Best products from r/Archaeology

Unfortunately, it's a reality of the field that, especially starting out, you'll do the best by being mobile, living light, and traveling cross-country to follow jobs. After you've built up a network, it's easier to pick and choose where you want to work. Embrace the shovelbum lifestyle for a few years and it can be a blast, but it's not without its tradeoffs. For more tips, I'll recommend [this book] (https://www.amazon.com/Field-Archaeologists-Survival-Guide-Management/dp/1611329280/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1482344207&sr=1-1&keywords=chris+webster) as well as some of the Archaeology Podcast Network shows.

In addition to shovelbums/archyfieldwork/usajobs, you can also search for archaeology jobs though sites like indeed.com or even craigslist. Jobs posted by large environmental firms show up on the former and sometimes small archaeology shops show up on the latter.

Also check with your SHPO to see if they maintain a list of local cultural resources firms and then browse their websites for job postings. By far though, you'll find the most jobs through your network. After you land your first job, maintain good contact with coworkers you like and respect. Be sure to pass along job postings to them and they'll likely do the same. Conferences, especially regional conferences, are also good resources for networking - even if you don't find a job directly, it's good to keep up with who is doing what kinds of research and where and will help you define your own interests and direct who you might like to work and/or study with in the future. Don't go broke trying to attend every conference in the hopes of getting a job though.

P.S. Don't forget to send R. Joe or Jennifer a donation (or buy them a conference beer!) if/when you get a job through their sites!

I was actually going to take a class on the Vikings this spring for kicks (main area of study is Near Eastern archaeology). While I ended up not being able to take the class due to time, I did keep the books since they did a pretty good job of introducing the topic to someone who never had any exposure to it before; not to mention they were extremely interesting!

A History of the Vikings by Gwyn Jones: Kind of dry, but very informative and helpful.

Medieval Scandinavia: From Conversion to Reformation, circa 800-1500 (Nordic Series) by Birgit and Peter Sawyer: If I recall correctly, the husband and wife who wrote this are both archaeologists. This was a pretty accesible book.

Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga edited by William F. Fitzhugh and Elisabeth Ward: Lots of information with lots of pictures!

Silver Economy in the Viking Age edited by James Graham-Campbell and Gareth Williams: This is also available on Amazon, but I had originally just bought the e-Book rental through this link. This book mostly concentrates on the archaeology of the Viking Age, if that's what you're looking for. I think I might just buy this book soon, haha.

Hopefully that helped a bit!

--edit--

/r/AskHistorians also seems to recommend The Viking World by Stefan Brink (as mentioned by /u/ThrostThrandson) and Exploring the World of the Vikings by Richard Hall. That subreddit has compiled a pretty extensive book list for a wide variety of subjects, if that interests you as well.

Definitely! [This] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Etruscan-World-Routledge-Worlds/dp/0415673089/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1382288219&sr=8-10&keywords=etruscan) is a great, SUPER new book (~2 months old) about a wide range of Etruscan studies, from archaeology to religion to writing. It really showcases current trends in the field, while also giving some general articles for background.

If you like languages, [this] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Etruscan-Language-Introduction-Revised/dp/0719055407/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1382288468&sr=8-1&keywords=etruscan+language) is the definitive book about the little-understood Etruscan language.

And if you don't mind some more general works that are a little older, these three served as my entry into the Etruscan world: [The Etruscans] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Etruscans-Graeme-Barker/dp/0631220380/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1382288562&sr=8-3&keywords=etruscan) is a general introduction, [Etruscan Art] (http://www.amazon.com/Etruscan-World-Nigel-Jonathan-Spivey/dp/0500203040/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1382288622&sr=8-5&keywords=etruscan) if you are more art-based, and [The Etruscan Life and Afterlife] (http://www.amazon.com/Etruscan-Life-Afterlife-Handbook-Studies/dp/0814318134/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1382288622&sr=8-6&keywords=etruscan) about religion, funerary archaeology/architecture, and general history. The last one was my guide as I wrote my undergrad thesis, so it is a personal favorite of mine.

Enjoy! They are really fascinating.

Edit: Thanks for gold!

Came here to respond but it seems like y'all summed it up pretty well. I'm not sure that the relatively unstable climate had a direct impact on the settling of the area, though of course it did (and does) impact the natural resources of the Eastern/Lower Cross Timbers which then further defines it as a transitional ecology. That transitional nature then manifest itself in the cultural realm. I think the defining quality of the region is that it was a buffer in all respects.

At first glance the gun/horse dichotomy seems sound, and of course elements of it make sense, but I'd venture to say that there are many more variables at play. It's never as simple as we'd like it to be. As always, European trade and influence played a major role, and if you want to delve into that mess I recommend the work of F. Todd Smith.

Also, if you haven't already, definitely check out The Cast Iron Forest by Francaviglia. He's got some helpful sources for sure.

