Latest Data: 2020
This page reviews the demographic profiles of the workforce in each of the sub-sectors (areas of practice) in UK professional archaeology.
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In previous Profiling the Profession surveys, data on positions in archaeology were provided by employers and this provided a level of anonymity as it was much harder to identify individual users because it was unknown whether a person’s employer had provided the information about them and their job or not. In the 2020 survey, these data were collected from individuals, thus removing that layer of protection.
The aggregate responses for different positions (job titles) form data sets that are too small to adequately ensure anonymity. So, other than providing average and median incomes per position (job title), the demographic data are provided at a sub-sector level, aggregating information by areas of work rather than by job titles.
Considering wages and responses per position to this survey, the counts indicate that this survey might be skewed to higher positions, especially in contracting archaeology where more Project Officers responded than Technicians. However, because we do not know the complete distribution of roles within the sector we cannot determine if this is the case or if they are, in fact, representative.
Incomes presented are both reported and normalised rates (see page on pay for description of this). These profiles have been generated from reported ‘primary’ jobs; where people had more than one job, most secondary jobs were in the same sub-sector, though a small number were not, mostly individuals teaching a single course at a higher education institution.
Table 2.19.1: Number of respondents per general positions, median and average incomes both actual incomes and incomes normalised to full-time of 37.5 hours, 2019-20. Income calculations excluded for samples of 5 or less for data protection.
| Number of responses | Normalized income 37.5 hrs | Actual income | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average | Median | Average | Median | ||
| Contractor Roles | |||||
| Trainee, Apprentice or Intern | 4 | ||||
| Technician | 58 | £20,361 | £19,694 | £19,691 | £19,529 |
| Supervisor | 83 | £22,226 | £21,892 | £21,960 | £21,640 |
| Project Officer | 102 | £27,254 | £26,000 | £26,308 | £25,778 |
| Senior Manager | 62 | £36,608 | £35,236 | £36,519 | £35,000 |
| Executive | 24 | £40,082 | £34,486 | £38,276 | £30,250 |
| Specialist | 80 | £28,957 | £26,125 | £24,397 | £24,750 |
| Consultant | 6 | £31,476 | £11,954 | £41,313 | £13,469 |
| any other role | 21 | £24,530 | £23,991 | £23,110 | £23,200 |
| Local Heritage Management Roles | |||||
| Archaeological Curator | 55 | £36,416 | £32,432 | £34,523 | £32,000 |
| Historic Environment Record Officer | 26 | £30,319 | £29,238 | £27,094 | £26,000 |
| Conservation Officer | 2 | ||||
| any other role | 34 | £31,820 | £30,380 | £29,426 | £29,764 |
| Consultancy Roles | |||||
| Trainee, Apprentice or Intern | 2 | ||||
| Consultant | 94 | £38,215 | £31,988 | £34,830 | £31,250 |
| Specialist | 17 | £36,498 | £9,375 | £26,636 | £8,000 |
| any other role | 14 | £42,982 | £33,516 | £38,488 | £30,750 |
| National Heritage Agency Roles | |||||
| Trainee, Apprentice or Intern | 1 | ||||
| Technician or Administrator | 3 | ||||
| Officer | 55 | £36,568 | £35,711 | £34,150 | £34,000 |
| Manager | 30 | £45,186 | £44,797 | £43,768 | £44,000 |
| Senior manager or Executive | 8 | £53,344 | £53,407 | £51,429 | £52,000 |
| any other role | 9 | £39,307 | £36,458 | £31,840 | £31,250 |
