Nov 13, 2025
I’ve said this three times this week so I should say it here too:
I’m an anthropologist because it means I get to be a Professional Nosy Person.
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I’ve said this three times this week so I should say it here too:
I’m an anthropologist because it means I get to be a Professional Nosy Person.
You know the stories about bands having a specific thing in their rider, like the brown MnMs, as a test to see how safe their stage will be?
I think the construction equivalent is the morning tailboard.
Every time I go to a tailboard and it’s thorough, people know what’s going on, and there’s a good safety coverage - I’m going to like working with them a lot.
I work in compliance. I have to make sure rules are followed. When the safety officer is laughing and joking with the crew? But still heard and respected? I’m going to be treated the same way. If everyone knows what’s up for the project and is expected to pitch in? They’re going to listen if I have to stop them, and not try to work when I’m somewhere else.
If they do a stretch and flex? Gold star. They’re going to take care of their people (including me!) if conditions get extreme.
If they view the safety briefing as a box to check? The safety officer is more interested in enforcement than getting everyone home at the end of the day? (This does happen). I’m going to have to watch them like hawks for careless violations or them trying to work without my team in place.
It’s definitely a snap judgement and not something that’s perfect, but it’s sure a sign of something.
Hi no pressure at all to answer this but I want to be an archaeologist (the kind that goes into bogs and deserts ultimately but any kind honestly) and I was wondering how your career path went? How did you become an archaeologist, and what is the job like?
Hey! Glad to talk about this.
I'm lucky because I figured out that I wanted to be an archaeologist at age 11, and was able to start building the career then - local field schools (with very patient parents also coming along), an AA degree with courses in lab analysis, surveying, and GIS in high school, then a BA in archaeology with a lot of volunteer lab analysis rotations. I discovered then that I really loved osteology, so I went to grad school in Biological Anthropology to continue specializing in osteology for MA and PhD. As part of that course, I did some museum curation work but mostly focused on bones. I moved with my spouse (non-archaeologist) and started working in Culture Resource Management (AKA CRM or private-sector archaeology), and I've been in that field for about 8 years now.
Right now, a lot of my work is in environmental compliance for construction management companies. Since archaeological sites are treated like any other limited resource (like a rare plant or endangered animal), construction work has to take into account the impacts on archaeological and Tribal resources as part of the permitting and compliance process.
I started out doing a lot of construction monitoring, pre-construction survey, and very little salvage archaeological excavation. I've slowly moved more to project management, compliance reporting, people management, and compliance coordination with other disciplines. Less field, more office nerd stuff. I still get out into the field as needed though - just not my daily bread-and-butter.
I also teach on the side, including excavation and intro classes. A big part of my contribution is being a window into the current field, so I love answering questions like this!
I think a big part of this question and how to answer (assuming you're in the US like me) is do you want to be a researcher at a university or a private-sector archaeologist? Quals differ depending on what you want to do with your career and what tasks you like, too!
Feel free to hit me up with more specific questions! I love my job, think it's really important work, and am happy to help people explore archaeology as a career.
Question:
The probability of significant rainfall tomorrow at 8am is 35%. The foreman has shown common sense 5% of the time. What is the probability that Boop drives an hour to the worksite only to be told to pack up and go home?
Answer:
Too damn high, that’s for sure.
Student, arguing that brain size increases in early hominins is related to increased sociality and cooperation, not meat consumption specifically.
Me: “So your argument is essentially that it’s not about diet, it’s about the friends we made along the way?”
NOTICE: If you lost the cremated remains of a loved one in the wildfires, this group will help you recover them FOR FREE.
My boss volunteers with this group, they are legit. They mostly serve CA and OR right now.
Back from my first volunteer archaeology rotation for disaster relief. I cried a lot of happy tears.
I love my job.
The Algorithm: Wow! You took nearly a hundred photos in a day last year! This must be incredibly meaningful and special of an occasion! I must make a memories video!
Me, receiving a notification for a video of 50 power pole photos set to music: 😂