i shall probably be starting my two year degree course in archaeology next year. i am now 50. i am looking into careers. i am assuming it will be difficult to get paid work in archaeology unless i become an academic in which case i would have to do an MA or Msc then my doctorate but somehow i dont think so unless i turn out to be the next MIck Aston reincarnated!

if anyone as any advice or as just completed their BA IN Archaeology or as found a new career after their degree let me know - tw_apk.hermes@ntlworld.com

i am currently long term unemployed though i have an HNC in COmputing (my A levels are BBD in economicsm geology and geography). Although i study one night a week i am effectively doing a GAP year though i have not yet been offered a place. i just have 6 more essays to finish over the next few months. i could probably have got in this year but i wouldnt have finished any sooner as i will have second year entry status.

i have been doing a bit of digging locally over the summer. MOst of the people are quite young though most of them have finished their degrees or are starting an MA or MSC or have got or are starting a doctorate. i think finance would be a problem at post graduate level. Unless i am lucky and can convince the local archaeology unit to take me on as a casual i will have to look outside archaeology for work. i dont have much experience so i am trying to get as much as i can though it is not easy - most digs are rescue ones in the urban core. i had previously been on two roman digs over 12 years ago in rural leics - they lasted 10 weeks i put my back out and the MSC or County COuncil wouldnt let me come back after resting for a month due to it being a government exploitation scheme or GUESS! yOU GOT a bright yellow cagoule of the type given to prisoners and a pair of boots made of plastic which split!

if anyone is doing any digging in the midlands area i maybe available for part of the week at least - the dig i am on will finish in November or sooner for me if there are any mechanical machines needed or any degree of skill expected.

i need a good alternative strategy if i cant get work in archaeology.

if you are a bit of an archaeological exhibit yourself give us a bell.

Doi-ng DOI-NG . i must have upset somebody.

Ideas? on getting experience and / or trying to get into archaeology or not

I don't think you've upset anybody, I think it's fairly obvious that sadly, this place is all but hanging on by a thread (excuse the pun.)

Let's hope that when the new season of TT starts there will be some input again. I've never seen the place so quiet in all the years I've been visiting this forum in all it's incarnations... I think most people have defected to another place...

Have you had your stripey jumpers knitted yet?

i invented the wearing of them back in the 70's. i used to have several. i used to have aTOm Baker scarf which i used to wear all the time and a pair of tall womens dungarees that someone made and i was told i could have. (someones still got my Patti SMith tape!)i looked silly in them but that was the 1970's or 80's i cant quite remember! i left the scarf on a bus or its still wrapped around a lamppost somewhere! Although i look only 40.... i cant tell you my real age! i am a lot fitter than most people my age its the cycling and the digging.. never thought i would ever dig again but i am only a volunteer and everyone is half my age - i am already thinking about the next dig this one finishes fairly soon. Great - but an obsession none the less. i have a year to kill before university assuming i pass all this years modules but i only have to pass them. i am totally broke and i havent even started. THeres no money in archaeology even if you can get a job in it. its not something you would do as a career move? i blame the stripey jumper brigade!

send me your digs / money / bursaries to "old and nearly bankrupt"

So, 50 is old ?

And yes, most people are now posting elswhere

i was being ironic but yes age is irrelevant certainly in my case i am fitter and healthier than i was 10 years ago. my motivation is fighting back against high blood pressure but i have found you need to be fit to be just a volunteer as excavating is damn hard work. iwouldnt like to say i will still be doing it when i graduate in 3 yrs. i had to put so much effort in to get fitand keep the motivation to keep going when things are tough. i cant see my former self being up to this i feel a new man!

Well this does not inspire me to go ahead with my course. Thanks guys

DON'T be put off Kerry - go for it! I did - started with GCSE, then A level, then a degree, and I'm now halfway through my MA and have today committed myself to doing a PhD. I'm 53, extremely unfit (bordering on disabled) and it doesn't stop me doing what I love, i.e. archaeology. I have done quite a bit of digging, until the arthritis kicked in with a vengeance, but now I do finds processing and research instead. And I lecture, and write articles for archaeological journals - incredible progress from my first evening classes 6 years ago.

