How to Go on an Archeological Dig

How can I become involved in active archeological digs? Are there university affiliations or what?

Archeologists research and dig for buildings, artifacts, pottery, bones, marine deposits, and on and on. The world truly is their classroom.

photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/david55king/1291841479/

There are programs in archeology at nearly every university world-wide. Many are ongoing, many are course related. They are in every corner of the world: First world to third, and sometimes fourth: domestic and international.

Programs that accept volunteers are associated with universities, world culture institutions, museums or special interest groups, e.g. Earthwatch or the Sierra Club.

Depending on the sponsor, the accommodations range from primitive to near luxury. Many have lectures by subject specialists, day trips to local points of interest - or- nothing but work.

What to do from home

New York Times - "Amateur Archeologists Get the Dirt on the Past".

At Phone Maresha, in Beit Guvrin National Park, an hour southwest of Jerusalem, visitors can become an archeological excavator for three hours.

July 16, 2006 - By CAREN OSTEN GERSZBERG

New York Times - "An Anthology of Archeological Travel Writing".

Edited by the anthropologist Brian Fagan, the book compares notes by dozens of restless and incongruous writers of near and faraway places.

July 2, 2006 By RICHARD B. WOODWARD

The areas under investigation are as wide as the history of human endeavor

New York Times - "A Rich and Royal Ruin in the Heart of Hanoi"

For the last five years, archeologists have been slowly unearthing the remains of Thang Long, uncovering millions of artifacts spanning 1,300 years.

October 16, 2007 - by JENNIFER PINKOWSKI

New York Times - "Honoring the Bones"

The discovery of the remains of Irish famine victims has opened old wounds, and ignited a fresh dispute over their proper burial.

September 23, 2007 - by SUZANNE LABARRE

What does it REALLY inolve?

Archeology (Hardcover)

by David Hurst Thomas (Author), Robert L. Kelly (Author)

Amazon.com lets you peek at the Table of Contents and discover what it really takes.

Adventures in Fugawiland: A Computerized Simulation in Archeology

(With Windows CD-Rom) [STUDENT EDITION] (Paperback)

January 2005

by T. Douglas Price (Author), Anne Birgitte Gebauer (Author)

Amazon.com allows you to 'look inside'.

http://www.worldarcheologicalsociety.com/

Places to make contacts

Biblical and Near East archeological projects

photo: Biblical Archaeology Society / findadig.com

Archeological Institute of America

656 Beacon St., 6th Fl.
Boston, MA 02215-2006

Phone: (617) 353-9361, (617) 353-8706, (877)-524-5300

URL: http://www.archeological.org

Email: aia@aia.bu.edu

Archeological Fieldwork Opportunities Bulletin, annual. Lists excavation sites and field schools for volunteers and employment opportunities.

European Forum of Heritage Associations

Via Ca' Magno 49
Padua I-35133 , Italy

Phone: 39 49 604526

URL: http://www.heritageforum.org

Email: gadvpd@tin.it

This Italy based organziation promotes volunteerism in the field of cultural heritage in Europe, especially in the field of archeology.

American Schools of Oriental Research

656 Beacon St., 5th Fl.
Boston, MA 02215-2006

Phone: (617) 353-6570, 888-847-8753

URL: http://www.asor.org

Email: asor@bu.edu

This organization "...represents colleges, universities, theological seminaries, libraries, and research institutes; scholars working in archeological, historical and biblical fields; interested others. Promotes public understanding of the peoples and cultures of the Near East and their wider spheres of interaction. Conducts archeological research on the peoples and cultures of the Near East. "

Archeology Abroad

31-34 Gordon Sq.
London WC1H 0PY
United Kingdom

Phone: 44 20 85370849

URL: http://www.britarch.ac.uk/archabroad

Email: arch.abroad@ucl.ac.uk

You can find lists of opportunities for archeological fieldwork outside the UK

http://www.sabranenque.com/volunteer/index.htm
A volunteer restoration project in a village in Provence, France

Closer to Home

http://www.sierraclub.org/outings/national/brochure/08291A.asp E.g., At the Gila National forest, New Mexico...Learn how to stabilize, survey and document archeological and historic sites

Volunteer Archeology at Arizona State Museum

Before you sign on

The World Encyclopedia of Archeology: The World's Most Significant Sites and Cultural Treasures (Hardcover)

Oct 2007

by Aedeen Cremin (Editor)

Volunteer Opportunities: Dozens are listed here...

Including this 2008 opportunity in Mongolia through the University of Pittsburgh