| Museums Roles | |||||
| Trainee, Apprentice or Intern | 1 | ||||
| Museum officer | 15 | £31,622 | £27,365 | £25,895 | £24,000 |
| Museum liaison officer | 5 | £ | £ | £ | £ |
| Manager | 13 | £42,895 | £38,511 | £42,833 | £37,998 |
| Specialist | 6 | £27,617 | £26,961 | £23,604 | £24,250 |
| any other role | 19 | £34,984 | £32,472 | £28,696 | £30,800 |
| Academia Roles | |||||
| Faculty | 33 | £45,248 | £45,000 | £37,911 | £38,050 |
| Senior Faculty | 9 | £67,600 | £65,000 | £59,571 | £62,000 |
| Specialist | 8 | £31,375 | £17,236 | £32,993 | £18,000 |
| Other Staff – e.g. Research Assistant / Researcher / Technician | 21 | £32,541 | £29,683 | £29,774 | £29,000 |
| any other role | 12 | £31,028 | £14,040 | £16,850 | £9,400 |
| Public Archaeology Roles | |||||
| Trainee, Apprentice or Intern | 1 | ||||
| Technician or Administrator | 1 | ||||
| Officer | 24 | £29,826 | £26,605 | £24,688 | £24,295 |
| Manager | 10 | £28,936 | £28,579 | £27,862 | £26,500 |
| Senior manager or Executive | 6 | £36,989 | £38,007 | £37,076 | £38,000 |
| any other role | 9 | £23,575 | £ | £18,700 | £ |
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Women dominate the Museum/Heritage site sub-sector in this sampling. We know from HESA data that women are slightly over-represented in our sample of academics, as there are more men than women in academia currently 46.5% vs 53.5%. Such a variation is to be expected in surveys such as this. Given the sampling of jobs and that women are more prevalent in the less experienced positions, while contractor positions are likely over representative of men. Such variation is normal when samples are separated our into ever smaller categories. Overall, these variations cancel each other out for the high level categories but for these sub-sectors, unless the variation is quite large, one should not draw significant conclusions for minor changes between sub-sectors.
Table 2.19.2: Gender by sub-sector, 2019-20.
| Gender | Female | Male | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | % | Count | % | Count | |
| Contractor | 201 | 47% | 225 | 53% | 426 |
| Local Heritage Management | 50 | 45% | 60 | 55% | 110 |
| Consultancy | 57 | 46% | 67 | 54% | 124 |
| National Heritage Agency | 49 | 49% | 52 | 51% | 101 |
| Museum or Heritage / Cultural Attraction | 38 | 66% | 20 | 34% | 58 |
| Academia | 44 | 54% | 38 | 46% | 82 |
| Public Archaeology | 26 | 53% | 23 | 47% | 49 |
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Most young archaeologists work in contracting archaeology. The populations of local and national heritage management tend to skew towards older workers.
Table 2.19.3: Age by sub-sector, 2019-20.
| Age | <30 | 30-39 | 40-49 | 50-59 | 60+ | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | % | Count | % | Count | % | Count | % | Count | % | Count | |
| Contractor | 83 | 20% | 125 | 29% | 103 | 24% | 73 | 17% | 41 | 10% | 425 |
| Local Heritage Management | 5 | 5% | 23 | 21% | 32 | 29% | 35 | 32% | 16 | 14% | 111 |
| Consultancy | 13 | 10% | 33 | 26% | 37 | 30% | 25 | 20% | 17 | 14% | 125 |
| National Heritage Agency | 4 | 4% | 19 | 19% | 33 | 32% | 28 | 27% | 18 | 18% | 102 |
| Museum or Heritage / Cultural Attraction | 5 | 9% | 11 | 19% | 18 | 31% | 18 | 31% | 6 | 10% | 58 |
| Academia | 4 | 5% | 19 | 24% | 24 | 30% | 19 | 24% | 14 | 18% | 80 |
| Public Archaeology | 3 | 6% | 19 | 37% | 14 | 27% | 11 | 22% | 4 | 8% | 51 |
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Contractor and Public Archaeology sub-sectors skew towards the lower end of pay. The majority of archaeologists work in these subsectors.