OK, you aren't likely to make your first million as an archaeologist, but does that make it any less worth studying? DO go ahead with the course, and enjoy it - which is exactly what I said to saffron a couple of years ago. You don't HAVE to let it become such an obsession as I did!

I have an idea the old email address doesn't work any more, so drop me a line on ooban@btinternet.com and I'll be delighted to give you loads of encouragement, or just chat about archaeology.

Ooban thank you so much for this post (even though I didn't start the thread...) I am in my thirties and have been interested in archaeology all my life. I went to my careers advisor at the age of 15 who told me I didn't have the 'right' GCSE's to study archaeology so I should give it up as a bad lot. 15 years later, I decided to dig in anyway (again, damn those puns...) and go for it, starting my archeology AS level tonight.

I have always believed (and even read material to the effect) that unless you start your archaeology career at a very young age then you will not have one (a career that is). However, you have clearly shown that if your heart is in it, that's mostly what counts Yay!

Yours, loyally
Eltanim

The advantage of starting later in life, is having most of the things that the young seem to aspire to.
So many start off in archaeology through the school/uni route, then get to a stage where they want to settle down, house, car, marriage etc so have to leave their chosen career to earn more money.

But you can use an archaeology degree as an excellent foundation for many lucrative careers in business of all kinds. It teaches many transferable skills which are highly sought after - not least of which is assessing and interpreting evidence.

Or you can become a professor! They don't get paid so very badly....

thanks again for the encouragement - i will try and keep up the archaeology after my degree but i shall probably not be doing any paid archaeology after my degree if i am going to be treated the same as the young casual diggers - i will need a regular income after graduation as i will be at least 53 going on 54 when i finish - i might do an MA if i do well in my degree assuming i can afford it - i have to think i will get a job in post excavation or an academic one. imight feel more optimistic after my degree but at the moment i am feeling pessimistic because i have had years out of work or doing short term temporary office work - i am currently in an out of work phase since last xmas surprisingly hard - i put a lot of effort into my archaeology and no wonder - whether the powers that be like or not i need to make an income - i dont have a pension or any savings - i want to enjoy my archaeology but right now i am skint and need eventually to earn some money! i would like to earn some money so i can go on digs abroad or make trips to sites and interesting features esp. prehistoric and medieval. i think i will just have be more enterprising and blatant in my approach - i hope to get a part time job in fund myself through college - LEicester university advise no m0re than 15 hours a week. SOrry to mention money it is one reason why i cant go til next year - only two years to do of BA Archaeology - i want to keep the standard up so i get a 2:1. or higher

quote:

Originally posted by ooban:
But you can use an archaeology degree as an excellent foundation for many lucrative careers in business of all kinds.

Indeed, this applies to a variety of subjects.
A cousin of mine met her future husband while she was at Swansea University. He spent three years gaining a degree in marine biology, although even before he started, he knew he was going into accountancy when he left. It was probably a lot more "fun" than studying economics ?
Just a shame that perhaps it denied a place on the MB course, to someone with a genuine interest.

But who has the right to say that one can only take a degree course if one intends to pursue a career in that subject? If that's the criterion for applying, I should never have been allowed to study archaeology, because I don't intend to earn my living at it. In fact it's only because I am financially independent that I can pay the fees, buy textbooks, and pay my own travelling and living expenses. But I do have a genuine, indeed absolutely passionate, interest in it....

Your cousin's husband's application must have appeared acceptable to the University, and he must have completed the course to their satisfaction - so IF he did deny a place on the course to someone else, it must only have been because he appeared to be the better applicant.

Yes, stick to it saffron, because I know you love it! There are opportunities at most if not all Universities to earn money during your course - anything from working in the students' union bars, the library, or even as a support assistant for a disabled student, taking notes for them etc. The pay probably isn't brilliant but the hours can be fitted in with your own studies.

And there are travel grants to help with the cost of attending digs abroad, or even just for visiting foreign archaeological sites - the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara, Turkey does them, for example, and I think various similar bodies in other countries have similar schemes. Your Uni. will have contacts and information, and placements on its lecturers' projects. And it all looks good on a CV when you are applying for jobs....

