4.1 Former Archaeologists

Latest Data: 2020 (Updated November 2021, see change log)

This page reviews the responses to the individual survey provided by self-identifying former archaeologists.

Highlights

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The Profiling the Profession 2020 survey also included a set of questions for former archaeologists. A total of 114 responses were received. There are no data on how many former UK archaeologists exist, or on their demographic information, this means have no frame of reference to judge how representative this sample is. The results should thus not be view as representations of all former archaeologists.

Demographics of Respondents

Analysis (see methods) found no correlations between any of the demographic information gathered and the responses, except that those over 60 were more likely to have left archaeology because of retirement – which was not an insightful finding. The demographics of former archaeologists mostly match the demographics of the current profession, except former archaeologists include a much larger number of older individuals (retired) and less carers. The full data is included so if in the future a demographic profile of former archaeologists is established the results can then be used to estimate how representative the sample was/is.

Table 4.1.1: Demographics of former archaeologists, 2019-20.

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Responses

Respondents were asked then they started working in archaeology and when they stopped. Not all responded with these details. Also, one individual felt they have never left archaeology – so their answers were removed from the responses and counts. 24 of the respondents had been working for five years or less and 70 for more than five years.

Table 4.1.2: Decades respondents started and left archaeology, 2019-20.

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Respondents were asked why they left archaeology. Reasons can be complex, as mentioned in some of the comments, some took early retirement and the reasons listed were contributing factors. As such, splitting the answers into retired and non-retired individuals does not perfectly capture the complexity of why people leave archaeology. That being said, the largest number of responses for leaving from those who had not left through retirement were financial reasons, inability to find steady work or a lack of career progression.

Table 4.1.3: Respondents reasons for leaving archaeology, 2019-20.

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Comments

Respondents could provide free text answers and many did. In some instances, we have redacted information that might allow the individual to be identified. The comments were:

