldwork is important to your development as an archeologist, so you should choose a college that acknowledges this, even if the college does not have a specific concentration in archeology. You need to build up your resume and experience with field work. If your college does not offer this, you can always apply for programs during the summer to enhance your experience doing actual archeology work.  

After college, you can attempt to get a job on an excavation with your degree and any experience that you've picked up. You may also want to pursue higher education, and receive a Master’s Degree or a Doctorate Degree in the field if you feel it would help you.

Archeology is a fairly open career, and there isn’t one specific way to break into the field. You simply have to keep trying, and keep applying for jobs!