How fieldwork decides who gets to be a CRM archaeologist and who doesn’t 1

During my time in cultural resource management archaeology, I have noticed how field experience, or lack thereof, creates a separation between those archaeologists who go out in the field (A.K.A “dirt archaeologists”) and those who spend most of their time in the office. Most of the office archaeologists used to be dirt archaeologists. Very few archaeologists make it in CRM without being a dirt archaeologist.

Going out into the field is an important part of doing archaeology. In CRM, the field is both a proving ground for new archaeologists and a means of professional identification. Because archaeologists fuse their jobs with their personal identity, doing fieldwork is central to our personal identity-formation process (http://www.succinctresearch.com/the-summer-without-archaeological-fieldwork/). Proving yourself in the field has also become an important means of identifying CRMers with potential. Like archaeological field school, fieldwork is one way companies screen their employees’ aptitude, ability, and skill. Whether this is fair or not is open for debate.

What happens to CRMers that aren’t good in the field? Or, those who cannot do fieldwork for various reasons? Not every archaeologist wants to do fieldwork. Not all of us are good at it. So, what do we do with all those aspiring archaeologists who don’t make it in the field? I’d like to say they find work elsewhere in the industry; but, the truth is, with rare exception, they don’t last long in cultural resource management.

(DISCLOSURE: Fieldwork aptitude is not a predictor of who stays in cultural resource management. However, there is bias in the industry towards those who 1) do archaeological fieldwork, 2) are good at it, and 3) enjoy being in the field. In my experience, these are the folks who tend to get promoted and enjoy long tenures as CRM archaeologists. Contact me or leave a comment below if you would like to discuss this further.)

Archaeological fieldwork as a proving ground

There is a lot of incentive to hire recent college graduates with experience. CRM is no different than other industries in this respect, but archaeology uses field school as a means of preparing its practitioners to do fieldwork. Most dirt archaeologists do at least one field school while they are still in college. This is meant to be an introduction to archaeological fieldwork. Thinking about fieldwork and actually doing it are two separate things. Oftentimes, aspiring archaeologists take a field school and discover they don’t enjoy working in the field. As long as you’ve taken your field school before graduation, you still have time to change your major and avoid fieldwork all together. Some students aren’t as lucky. They do field school after graduating or somehow believe it will grow on them in time (HINT: Fieldwork doesn’t get better with age. Either you like it, can handle it, or you don’t and can’t. I’ve never met anyone who started liking fieldwork as their career dragged on.) Not all field schools are created equal but having some sort of field school is better than not having field school when you are trying to land a job in CRM. Extensive volunteering or an internship can take the place of field school in some circumstances, but hiring managers strongly prefer formal field schools.

Paid field experience is even better than doing a field school. Why hire someone fresh out of field school when you can hire someone who has already been getting paid to do archaeology? This is a “chicken-and-the-egg” scenario though because, most of the time, you need to have a field school to get hired as a field technician in order to get field experience. It is understood that not all companies or CRM jobs are created equal, but there is a lot of motivation for companies to hire CRMers who have experience for myriad reasons: most importantly, they already know how the industry works. Doing CRM is a dramatically different than what happens in college. Even a field school cannot prepare an individual for life in CRM, which is why it tends to get easier to find work after you have some industry experience.

Time spent in the field is considered a good thing in CRM. Clients pay CRMers for their professional opinion, an opinion that has been forged from direct experience. The best way to become a good archaeologist is to do archaeology and, in CRM, archaeology means fieldwork. Along with doing artifact analysis and knowing how to write, experience in survey and excavation are paramount. While writing and lab work comprise a significant amount of any project’s budget, this is handled by experienced CRMers or specialists. Most of these specialists have already spent several years of their careers out in the field. With some rare exceptions, you don’t get to work in the office until you’ve worked in the field. Three to five years as a field technician, crew chief, or project archaeologist is pretty much de rigueur for making the transition to the office. Many principal investigators, project managers, or field directors have spent ten years or more working in the field either full time or half time before you met them.

Fieldwork as Experiential Knowledge

There are reasons why CRMers are reluctant to hire or promote someone without field experience. Because fieldwork is one of the most expensive parts of any CRM project, hiring managers and company owners are reluctant to hire someone that cannot handle themselves in the field. A lot of things can go wrong out there, but fewer things go wrong with an experienced crew. Supervisors and company owners need people who can complete the field effort in on time and on budget. This is only possible if you have experience in the field.

Having field experience also makes it easier for CRM supervisors to relate to up-and-coming CRMers because working in the field is such an impactful experience. Living in hotels, being in remote areas, being with a small group of peers for an extended period of time all affect the way CRMers think about their job. These experiences come alongside the psychological and physical rigors of being in the field. It is easy for those who hire and promote other archaeologists to relate to others who have had those experiences. Conversely, it is difficult for those who have not experienced fieldwork to relate to those who have done it. Archaeologists without field experience become somewhat ostracized because of the camaraderie and experiential learning that comes with being in the field for an extended time. Dirt archaeologists can relate to each other and, as they climb the ranks in the industry, they are more likely to prefer other aspiring archaeologists who have had the same experiences.

Our work takes us to remote locations or into places with adverse conditions. Archaeology is strenuous. It also forces you to think. There’s nothing like putting in 8 straight 10-hour days in 100+-degree weather to test your mettle. Or, digging 20+ shovel probes in a single workday when it’s pouring rain the whole time. Or, living with 12 other archaeologists in a hunting lodge near Kinderhook, Illinois for the better part of a month. If you’ve experienced these or any of the myriad other common archaeological fieldwork situations you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, you don’t. And, that’s why people who haven’t done much fieldwork cannot relate.