• I struggle with admin [disability] and all work seemed to include more and more and more form-filling. I could do the work fine, but not the admin. Also, I was moving hundreds of miles for personal reasons, and knew nobody in my new place, so since we didn’t need me to earn lots, I just stayed with some part-time non-archaeo bits of work.
• Promotion meant more diverse role
• Recession hit hard and realised I could earn more outside of the profession with a normal lifestyle
• Never really got started in an archaeology profession. It seems pretty clear whilst studying that there wasn’t enough work to make an occupation of it, and not well-paid. Perhaps if I’d had a first class undergraduate degree, that might have been different.
• Redundancy. couldn’t find work. Family circumstances meant i had to take on a carer’s role. Then couldn’t afford all the ‘Cards’ to get back in work
• continued for 3+ years past 65
• My specialism is technology (IT) – there are limited opportunities in archaeology to progress in this professional area.
• I wanted to work abroad for a while and take a break from archeology.
• Transitioned to heritage/public sector (archaeology adjacent)
• Made redundant, changed career
• Due to Brexit my work visa could not be renewed and while my former employer and others promised a visa was in the works I became financially unable to return to the UK.
• Moved into a scientific specialism in the civil service using same skills for 66% more pay and with career progression
• I was the manager of an Archive and Archaeology service within local government. I felt I had achieved a lot but I wanted to do my own research projects rather than facilitate others to do the “real” archaeology
• Having a fiance and mortgage I could not afford to live and work away each week
• Due to poor management and a lack of CPD, as well as generally power welfare/wellbeing conditions, I just lost faith in the industry. I’m fed up now as well with seeing the way it is still taking inexperienced graduates and putting them into terrible conditions on away work. The lack of proper managerial support in the industry is also awful – the lack of having someone to back you up and a sense of knowing that the client is king above the welfare of archaeological staff is so demoralising.
• My work evolved into more general heritage management
• Working with staff who are rude, bitter and generally unpleasant. Unwillingness of companies to try and move forward and improve conditions
• I left commercial archaeology to move back to [country] to begin my PhD. However, I felt I no longer wanted to work in the sector due to the above reasons.
• Positive move into museums sector
• Repeatedly forced to be a “acting” Supervisor, 3 spinal points above contract… and dropped again as soon as the job was done…. biscuit was taken when I was sent on a job under a Supervisor who was a Potential Project Officer, after one week he was sent to another site and I was left as a Senior Supervisor (5 spinal points above contract) while the project manager was on holiday so I had negligible support and the job had been compromised since day one due to time and machinery restrictions. Only to be dropped back to ordinary digger when I got back. I told them to promote me or stop messing about… the following week they made me acting Super again…. and I have notice – it was a horribly unfair way to be treated.
• Continue to work casually a few hours a week helping out on specific projects
• I decided to retire slightly earlier than necessary because I wanted to ensure that my job was re-advertised and that it would allow a younger person to get a job
• I first left archaeology in [year] due to having a baby. I then worked a few summers here and there until I returned full time in [year]. I left again in 2019 because of a number of reasons including my physical health (long hours, driving, back and hip pain…i was off work for a month when my back gave out), managerial level stress (mental health), no time for my family, brexit, poor pay even at PO level and high living expenses in SE England
• Made redundant and took early retirement
• Took early retirement
• Redundancy
• Low pay for lots of responsibility. Progression is slow and was often acting up.
• Little pay for lots of responsibilities. Now work in a sector where I have fewer responsibilities but get paid more
• A combination of the company I worked for at the time being so horrendous I became disillusioned with the commercial sector. I also wanted to shift into the heritage field and focus on starting a PhD
• Now more involved in teaching archaeology rather than fieldwork or specialist skills
• I worked self employed but increasingly was clear I was in a situation to be exploited off with a singular contractor. Harassed and belittled constantly by my work and inappropriate chat surrounding my bisexuality. Was told a month before Xmas that “that’s it!” After taking my only holiday in years.
  No recognition of a long part time and volunteer career in archaeology before becoming a professional in terms of career progression/payment.
• Been unable to find work since graduating
• Have studied out of interest and I make a lot more money being a software engineer
• End of project assignment
• Change of career to a landscape architect although continue to study
• Redundancy in last recession
• I went from being a field archaeologist to working in an office based role for an archaeology company
• I am a museum curator so I do still do work with archaeology but I am also a manager and work with other collections.
• Change of job
• Every new position forces you to start at the bottom, wages are not enough to live off of and industry makes you pay for using your own vehicle for work.
• Made redundant thanks to Tory destruction of local government.
• Was stuck in a position with no scope for further promotion, even after pushing with the employer they said they couldn’t do anything.
• Less experienced male colleagues were paid more than me, I had pointed this out to management who made no effort to address this. Male colleagues who had lower workloads and fee targets given much larger discretionary bonuses. Management fairly uncaring when major family illness incidents occurred, reluctant to give me time off. Frequently worked longer than contractual hours, and the stress and low pay from the job was incompatible with my chronic health problems and newborn children. I left my employer feeling that I had been taken for granted for many years.
• Moved area for husband’s work.
• I still work in the archaeological sector but not as an archaeologist as such so this is tricky to answer. I didn’t stop working as an archaeologist for any negative reason, just a different career path
• I am a specialist and there were no jobs in my specialism at the time.
• I was offered a funded PhD back in my home country and grabbed the opportunity
• 2008 Financial Crisis fucked up my life, along with 1500 or more other professionals who’ve left the profession
• Lack of financial security, lack of pension. Lack of training opportunities – despite me asking at several companies I worked for (ignored as considered short-term staff). Lack of assistance/ understanding with physical aspects of digging (just get on with it). Unsuitable tools (too heavy & ended up with RSI & longer term back, neck & shoulders issues).”
• Made redundant from one role [year], then next in [year].
• I was offered a museum post that I was interested in but hadn’t previously considered
• Promotion to non-specialist role in same organisation.
• Long journeys + poor pay made the work unviable.
• I had been with the same commercial unit for a number of years and been promoted several times. However, it got to a point where I was doing the same office work day in and day out. I had specified a number of things I wanted to learn further or work on and was promised such work continuously but it never came. I left to work in an industry where I have the opportunity to continue to learn new technologies.
• I still worked in heritage but focused more in heritage interpretation (exhibitions, public engagement etc.). So technically employed as a heritage interpretation officer. But i still was involved in arch work, but to a less degree.
• I got a postdoc!
• I still have links to archaeology but I got another qualification in a similar field.
• I never started. Did my degree but couldn’t find work that paid a living wage
• Moved into administrative roles.
• Medical

Respondents were asked if they “would you ever consider going back to work in archaeology?”. A little less than two-thirds said they would. Excluding those that had retired only marginally changes this number (increases to 65%). Respondents were able to provided comments on this question, which indicates that going back to work for some would be for small projects or bits of work, not necessarily full-time work. The survey date for this survey was March 2020, respondents were asked to provide information for their situation then and so several of the respondents had subsequently rejoined the profession between the census date and filling in the survey later in the year.

Table 4.1.4: Responses from former archaeologists to “would you ever consider going back to work in archaeology?”, 2019-20.

