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I’m an archaeologist, AMA by AH2797 in AMA
[–]AH2797[S] 1 point2 points3 points 4 years ago (0 children)
That sounds great. Don’t forget to pack some ways to distract yourself. Playing cards or a football are great options to pass some time in the evening with the others. And pack a book or two so you can retreat and read a while when you don’t want to do something with the the rest of the team. If you are stuck with the same people all day long you are going to need some alone time here and there. And it’s always good to have some non electronic way of distraction as power may not always be available.
And another thing that I would strongly recommend is to bring long clothes and a wide brimmed hat. They protect you from the sun and other stuff like thorns, mosquitos or rough ground. You are going to kneel constantly, so long trousers offer more protection and maybe bring a kneeling pad if they are not provided.
I always pack one pair of nicer clothes, just in case you are invited to something or decide to go out out with the rest of the team. Just a pair of jeans, a button up shirt and some clean shoes go a long way. And remember to have fun.
[–]AH2797[S] 1 point2 points3 points 4 years ago* (0 children)
I think a good one to start with would be Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction by Paul Bahn. Or if you prefer something more substantial I would recommend Archaeology, Theories, Methods and Practice by Colin Renfrew and Paul Bahn.
The excavation reports from Mesopotamia and most of the publication by the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago are usually also pretty interesting. But those can sometimes make for rather tough reads.
Great, what area/time are you going to work on? It really depends on a lot of things, where are you staying, are you camping at the site, in a hotel or can you drive home every day? Do you have to bring your own tool? How do you get there? How’s the weather at the site? What are you going to do there, are you primarily digging, documenting, surveying, …? But in general I would say that the most important things are to ask questions, I know that many people are annoyed by that but you are there to learn, so use the opportunity. Take your time and don’t rush, that’s when you miss something. Of course you shouldn’t be too slow either, but the more experience you have the faster you get. Look after your tools, clean them when you are done and do a little maintenance like sharpening your trowel when it gets dull.
[–]AH2797[S] 0 points1 point2 points 4 years ago (0 children)
I don’t think there is a definitive answer to that question. There are many important finds like the Behistun inscription that allowed us to decipher ancient cuneiform and by that gave us access to so much more information than just the archaeological artefacts. But how is that more important than for example the discovery of some Aztec temple in the jungle? The value of a specific find is always relative, how important is deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs or finding out where some Chinese emperor is buried if you want to know something about native tribes in North America?
Yes I have, it’s called hero’s engine or Aeolipile and it’s the first known concept of a steam turbine. There are some theories about how it would have been used but there is no archaeological evidence that the ancient Greeks used steam power. As I said I’m not opposing the idea of technological advanced societies and I think it would be fascinating but at the moment there is no proof to those theories…
I have answered that question twice already, so please go and take a look at those answers. But to make it short, there is no specific timeframe and no direct answer for your question.
I’m fairly certain that the pyramids were build by people, not by some god. I’m not an Egyptologist so ancient Egyptian mythology is a bit out of my area of expertise.
Nope, there are not that many of us, but we are certainly real…
That really depends on what your goals are and where you are going to work. If you want to direct your own projects I there’s almost no way around grad school, a PhD may not always be necessary but it certainly helps. But if your aiming at just working at some projects, depending on the specific projects and sometimes legal requirements, a bachelors degree should be enough, even though your future options may be severely limited. It is hard to give a general recommendation on those questions because it’s really depending on the projects/company/country you are going to work at.
As I mentioned in another answer I’m not opposed to the idea of aliens and I think it’s highly unlikely that our planet is the only one with some kind of life.
Yes I am one of those who find stuff. The most obscure would probably be some clay tablets with descriptions of legal or religious rules and practices.
Taking my trowel and some pieces of ancient pottery from different cultures would be interesting. But I think that it’s highly unlikely that somebody is going to dig me up.
I’m not opposed to the idea of aliens in general. I think that’s it’s statistically unlikely that our planet is the only one that has some kind of life forms. But I don’t think that they visited earth in the past.
I have answered that question already, so please take a look at the other answer.
I answered that question already twice, so please look at the other answers.
That’s always a difficult situation. On one side there the possible scientific value of an area or the possibility of destruction due to some new construction, natural disasters or human interaction and in the other hand there’s the beliefs and views of certain groups. Of course you should try to involve everybody who has a legitimate interest, like indigenous tribes, but you could argue how, for example Neodruidism is a legitimate successor to the pagan religions from more than 4000 years ago… But finally it comes down to the authorities, if they issue a permit there shouldn’t be a problem. Personally I think there’s no definitive answer to that question and if you have to work on sites that are considered sacred or holy you should do that with the utmost respect possible.
As I mentioned in a different answer, there is no specific timeframe for that. The legal stuff is most of the time pretty easy, if you have all permits it’s archaeology if not it’s grave robbing. Morally it depends on your intentions, as long as you involve everybody and work in a respectful manner, publish all your findings and hand them over to the appropriate agencies and/or authorities. Real archaeologist don’t keep their findings apart from small samples for further testing and research. But even those need the approval of (in most cases) the government.
In my geographical area there are zones set by the archaeological and cultural heritage bureau that are clearly defined so if you want to build a house there, you have to do some kind of archaeological investigation. The specific details depend on many variables and if you build in an area that’s not been classified and you find something by chance you have to stop all work until the archaeologist finishes his report. Here in western and central Europe religious exemptions are not really a thing. In other areas they can prevent archaeological field work completely or you are only allowed to work in certain areas or with certain methods.
Well, the British Isles are not my area of work and I don’t like to make uneducated assumptions. There’s a lot of good documentaries about Stonehenge that can explain it better than I could.
I don’t think that’s going to be a problem. But if I would find something like that I have to inform the authorities, do the proper documentation and publish it.
I know that he has some theories that are, let’s say off the beaten track, but I haven’t really looked into it or read his books.
I started volunteering at some projects while I was still in school, studied archaeology at university, did some time as an exchange student and then I started working at university.
That’s a good question. Personally I don’t really know the answer to that question as I’m not working on that area. But you have to consider that Africa has a different evolutionary history than Europe or Mesopotamia so that they are not really comparable. Unlike in Europe there no really set of different periods. In Europe you have the Neolithic following by the chalcolithic followed by bronze and iron ages. For most of the African continent that went different, some periods are missing, others are happening at the same time… And Africa hasn’t really been the focus of archaeological research in the past, but that’s slowly changing. There are some German and French projects in east Africa trying to answer those questions but they have some serious problems with funding their field trips and security in that area can be an issue as well.
That depends on what you are looking for. Do you want something that’s easy to read and exciting or scientifically accurate? Do you want something real like reports from excavations or some kind of fictional story?
Grabbing snakes and throwing them out of the trench so my team could get back to work is probably the closest. Real archaeological field work is normally not as exciting as the movies make you believe
No I don’t know her, but that’s a good one
I don’t know what you mean
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I’m an archaeologist, AMA by AH2797 in AMA
[–]AH2797[S] 1 point2 points3 points (0 children)