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+--- Thread: What car does an archaeologist drive? (/showthread.php?tid=1752)
What car does an archaeologist drive? - garybrun - 20th August 2009
Sorry... I think its sad.
Ive never looked at it in away that you don't really get paid for it well enough.
Still doesn't answer my question though... why do it?
A man is worth his pay.
Pay peanuts... you get monkeys.
Website for responsible Metal Detecting
http://www.ukdfd.co.uk
Recording Our Heritage For Future Generations.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ce70k5ewGpA
What car does an archaeologist drive? - trowelmonkey - 20th August 2009
Yes, we are sad, in so many ways. Listen to us in the site hut and you'll notice that the price of food is the most recurring theme amongst the ribald humour because we really are that hard up that the price of value satsumas matter.
I'm in my thirties. I've never been able to afford a car and don't see my owning one in the near future either. If I cannot afford to keep a banger on the road what's the chance of ever owning a house? I don't know any field archaeologist who owns a house who hasn't either inherited it/money or had the luck to fall in love with a solvent partner. Come to think of it I don't know many who came out of uni post the abolition of maintenance grants (a much bigger problem than fees, only fees sound sexier) who have managed to make much of a dent in their loans.
Why do I do it?
Well, I've never been able to leave. Archaeology is so different from other professions that it's hard to fit in anywhere else. Archaeologists are asked to be so self-sufficient from the time we start that frankly, we intimidate recruitment staff who fear we won't fit in. Moving sideways seems to get easier the higher you go though, which is perverse as the archaeological bottle-neck is particularly narrow.
Having had candid discussions with professional headhunters I've been told that our low salaries is one of the biggest problems an archaeologist faces in trying to leave the profession. A low salary, as Gary implied, signifies incompetence to prospective employers. (Especially when that job purports to involve a high degree of responsibility.) When archaeological wages are so much lower than other professionals it is not expected that recruiters from other sectors should be aware of our salary range. As so many application forms ask for present salary the archaeologist is fighting a larger prejudice than Indiana Jones's hat from the start. (Of course wages are low because unlike other professions more of us are required to physically do the job.) The longer you dig the harder it is to leave. I've seen it happen to so many I know. And many who do leave go to labouring jobs. Some want to and that's fine, but others don't but find that the muddy boots image leave many interviewers unsure whether the applicant can "come indoors," even with demonstrable computing/research skills.
And, besides the money. I suppose I am just foolish and a little selfish. I want to know what makes people tick and how we got from here to there and where was there in the first place? And how many theres where there anyway? And if somebody passes by I want to tell them a story and listen to their stories to. Take the word archaeologist apart and you get "old word" with "logos" implying "knowledge." I've always translated archaeology to myself as "nosy storyteller," which is what I am. Ever since I first saw an archaeologist at work I knew that that's what I wanted to do. It seemed to amazing that the very ground could speak for people who were dead and gone. I never seriously considered anything else until it was too late.
Sometimes I regret going into it professionally. I never knew how keenly I would feel the lack of having a family to back me up, even with the simple stuff, like having free storage because I have yet to meet the digger who lives completely out of a bag. I've missed the boat for so many things other people who don't live a semi-nomadic life take for granted, BUT I still cannot imagine a life not digging (and telling stories). It's how I make sense of the world.
I might've been paid peanuts and been treated like a monkey, but I know that I am one hell of a good field archaeologist and not a bad historian either
Whether I get to reinvent myself remains to be seen. Anyway, that's why I "do it." A car is but a dream of exhaust vapours.
ed. Seem to've dropped some words through the hole in my bucket.
What car does an archaeologist drive? - garybrun - 20th August 2009
I would really like to thank you guys for those answers.
In all honesty... I ve never looked at it that way.
I myself come from a background with nothing... no education, children's homes the usual stuff you get to hear about. I'm 46 now and I must say I have a very good life and never forget where I came from. Ive nearly always worked for myself. To me I saw the "go out and get a trade" was another way of keeping the others in money and myself to know my place and not step out of it. I think thats why I fight authority so much when its not just.
Its amazing the different cards life throws at us through the years.
Hats off to trowel monkey and amiable drudge. Really I mean it.
Thanks
Website for responsible Metal Detecting
http://www.ukdfd.co.uk
Recording Our Heritage For Future Generations.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ce70k5ewGpA
What car does an archaeologist drive? - Unitof1 - 20th August 2009
fiat multipla plus dog, for the land rovers luvRs, which are rubbish, I recommend Libyan Sands, if you can find a copy
What car does an archaeologist drive? - trowelmonkey - 20th August 2009
@ amiable drudge
I agree with you about competitive tendering keeping wages down, but I also think that realistically a field archaeologist's wage is lower than a field geologist's wage because it takes more of us to do the job. To raise wages we'd ha
What car does an archaeologist drive? - Reggie - 21st August 2009
To go back to the original question, I drive a Land Rover. I have a choice of 3 in my fleet but my usual drive is a V8 Defender running on LPG...
What car does an archaeologist drive? - Unitof1 - 21st August 2009
i bet none has a leaf sping
What car does an archaeologist drive? - kevin wooldridge - 21st August 2009
I am sure that competitive tendering has something to do with keeping the value of archaeological salaries down, but as for it being the root or even major cause, I am not convinced. As an archaeologist who remembers life before competitive tendering, I don't recall that life was a bed of roses then either.
My personal view is that competitive tendering if anything has actually raised the value of archaeological wages in real terms and there are some sectors of our industry who are actually doing quite nicely (and good luck to them..) One only has to think of the number of so called 'voluntary' jobs that existed in archaeology prior to 1990 to realise the progress that has been made in archaeological employment over the past 20 years, albeit slow progress.
My opinion has always been, for all the good intent in and amongst archaeologists, that wages will never rise significantly until archaeology is established on a firm legislative footing in the UK. That doesn't mean that any of us should give up the struggle in the meantime, but sometimes we do have to look at the forest and not just consider the trees...
With peace and consolation hath dismist, And calm of mind all passion spent...
What car does an archaeologist drive? - RedEarth - 21st August 2009
Apologies to Gary for turning this thread into something else entirely!
For what it's worth - in my opinion wages are so low partially because people do the job out of love and genuine enthusiasm and every year a generation of fresh-faced and very eager people come along so desparately keen to do the job that they don't worry too much about the long-term implications of the piss-poor salary and conditions. They would probably do it for nothing if someone gave them food and shelter.
Anyway, before too long they realise that their keen-ness is being exploited and they are in a vicious circle. They either get out, or just have to live with it knowing full well that a new generation of people willing to sleep on their friend's sofas/live with their parents till they are 40/live in a tent is fast coming along.
Competative tendering is just the worst form of tendering when you have people willing to work for love of the job, because they are always going to get shafted as a result. Add on the fact that in many cases you could easily supplement the paid work force with volunteers and you have a bit of a career development disaster on your hands.
Archaeology is still quite a young profession compared to similar areas, especially similar areas associated with construction, and it hasn't quite escaped from the mentality of student training digs in many cases. Plus as someone pointed out, you need a lot more archaeologists than you need field geologists on most projects so it we were all getting paid ?30k it wouldn't be long before the planning guidance notes were radically changed!
What car does an archaeologist drive? - SteveP - 21st August 2009
Quote:quote:Originally posted by garybrun
I'm sorry and I don't mean to sound condescending here.
How are they ever going to pay their student loans?
The student loan is a moot point since you never earn enough to have to pay it back.
Steve