As everyone else has said, textbooks are not going to teach you the physical way of excavating anything. All it will do is describe to you the process and the thinking behind the process. For a thorough education in field methods, I always recommend participating in or volunteering on an actual excavation. It's the best way to determine whether archaeology or history is better for you (I have several friends who changed their major after not enjoying their first excavation).

Most universities offer a field school, a university sponsored excavation for the express purpose of introducing students into field methods and practice. The site I work at is the field school for a few universities, including Harvard.

Here is a link to the website, which includes a volunteer application, if you are interested in working in Israel.

http://digashkelon.com/

I realize you may be more interested in digging in Britain. By all means, look up field schools there. It is by far the best way of learning methods, and you learn far more than you can learn in a book. You learn how it feels, how to determine what tool to use, how certain decisions are made about where to dig and how to dig, how the recording process works, etc.

If you feel the need to read a book anyway, I suggest Field Methods in Archaeology.

http://www.amazon.com/FIELD-METHODS-IN-ARCHAEOLOGY-SEVENTH/dp/1598744283

This was my first textbook I ever purchased, and I still have it, though I have not read it since that first semester. It was actually a textbook used for a field school, so I think it would cover most of the issues you want to know.

David Meltzer tends to be Clovis-first oriented (I believe he even rescinded his endorsement of Monte Verde, if I remember right), but his book is a good overview of the current state of early Paleoindian archaeology. Gary Haynes is much the same way, except he's a more extreme Clovis-firster.

Supplement his book with the Dillehay, et al. Monte Verde report and Waters, et al.'s Science article on the Buttermilk Creek/Friedkin site, and you'll get a good perspective on the two best pre-Clovis sites I know of.

Finally, if you can hold out till December or so, Stanford and Bradley will finally be coming out with their book on the much-maligned Solutrean migration theory. There are a lot of valid criticisms of this idea, but I personally still think it's worth a look.

Edit: Also check out Paleoamerican Origins to get a summary of various Pre-Clovis sites that haven't been touched on elsewhere (like Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Overstreet's mammoth butchering sites in Wisconsin). It might be more academic than Meltzer or Haynes' books, but you'll be ready for it after reading theirs.

Well I would figure out what attracts you to the field in the first place.
Is it the diving? Are you primarily interested in developments in nautical technology or are you more interested in anthropological questions? Do you want to be a professor?

I would strongly recommend reading as much literature as you can do get a grasp on the field as it currently exists. Here are a couple books that I would recommend starting with.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0306453304/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used

http://www.amazon.com/Shipwreck-Anthropology-Richard-A-Gould/dp/1938645049

1. Lab work, paperwork, compiling reports, data analytics, and artifact conservation. Once you're above the technician level, you also do a lot of coordination and might end up in contact with tribal governments and that sort of thing.
   
   
2. As a field tech starting out, expect to be traveling at random without much warning for anywhere between a week to a month at a time. Actual time away from home is pretty much your entire summer, and more sporadic until the mid spring/mid fall. You'll likely get nothing whatever during late fall/winter/early spring. This is for commercial archaeology, but academic archaeology operates on roughly the same schedule.
   
   
3. Depends where you're at and what you're doing, but it's usually
   50/50, maybe 60/40 lab/field.
   
   
4. Books really depend on what time period and culture you're interested in. For maritime, Beneath the Seven Seas by George F. Bass is a good first book. Ships and Shipwrecks of the Americas by George F. Bass is a good second book, as it's a bit more encyclopedic.

Masks of Exploit: Göbekli Tepe & Pillars of the Pharaoh System

At the heartland of Mesopotamia, today’s Republic of Turkey, an astounding discovery of the world's first temple was made, rewriting history of human civilization. Before agriculture, pottery and the wheel... 7,000 years older than the Giza Pyramids... 7,500 years older and 50 times larger than the Stonehenge. We have a great opportunity to look into its secrets because it was intentionally buried and preserved.

APPLE BOOKS (ENGLISH): http://books.apple.com/us/book/id1480322386

APPLE BOOKS (TURKISH): http://books.apple.com/us/book/id1481146593

AMAZON KINDLE (ENGLISH): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07X5MPQWC/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

AMAZON PAPERBACK (ENGLISH): https://www.amazon.com/dp/1690752211

I'm not sure of anything like what you're looking for, but Trigger's History of Archaeological Thought is a pretty decent all around guide to the development of archaeological theory, though it tends to be more US-focused. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0521600499

Here's another good one: http://www.amazon.ca/History-Archaeological-Thought-Bruce-Trigger/dp/0521600499

It has a large section on post-processualism in reference to other paradigms of archaeological thought. Good book to own for archaeologists in general.

This was fantastic and now I want to own this game.

Edit: https://smile.amazon.com/Wood-Expressions-The-Game-of/dp/B00005TNHO