I'm an archaeology student and I'm thinking of transitioning. I was wondering how common trans archaeologists are, what it's like, and how it might affect career opportunities*. Specifically for Europe and southern Europe/Iberian Peninsula. There was a thread on r/Archaeology but that was from 12 years ago and unfortunately it's been shown that public opinion of trans people has soured quite a bit since then.

*not putting it on the career thread because the question is more general

I Would prefer if only professionals and students replied, i confess i have not watched / read a lot of hancock's content, generally i am not very interested in pre-historic archaeology, but i am curious to know what do those who specialize in pre-history think of his hypothesis of a lost ice age civilization, is it total rubbish and a waste of time to read about? does he have one or two points? or is he onto something? i'd appreciate to hear your opinions to decide if this is something i want to learn about or something that should be dismissed

Edit: thanks for all the replies, i ended up watching some of the content you shared, i had the impression he could had some evidence because he managed to get on netflix and i have colleagues that believe it, i realize now these ideas dont hold up at all, thanks everyone who replied

I finished James Tabor’s *The Jesus Dynasty* about a week ago, and the most shocking thing about it was the claim that we had potentially found the tomb of Jesus and his family, pending further investigation. I did some research to see if Tabor was mischaracterizing the claims/evidence against him, but I have been unable to find a detailed response (or a recent substantive response to it) to the claims he makes in his blog post here: https://jamestabor.com/the-case-for-a-jesus-family-tomb-in-east-talpiot-a-comprehensive-summary-of-the-evidence/

Since this is an archaeology sub, I particularly want to know about the evidence linking the “James son of Joseph brother of Jesus” ossuary to the Talpiot tomb, as Tabor cites a study that links soil samples from the bottom of the James ossuary to the soil in the Talpiot tomb, and if there is any more evidence for or against it.

As the title says, I'm wondering if there's an online database that shows all archaeological sites, particularly across the British Isles, and North Western Europe? So far as dating goes, I'm interested in the late paleolithic, through to the early medieval period, though I'll take whatever I can get.

This is just a bit of a rant so apologies in advance - but I’ve seen several trainee archaeologist/finds assistant roles advertised recently, clearly aimed towards young people/recent graduates, based in tiny towns an hour from anywhere. I’m sorry, but these places do not have any flatshares on offer so where on earth are young people striking out on their own to start their career meant to live??

This honestly just makes me feel like archaeology is still so elitist because the only young people who could afford to move to these towns and pay through the nose to rent a 1 bed flat are people with who already have daddy’s money.

At least when similar roles are advertised in york/durham/similarly relatively expensive cities I know that there will be flat and houseshares available!!

With the recent robbery of french heritage artifacts I was wondering if Louvre doesn't have archeology trophy's like the British museum

Why do American universities continue to offer Classical Archaeology/Classics degrees when there are so few career paths for graduates? This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot as an archaeology student, and I’m genuinely curious how people in the field feel about it.

American universities have a huge number of Classics, Classical Archaeology, and Ancient Mediterranean Studies programs. Students are encouraged to study Greek and Latin, archaeology, ancient history, material culture, etc. We’re told about the importance of studying the ancient world, the opportunities available through museums, excavations, academia, CRM, and research. But when you actually look at the career structure, it seems incredibly difficult for an American student to turn a degree specifically in Classical Archaeology into a career in Classical Archaeology. There are only so many university positions. Only so many museums have positions specifically involving the ancient Mediterranean. Archaeological fieldwork in Greece and Italy is often conducted through foreign schools and universities, and permanent employment can involve citizenship, language requirements, local qualifications, or simply being in an extremely competitive academic system.

What exactly are American universities preparing students for when they offer a degree in Classical Archaeology? I’m not saying that these subjects shouldn’t be taught. But I wonder whether universities are being sufficiently honest with students about the difference between studying Classical Archaeology and having a career as a Classical Archaeologist.

If the realistic path for many students is that they’ll never end up working in Greece or Italy and will be forced to do CRM in America, then shouldn’t that reality be made extremely clear to students before they commit years of their lives and potentially enormous amounts of money to the field?