At some point, every archaeologist will second-guess themselves in the field. You will wonder if this is really the job for you because, sometimes, fieldwork is so intense you will feel like quitting. You will ask yourself, “Is this worth it?” Those who push through and come back for more are field archaeologists. Cultural resource management supervisors know this. The tenacity, durability, and mettle that prompts an archaeologist to keep coming back for more, despite the difficulties of being in the field, is the kind of person hiring managers want to employ because they believe these people will work hard in the future.

I’m not saying supervisors only hire and promote those with field experience. I’m saying field experience makes it easier to get promoted because of the commonality created by fieldwork makes supervisors more amiable to others who have gone through the same trials they’ve gone through.

What if you can’t work in the field?

Here’s where things get tricky. What happens if you cannot do fieldwork? The short answer: You will have a hard time making it in CRM.

I have known some CRMers that spent very little time in the field but these folks are few and far between. Lab managers and artifact analysts come to mind. I’ve also known a few principal investigators whose only field experiences were on their dissertation dig. These folks are a minority because the industry self-selects for practitioners with field experience.

Given enough time in the field, most archaeologists gain proficiency and knowledge. This experience is directly applicable to future CRM work. It is the experience and knowledge that hiring managers are paying for. Those who prove themselves in the field are more likely to get promoted.

While the idea of hiring the best, most experienced CRMers may seem like a good idea, it means many aspiring archaeologists will never do CRM because they have life situations that prevent them from doing fieldwork. In general, those CRMers most able to do fieldwork have several characteristics in common:

• They have a college degree. Or, two. Or, a PhD.
• They had the time and resources to take a field school.
• They are physically able (must be able to carry 40 pounds on uneven terrain, anybody?).
• Most are young (younger than 50 years).
• They have a spouse/partner/soulmate who is okay with them frequently being out of town for extended periods.
• They have someone who can take care of their kids, handicapped siblings, aged parents, ect. while they’re in the field
• They have the physical and psychological stamina to keep subjecting themselves to fieldwork.
• They do not have an off-putting experience that drives them away from the industry (They don’t have a #metoo, #blacklivesmatter, #nodapl, or otherwise traumatic experience).
• They have not been cheated by an employer because of low-bid projects (Or, haven’t been cheated so badly that they no longer want to do CRM.)

Basically, employers are looking for employees that are flexible enough to put up with the precarity of working in CRM. For those of us who can’t deal with this, starting a career in CRM is very difficult.

Employers care more about getting projects done than being 100% inclusive

To be honest, cultural resource management companies cannot adjust their work systems to include aspiring archaeologists who cannot do fieldwork because they need to worry about getting projects done on time and on budget. Companies make money based on the proficiency and ability of their employees. They must meet budgets and stay profitable otherwise there won’t be companies for which archaeologists can work. After proposal writing and contracting, fieldwork can be a “make-or-break” component of any project. Companies need to hire able persons who can do the work or are willing to learn. Fieldwork becomes the proving ground for the majority of CRMers; thus, it is an important component of every CRMer’s career.

Additionally, companies do not really need to be accommodating to those who cannot go out into the field. Each year, thousands of Americans graduating from college with a degree, a field school, and a strong body who are able to make the lifestyle adjustments that allow them to do fieldwork. With such an abundant supply, companies have less motivation to hire people that can’t go out into the field.

Can CRM companies do something to be more inclusive? Yes, they can. Should they? Absolutely. Will it happen? Not likely because market forces aren’t pushing them in that direction.

Unlike the lack of pressure to acquire office-based new-hires, there is motivation to increase diversity, build community connections, and include the opinions of non-archaeologists in CRM. Community-oriented CRM, specifically work that includes Native American tribes, Hispanics, Asians, African Americans, LGBTQ, and other constituencies, push archaeological inquiry into unexplored territories. Including individuals from these groups in CRM companies expands their abilities and has the potential to make landmark contributions to archaeological work. As archaeology is overwhelmingly white, incorporating non-white people in CRM companies changes corporate cultures for the better. Diversity is the first step towards inclusivity, which is a major component of the anti-discrimination movement.

At a different level, some of these non-WASP groups are powerful social, economic, and political blocs that can partner with companies and government entities to push for their voices to be included in the narratives on the past that CRM companies create. They can also prompt politicians and agency administrators to choose certain companies over others. Allying with these groups can help a CRM company’s bottom line.

Regardless of how diverse a company gets, the primacy of field experience causes cultural resource management companies to self-select for a specific type of individual. CRM is open to hiring non-WASP individuals as long as they have the right credentials, experience, and can go out into the field without too much hassle. The same goes for Native people, African Americans, or any other non-White person. As a result, the ability to do fieldwork becomes a major determining factor on who gets to be a CRM archaeologist and who doesn’t.
I wrote this post because it addresses a major problem/situation in cultural resource management archaeology. Increasing diversity is important to the survival of CRM archaeology because, right now, the industry is fighting for its life. Increasing the number of constituencies that care about archaeology is one of the only ways cultural resource management remain an industry. Hiring non-WASPs is not the only form of diversity CRM needs to address. Let’s keep this conversation going. Please, write a comment below or send me an email.

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