Table 2.19.4: Income (normalised to FTE) by sub-sector, 2019-20. Some results removed for data protection.
| £<19,999 | £20-29,999 | £30-39,999 | £40-49,999 | £50,000+ | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | % | Count | % | Count | % | Count | % | Count | % | Count | |
| Contractor | 42 | 11% | 226 | 59% | 75 | 19% | 27 | 7% | 15 | 4% | 385 |
| Local Heritage Management | Removed | % | 25 | 25% | 60 | 60% | 15 | 15% | Removed | % | 100 |
| Consultancy | Removed | % | 24 | 24% | 36 | 37% | 14 | 14% | 24 | 24% | 98 |
| National Heritage Agency | Removed | % | 11 | 11% | 45 | 44% | 31 | 30% | 16 | 16% | 103 |
| Museum or Heritage / Cultural Attraction | Removed | % | 17 | 38% | 18 | 40% | 10 | 22% | Removed | % | 45 |
| Academia | Removed | % | 8 | 13% | 18 | 30% | 16 | 27% | 18 | 30% | 60 |
| Public Archaeology | Removed | % | 19 | 61% | 12 | 39% | 3 | 10% | Removed | % | 31 |
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No self-employed archaeologists reported working in Local or National heritage management, nor in Museums/Heritage sites.
Table 2.19.5: Employment type by sub-sector, 2019-20.
| Employment Type | Employee | Self-employed | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | % | Count | % | Count | |
| Contractor | 371 | 88% | 49 | 12% | 420 |
| Local Heritage Management | 113 | 100% | 113 | ||
| Consultancy | 93 | 74% | 32 | 26% | 125 |
| National Heritage Agency | 104 | 100% | 104 | ||
| Museum or Heritage / Cultural Attraction | 57 | 100% | 57 | ||
| Academia | 70 | 88% | 10 | 13% | 80 |
| Public Archaeology | 36 | 75% | 12 | 25% | 48 |
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Academia and Public Archaeology have some the lowest levels of permanent contracts.
Table 2.19.6: Contract type by sub-sector, 2019-20. Some results removed for data protection.
| Contract Type | Permanent contract | Zero hours | Fixed term | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | % | Count | % | Count | % | Count | |
| Contractor | 347 | 86% | 18 | 4% | 37 | 9% | 402 |
| Local Heritage Management | 99 | 89% | % | 12 | 11% | 111 | |
| Consultancy | 93 | 79% | 18 | 15% | 7 | 6% | 118 |
| National Heritage Agency | 96 | 94% | Removed | % | 6 | 6% | 102 |
| Museum or Heritage / Cultural Attraction | 41 | 80% | Removed | % | 10 | 20% | 51 |
| Academia | 47 | 62% | 8 | 11% | 21 | 28% | 76 |
| Public Archaeology | 25 | 54% | 10 | 22% | 11 | 24% | 46 |
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Development-led archaeology (contracting and consulting) and public archaeology have the highest levels of staff turnover. Those working for national heritage agencies tend to have been with their organisation for the longest.
Table 2.19.7: Time with current organisation by sub-sector, 2019-20.Some results removed for data protection.
| Time in current job | Less than 2 years | 2-5 years | 5-10 years | 10-20 years | 20+ years | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | % | Count | % | Count | % | Count | % | Count | % | Count | |
| Contractor | 96 | 25% | 115 | 31% | 77 | 20% | 61 | 16% | 28 | 7% | 377 |
| Local Heritage Management | 21 | 20% | 22 | 21% | 18 | 17% | 26 | 25% | 19 | 18% | 106 |
| Consultancy | 38 | 33% | 34 | 30% | 20 | 17% | 16 | 14% | 7 | 6% | 115 |
| National Heritage Agency | 8 | 8% | 18 | 18% | 16 | 16% | 36 | 36% | 23 | 23% | 101 |
| Museum or Heritage / Cultural Attraction | 9 | 16% | 8 | 14% | 11 | 20% | 20 | 36% | 8 | 14% | 56 |
| Academia | 15 | 22% | 11 | 16% | 13 | 19% | 19 | 28% | 11 | 16% | 69 |
| Public Archaeology | 13 | 38% | 11 | 32% | 10 | 29% | Removed | Removed | 34 | ||
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Similarly, those in contracting and public archaeology have typically been working archaeology for the least amount of time.
