Have Trowel, Will Travel, the Series
Shovel Bum. Dig Bum. Hobo Field Crew. That was me, once upon a time. Some of my happiest days in archaeology were when I was poor and just getting started, making the rounds as hobo field crew. It's how many of us get started, and certainly how many of us become educated in the ways of archaeology, and it can be a rewarding and hideous experience at the same time.
Here's how it works. Every excavation needs field hands. There may be one or two professional archaeologists running the show, but most or all of the labor involved in the diggings is done by the hired help. The hired help may be voluntary, if the excavation or survey is run by a historical society; they may have to be enrolled students if it's an academic project; they may even be expected to pay, if it's an EarthWatch project. But particularly in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K., many archaeological projects are federally funded projects, the result of legislation protecting each country's cultural resources. In the United States, for example, federally funded projects such as interstate highway, dam, and park construction all require some level of archaeological inspection prior to the construction. These projects generate lots of field crew jobs.
Field crew jobs can last for a few days to several years in length. If the project is a survey, you may find yourself walking cultivated fields for days, searching the ground for artifacts. You may be asked to wield a shovel or even a clam-shell type post-hole digger (high tech equipment) to excavate small test holes. You may use a bucket auger post-hole digger to excavate small very deep holes. If the project is an excavation or several excavations, you may lay out square test units, excavate them with shovels and/or trowels, squeeze the soil through a 1/4 in hardware cloth. You may take notes, draw maps, excavate dark stains in the dirt. You may even help run a transit and stadia rod to create topographic maps. You may learn digital mapping with GPS/GIS. You may learn how to take botanical or radiocarbon samples without contaminating them.
The words "never a dull moment" do not really apply here, because a lot of dull moments occur in archaeology. But the work changes most of the time, and there's always something new to learn.
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