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i just want to thank Leicester UNiversity - institute of lifelong learning whose university certificate is really rather innovative plus the Dept has been graded as Second in the country behind UCL. Why is it so good? its does major research of a high standard across all prehistorical / historical periods and within specialisms linked to a first rate Excavation arm. THe two seem to complement each other and are a good source of work for its graduates - they do a lot of training and teaching.
i have passed the first year at the end of this next year i gain entry to the second year in 2006. i have just realised how good this is - if i decide to do an MA that would only be 3 years for both graduate and post graduate qualifications (the funding of that is another matter LOL). ihave done some research about funding and the new regime of student support from 2006 and it is more generous for poorer students and people on low incomes. i thought maybe i would try to get in this year to avoid the higher fees for two yearS by doing a three YEAR degree but there was not much point because in all likelihood i will not have to pay any fees as i am too poor (my income this year is going to be lower than £15000).I AM TRYing to get as much experience as i can by digging and fieldwork and possibly lab work or post excavation work. My last dig had been in 1992 when i put my back out the management wouldn't let me a humble "schemie" take a month off to recover. i thought sod themn - i was in real pain i could hardly move but that didnt stop me doing some finds processing - very necessary but dull. i thought i would never dig again but never say never until the prematurely ageing site director with the handleless trowel (to poor to buy another?) and the torn clothes (like a raggamuffin orphan) lets my brickies oversized 4.5 inch trowel hit the earth again. my other pointy thing is a 50p iamond shaped plaster filler! A humble schemie no more / no big brother connection with state employment services but no £10 "beer money" either. so all in all things are really rather good though i am still skint - archaeology is a great obsession but keeps you poor but i am doing stuff i really love. its a bit like acting?
i could have studied art history or creative writing but i chose archaeology because i used to be a humble "schemie" digging lots of test pits in sheep pasture in the windswept wilds of remote leicestershire. it was either barren or we lifted whole pots, graves or amjor features and nothing in between completely undisturbed since pre saxon times.
i had been thinking for years of doing a history degree (i hate sociology etc. and did an hnc computing hoping to do a part-time degree but DMU abolished that and with record numbers of unemployed IT graduates i thought sod that - a humble sod basher i will become (i have been swinging my mattock non stop for most of this week!) - its not as simple as that in life - it never is but i have found my true niche in life (i hope). in the meantime i will have to go on kidding myself and the job centre that i can find a professional job in IT support for another year even though my last IT job was in 1997!) i am not cynical be it less cynical than most - a humble humanist that i am. Archaeology is really Deconstruction of the physical environment - take out the younger layer first to get to the older layer until you reach natural (like a film played backwards).
i have lost the focus of this thread Adieu kind friends!
tony
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This is going off the subject a bit, but would anyone be able to tell me if it's possible to do a degree course in archaeology part-time from home?
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Try the University of Leicester - they do distance learning courses I believe. I seem to remember a discussion about it on here some time ago - and that they were somewhat expensive, but if that's your only option it may be worth it.
Don't know their website URL offhand but a search will surely find it.
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Thanks for all the suggestions re. archaeology degrees at a distance. Got lots to go on now.
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Keep us informed if you sign up for anything! And if you do, let us know how it goes.
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leicester is the best look no further LOL It as been voted britains best university by students and the dept is rated 2nd UCL is 1st. ANother thing i like about the Archaeology! - according to Lara a post graduate student a few yards away there is A nice CAFE that does a mean baked spud LOL.
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Congratulations to Saffron Hill! I got a job teaching Art at the age of 56, by replying to an ad: I see no reason why you should not get one, given your enthusiasm. Do you draw? Good people for archeological drawing are always needed, I've sometimes thought of doing that myself, but would need training in archeology - which I am thinking of. You said Leicester do an at home course - what about the one on BBC2, whose name I can't remember?
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i am not sure about BBC2 - you can do distance learning in archaeology at all levels from certificate to MA OR MSC. if you live near leicester cheapest is to do one evening a week - distance learning IMHO is pricey! Other universities do distance learning in archaeology. For BBC2 you might try contacting your local radio station - in leicester they can give you advice on all bbc education courses.
I can be taught illustration as part of my degree AFAIK or offer to be a volunteer. There seems to be a need for this in some units as standards in llustration for publication vary though generally ULAS seems to be one of the best overall i.e in terms of professionalism in evaluations and excavation / post excavation. i have never drawn archaeological artefacts only life drawing and still life. i did draw a section once currently i am anxious to learn as much as i can about recording and planning before i get immersed into that groves of academia thang and cups of latay with leverhulme scholarship fellows and their groupies LOL I AM STAggered by how many are doing doctorate stuff here. if you laid them end to end they would stretch round the dept building perimeter LOL I AM exagerrating of course.
i found the handle off a coarse ware medieaval skillet (would be a subject for illustration - it is quite heavy and thick) and other nice fragments of frequently burnt cooking pots - i need a book which goes into great detail about medeaval pot. one or two pieces bonfire or badly fired with no glaze could be late saxon in some ways this is more interesting than the skeletons (not being a bone man myself yet) but i have shifted more earth than a JCB recently! i am exagerrating but you know what i mean eh!
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quote: Originally posted by ooban:
Keep us informed if you sign up for anything! And if you do, let us know how it goes.
Yes I will. I'm just in the process of checking out Birkbeck College in London and it's looking pretty good (and affordable!). |
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Of course ... (scuse the pun) the British Archaeological Jobs and Resources site has the MASSIVE... THERA the Higher Education Resource in Archaeology database... a searchable database of over 550 courses... http://www.bajr.org |
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I suppose if you get desperate you could get a job in the planning department of a local council - I presume archaeologists are pretty conversant with planning law... I was going to suggest archaeological illustration but someone beat me to it. It sounds much more fun.  Maybe the charity sector has heritage related jobs? Good luck. I think it is fantastic that you have followed your heart. |
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long way to go yet in archaeology! 6 more essays to go before june next year then 2 years full time as a student - if i want a pgce or an MA in archaeology thats another year (funny how you can get help with a teaching qUALIfication and not an MA - and funny how you cannot get funding for practical training wherehas you can get help to do archaeology - few jobs in that!)Trouble is i am not really interested in teaching. i think i could be good at illustration but probably need to finish my degree first. i am 51 in December, if i was only interested in making money i wouldnt be doing this. Oh and i have had my first job rejection in archaeology - i didnt even get a reply never mind an interview - it was for my local unit so not too encouraging. i wanted the experience but also needed the money as i have not worked in a year (i am really desperate tel 0116- 2248950). its not as if i have no experience - i shall have to go and see them personally next year perhaps. i am bit tied at the moment because i have to keep an eye on my mother she is 83 so i cant spend 6 months in shetland etc. i am doing an essay on early anglo-saxon pagan burial practise and it is probably the hardest one i have done yet. best wishes tony
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