Table 2.19.8: Time in archaeology by sub-sector, 2019-20.
| Time in archaeology | < 5 years | 5-10 years | 10-20 years | 20+ years | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | % | Count | % | Count | % | Count | % | Count | |
| Contractor | 106 | 27% | 76 | 19% | 113 | 29% | 101 | 26% | 396 |
| Local Heritage Management | 14 | 13% | 11 | 10% | 25 | 23% | 58 | 54% | 108 |
| Consultancy | 18 | 15% | 11 | 9% | 35 | 29% | 55 | 46% | 119 |
| National Heritage Agency | 8 | 8% | 12 | 12% | 30 | 29% | 53 | 51% | 103 |
| Museum or Heritage / Cultural Attraction | 6 | 11% | 8 | 15% | 17 | 32% | 22 | 42% | 53 |
| Academia | 8 | 11% | 10 | 14% | 17 | 24% | 36 | 51% | 71 |
| Public Archaeology | 14 | 34% | 9 | 22% | 12 | 29% | 6 | 15% | 41 |
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Almost all archaeologists working in academia have PhDs. The figures for Masters as highest levels of qualification are combined with 'other' because all the other qualifications reported were postgraduate diplomas or certificates.
Table 2.19.9: Qualifications by sub-sector, 2019-20. Some results removed for data protection.
| Qualification | Post-doctoral & Doctorate qualification | Master's + Other degree | Bachelor's degree | Foundation degree or HND or School qualification | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | % | Count | % | Count | % | Count | % | Count | |
| Contractor | 56 | 13% | 218 | 50% | 154 | 35% | 11 | 3% | 439 |
| Local Heritage Management | 23 | 20% | 50 | 43% | 43 | 37% | Removed | 116 | |
| Consultancy | 29 | 23% | 68 | 53% | 31 | 24% | Removed | 128 | |
| National Heritage Agency | 30 | 28% | 52 | 49% | 24 | 23% | Removed | 106 | |
| Museum or Heritage / Cultural Attraction | 17 | 29% | 33 | 57% | 8 | 14% | Removed | 58 | |
| Academia | 67 | 84% | 13 | 16% | Removed | Removed | 80 | ||
| Public Archaeology | 14 | 29% | 21 | 43% | 14 | 29% | Removed | 49 | |
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Contracting and academia were the subsectors with the highest percentages of citizens from outside the UK working in them.
Table 2.19.10: Citizenship by sub-sector, 2019-20. Some non-UK categories combined to ensure anonymity with low numbers.
| Citizenship | UK | EU country | non-UK or EU country | Non-UK | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | % | Count | % | Count | % | Count | % | Count | |
| Contractor | 381 | 82% | 64 | 14% | 18 | 4% | 463 | ||
| Local Heritage Management | 110 | 92% | 10 | 8% | 120 | ||||
| Consultancy | 113 | 78% | 15 | 10% | 17 | 12% | 145 | ||
| National Heritage Agency | 105 | 89% | 13 | 11% | 118 | ||||
| Museum or Heritage / Cultural Attraction | 57 | 93% | 4 | 7% | 61 | ||||
| Academia | 67 | 71% | 20 | 21% | 8 | 16% | 95 | ||
| Public Archaeology | 48 | 89% | 6 | 11% | 54 | ||||
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Image Credit
Image from Digital Archive for an Archaeological Investigation at Whaddon Flood Alleviation Scheme, Priors Farm, Cheltenham 2017 Cotswold Archaeology, 2021. https://doi.org/10.5284/1086821. 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:
July 3rd 2020 - figure 2.19.6 and table 2.19.7 working changed from time in job to time in organisation which is more accurate.
Credits
Title: Profiling the Profession
2020 Authors: Kenneth Aitchison, Poppy German and Doug Rocks-Macqueen
Published by: Landward Research Ltd
Version Date: 2021
ISBN: 978-0-9572452-8-0
DOI: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.14333387
License: CC BY SA 4.0 for all body text and figures. Header images are from different sources; check image credits for their specific licensing.
2020 funders: Historic England, with support from Historic Environment Scotland, CIfA and FAME.