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Comments

Respondents could provide comments on this and some did. These were:

• I would love to do occasional stints, and have a few contacts now, but I suspect I am so out of date with current practice I wouldn’t really be employable. All the pieces of paper everyone needs nowadays, certification of this, membership of that, I get lost….
• The conditions remain poor and the wages are still not attractive
• If CIFA membership and all the cards were paid by an employer perhaps. At least a 6 month contract
• I put in about 2 days a week help to my former work organisation
• Possibly yes in a Trustee or NED role.
• As of September 2020 I am employed full time in archaeology.
• I am still in the heritage sector and if the right opportunity came up I would return to archaeology
• I take up work, fee-paid or otherwise, if I wish to
• It’s not the same as it once was; it’s become a ‘functionary’ job
• If I were able to return and work in the UK I would only do so if wages and site conditions were improved.
• No one should ever have to relieve themselves behind a spoil heap.
• I still do bits of freelance work but am now able to pick and choose work I would like to do. However the lack of professional recognition for specialist skills, the lack of prospects for specialists mean it is not a viable career.
• Whilst I am not actively looking for paid employment at the moment I would be delighted to undertake paid pieces of work which interest me if I was offered them.
• I am currently a volunteer board member of an archaeological organisation.
• If the work was located near enough to commute to and from home
• Plenty of voluntary contact with archaeology in retirement
• Still involved in unpaid community archaeology
• I might have to if my current contract outside of archaeology ends and I miss elements of it, just not the mismanagement and lack of professionalism and training.
• It became uneconomic to continue due to low pay and lack of career progression. I got a job lecturing in [area] because of my soft skills as a self employed archaeologist for 10+ years
• The pay and working conditions will never be adequate as too many staff (mostly management) are content with the status quo so long as they make marginal profits for their employers which keeps them in a job. All top level management in archaeology needs a complete overhaul with new, younger people coming in to move the industry forward. Archaeology will forever be the joke of the construction industry
• I would not like to work in commercial archaeology again. Though I would like to work in it in an academic or heritage/museums context.
• Have moved back into related work – historic buildings.
• I would love to, I love digging, I may not be in Commercial, but I am still an archaeologist (there was no option in the prior question to say, “still an archaeologist in my spare time” – just “Former Archaeologist”…But, I also want a home life, the driving killed me (I have the 16 seater licence so I was ALWAYS the driver and it did me in), decent pay (Since I left I have lost count of the potential employers who have said they “cannot afford me”… only for them to be shocked to learn how little we earn). Also CIFA are a pain, for 10 years they kept moving the vocational goal posts. ..every time I qualified I found out they had been changed again and that was very depressing.
• Not to be fucked about and have the piss taken.
• Maybe voluntary role
• I have done a good deal of ‘professional’ archaeology since I retired – in the area of editing, finds drawing and commentary, also sitting on various committees (!) and judging panels. I also work for learned societies and local history societies
• In a research/voluntary capacity
  I plan to return in summers. I work as a teacher and can split my time between the two professions. I may return full time when my child leaves school.
• I have been (before covid/2020)casual summertime fieldworker for my former employer after my retirement
• Prefer to remain retired if possible
• I can keep my archaeology activities going whilst retired
• Would consider short term and/or part time employment unpaid i.e. as a volunteer
• AM r-training elsewhere now
• If there was a significant pay rise especially at supervisor level.
• If there were a serious increase in pay. Not just keeping up with inflation. Also if the industry was more standardised in terms of career progression and titles. There needs to be a bigger pay jump between site assistant and supervisor to make it worth progressing
• I miss archaeology a lot but the pay isn’t good enough for the constant tiredness, aches, and potential long-term injuries. Especially whilst the commercial sector is highly problematic still.
• As soon as I’m able to find work, and my financial commitments allow. Currently I have two adult children and a partner studying at university, who rely on my higher income
• Always happy to consider opportunities of the right sort as and when they arise
• Even though retired from full-time paid employment I do occasional work for a previous employer and also ex-colleagues who have their own businesses
• I want to know I can be treated with respect and bare minimum things of security to progress in life. Secure job for a mortgage so I’m spending less per month to actually organise my life. Something short term or shaky contracts don’t do.
• If pay moved more in line with average remuneration for those of equivalent education/experience in the general jobs market, and opportunities for long term contracts/permanent employment were improved.
• Yes, but at my age would never be accepted. Trying to find entry level positions in areas other than field excavation is impossible