Oooh look, I just got another star for that last post! Wow!

quote:

Originally posted by ooban:

Your cousin's husband's application must have appeared acceptable to the University, and he must have completed the course to their satisfaction - so IF he did deny a place on the course to someone else, it must only have been because he appeared to be the better applicant.

Quite right, but if you had been denied a place on an archaeology degree course because they were fully booked, then you found out that a lot of those who did get places, had no intention of taking up a career in that subject, you may have felt a touch miffed

Yes, of course I would - but the UCAS application procedure for degree courses means that all applications submitted by the advertised closing date are considered together, on merit, after that date. Late applications will be considered if there are still vacancies, but one would only be denied a place on a course solely because it was fully booked if one hadn't applied in time.

Universities are NOT intended to be training colleges for future employment - their purpose is the acquisition of knowledge through research, and the dissemination of knowledge through teaching.

Ooban you are an inspiration to anyone.

Thank you very much. I am in my thirties and and yes I have started my course later in live. My passion was to do Archaeology when I left school, but I did not have the backing of my family, so ended up going out to work, I am now in a situation that I can hold down a full time job and study part time, on a subject that has always been close to my heart.

My one aim in live is to go on a prehistoric dig, but I am not giving up on my dreams.

Ooban my email address is cole_kerryann@yahoo.co.uk, feel free to email me, and I will email you to let you know how my course is going.

Thanks for the compliment - don't know if I deserve it, except perhaps for enthusiasm! But I am amazed how my life has changed since that first evening class - new horizons and opportunities keep opening up for me.

Not everyone would be able - or want - archaeology to take over their lives to the same extent as me, but studying it at any level is so rewarding that I always say "go for it!"

i have got an idea why dont the viewers of Timeteam form a lobby group to persuade channel 4 to set up a fund to allow hard up students to travel in the uk and abroad to take part on digs including possibly help with living costs - the university provide the opportunity to go digs locally that they organise as part of the course and a research dig for two weeks where you have th e option of finding your own. BUt what the hell its the one they dont provide that are going to be where you learn away from the other bloody students! HOw about the iron age in remote wales or anglesey or the bronze in northern scotland - leicester as its Abbey but hey i played there as a kid so just a bit too familiar.
channel 4 make enough money from the adverts during timeteam programs?

ON the careers front check out the cynicism on the BAJR forums. I fancy working in a museum for the day my knees give in but i am told its very competitive i would have to do an MA in Museum Studies but there is no financial help guarenteed with= the fees or living costs?

Hi all,

As Saffron Hill knows already, I am a (so-called) mature student studying at Leicester. I had spent 20 years in engineering, and decided to try to do something more worth while. Teaching has always appealed, and so I started to look into the logistics of getting the required degree. Was going to go part time, but this would have taken at least 3 evenings a week and a saturday, as well as keeping going in a full time job which I hated. This would have lasted for six years. The nice people at Leicester suggested I went full time. With the full set of student loans, mature student and dependents grants etc, I am within 10% of what I was taking home before, and with the better financial management regime, we are actually better off. Other help is availiable, for example you disappear from the council tax system as a full time student. You also have nice long holidays, during which I have been fortunate enough to get work sub contracting back in industry. In ten days I start my second year. Having not picked a pen up in anger for nearly 20 years, I am now sitting at the 2:1/First interface, and more importantly, I am loving every minute of my new life.

Life as a mature student is great. We have so many advantages over the younger students. We can multi-task, we can manage money and time so much better and we dont tend to miss lectures because we are hungover/still drunk/recovering from a row with the boy/girl friend (delete as applicable).

There are many many travel grants and bursaries available as well.

If anyone reading this is thinking of taking the plunge (and it is a very big step) then please take encoragement from my case. It really can be done, (touch wood, so far, so good)

And the piece of advice that finally convinced me to go for it? "It is better to regret something you have done, than to regret something you haven't done"

Good for you Nautius - and I agree with every word! It is a big step and a big commitment, for yourself and your family, but SO rewarding. It really is great being a mature student isn't it? I've made lots of friends among the young students, the mature ones, and the lecturers.

And it's surprising how many people who use or have used this forum have taken that plunge to learn something more about archaeology, at whatever level suits them. But one note of caution - beware, it's addictive! I never thought my involvement would be more than a pleasant little evening class for the winter months, and now I don't ever want to stop.