• I never got started
• Archaeological training at university (site techniques and field techniques) came to my rescue when struggling to find work as either an archaeological or a stone conservator.
• back in archaeology now
• Careers are not well remunerated enough to support a family
• I returned to archaeology in Feb 2020
• To go back would be a demotion for me as I’m now 3+ years of out the field and I can’t afford to work for less money, I like having a permanent contract and frankly I was sick of the weather. I would like to curate an archaeological collection but I feel my object expertise is lacking. I do count myself lucky to have a job in a museum at all. I fear the economic fallout from Covid will make paid museum jobs rarer.
• I still want to work in the industry, but with Covid it is virtually impossible
• If the right job appeared on my doorstep. I’m not prepared to move for work (with the exception of moving to an EU country – which is now not available to me, thanks to Tory theft of my freedom of movement.)
• I now earn too much to ever go back to archaeology
• When my children start school, I would like to return to work. However the high cost of childcare and the low wages of archaeology make this near impossible at the present.
• I returned to the sector in oct 2020
• only as a volunteer
• I undertake periodic consultancy work but not as a necessary supplement to my income.
• I have since returned to archaeology as a job in my specialism became available.
• Bad pay, bad backache. Not worth it
• I’d consider it but it does not pay anything like enough, it’s hardly a profession if you get paid a couple of quid above minimum wage!
  “But…:
  I’ve been out of the profession since [year] and despite my efforts in the past 5 years, no-one is interested, nor willing to help. It’s not helped by the lack of work in the [region] & the large amounts of sole traders and no units that will take on staff (long term). I can’t travel for 2 hours one way, every day to get to [location] or [location] & I can’t move due to personal commitments.
• I’m not able to travel to away work for various reasons & my physical health [disability] means I’m not prepared to sacrifice my body as much as I’d love to dig or be an environmental processor/ technician again.
• Combined with no work opportunities, I fear I will not return to the profession in any guise. Even volunteering is thin on the ground as far as I can tell. For all I’m a member of a couple of organisations, I don’t hear about digs until it’s too late (you’re expected to be able to drop everything at the last minute). I work part time in retail, so I have to juggle work around any volunteering. I’m at the point where I’m not bothering any more as I’m so discouraged by it all and my confidence has taken some terminal knocks. Trying to get your foot in the door again after so long has proven a nightmare – I have no links in the [region] for all I’m from here originally. My experience is, unfamiliar archaeologists are not welcomed here in the [region] and viewed with suspicion. I’ve got so sick of the ‘Who the hell are you?’ response, I’ve pretty much given up as I’ve made no headway. Surely I’ve got some skills that could be helpful to an organisation, but I don’t hear back.
• Needed to keep a roof over my head…
• Poor salary, unrealistic expectations on staff, unsociable hours for carers etc. my current salary is £20K more than in my managerial role in commercial archaeology
• I intend returning to field work probably as a volunteer when I retire
• I am very happy in my new role. While my outlook and attitudes are informed by my professional knowledge and archaeological experience I choose to apply my efforts elsewhere now.
• Just not financially viable. Had enough of working in winter.
• I’ve had enough of the discrimination, the exclusions, the doing the work at a higher level than paid for but never being delivered on promotion; never enough money in budgets so you work all hours of the day, night and weekend.
• While the field I work in now is not archaeology, many of the methods and principles can be applied in a heritage context. This, coupled with the ability to participate in research projects from many other fields as well, means that I don’t have a desire to go back to solely working in archaeology
• I start again in Jan 2021
• still do voluntary work in archaeology
• I would go back to field archaeology if I was desperate – it wasn’t that bad. I work in academia but no doubt the bottom will fall out of that market soon
• Now that I’ve moved back home to [country] I would consider working in the field because the pay is reasonable. It wasn’t viable in the UK where I did my master’s degree
• New job in archaeology to start in February

User requested analysis

A user requested a break down of responses by gender. There was essentially no difference between responses by gender. A higher percentage of women would return to archaeology, however, that difference can be accounted for by the higher number of men having retired and thus would not return.

Table 4.1.5: Responses by gender, 2019-20.

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Image Credit

Images from an Aerial Survey at Fort Charles, Devon 2020 Simon Batsman, Adam Stanford, 2021. https://doi.org/10.5284/1084952 CC BY

Version control and change log

As a digital document we may update parts of this page in the future to account for corrections or the need for clarification. Please use the version when citing:

Version: 1.1

Change log:

November 11th 2021 – A user requested data on the responses by gender. Table 4.1.5 was added with commentary.