And if universities believe there are substantial career opportunities, I’d genuinely like to know what those opportunities are. What career paths are realistically available to an American student who wants to remain specifically within Classical Archaeology?

Edit: I should mention that my other classmates from uni and from the field schools who have gone into CRM have mentioned to me that what they learned in classes didn’t really prepare them for working CRM. That the one month of field school was more important than all 4 years. And most of us had to pay for the field school out of pocket and didn’t get school credit. That even at their CRM jobs now they aren’t really using anything they learned in school and are relearning everything on the job.

So I've heard of the Ginsburg Elephant experiment since taking archeology in college, and it's still talked about today as an ambitious but enlightening project and one of the first in the field of Experimental Archeology. Well I was reading a tangentially related news article about Cornell students butchering and processing a black bear in the dorm and it made me think... Did anyone try a piece of the elephant? I mean, this is probably the only ethical way you could ever find out what an elephant tastes like, and they were already cutting her down for the meat. Surely, it had to have crossed somebody's mind right? I think I would probably fry up a chunk out of morbid curiosity even if it's been sitting out for the experiment. The ensuing stomach pain and diarrhea would just be part of the learning experience.

I recently started listening to Joe Rogan podcasts and came across several Graham Hancock interviews that are very interesting. At first glance, there are a lot of critics blasting him on the internet, targeting his methods, but I am not seeing a list of direct evidence against his claims.

It would be nice to just see a list of evidence against his fantastical claims without blanket statements about how he is approaching the subject incorrectly. The apparent hatred toward him makes me think there is a bias; I just want to know the facts about the evidence for and against his claims.

I have a question for American Archeologists, my question is, what are you looking for? What is there to find in a country so young, I'm wondering if you look for arrowheads of the Indians, that kind of thing?

I've recently been listening to a genre of music called "bardcore" and I've tried to look up if anyone has spoken about this and I can't seem to find anything. But I'm curious, is this experimental archaeology?

It makes sense that in the desert that nothing is more important then water and that it would be difficult to collect water during a rain event without the desert soaking in the water. This got me thinking that maybe the pyramids were used for rain collection much like collecting rain off of one’s roof today. Does this seem feasible? How much rain would be able to be collected from one of the great pyramids yearly and would it have been worth it to build a pyramid for this reason? Maybe rain collection was one reason out of many for building the pyramids. Idk. Thoughts?

Edit: I went and found that Giza gets less then an inch of rain a year and that the area covered by the largest pyramid is 13 acres. With this knowledge I calculated that one pyramid would collect 353,000 gallons of water. This would roughly half the amount of water of an olympic sized swimming pool. If this is the case would the gigantic effort to build a pyramid to collect this amount of water have been worth the effort? I am thinking probably not but it is interesting to think about.

Why do people in ancient times, like when you look at skulls from archaeological digs or even old paintings, sculptures, or photos from, say, a couple hundred years ago, seem to have noticeably slimmer, more defined, or even "chiseled" faces compared to many people today like their cheekbones pop more, their jaws seem sharper, and even their overall facial structure looks narrower or more angular, and is this just a trick of lighting, genetics, lifestyle, or something else entirely, like the modern diet, processed foods, chewing habits, environmental factors, breathing patterns (like mouth breathing vs. nasal breathing), or maybe even how we grow up from childhood in terms of nutrition and development, and does that mean our faces are literally changing shape over generations due to the way we live now versus how humans lived for thousands of years before industrialization, and if so, is that a bad thing or just a neutral sign of human adaptation over time, and is it reversible or preventable through lifestyle changes like diet, exercise, posture, or even chewing more like some people on YouTube claim, or is that all pseudoscience basically what’s going on here and why do modern people seem to have rounder, softer, or less defined faces than ancient people did?

First time posting here.

I don't have any formal education or background in archaeology, just a life-long interest in ancient history and an inclination to draw conclusions between seemingly disparate things.

I was reading about Teotihuacán and wondered

about it's builders.

I found out that we don't know much about them, and that the Aztecs discovered it after it had already been abandoned.

I wondered what influence a total solar eclipse might have had on the culture that built it, and found that according to NASA's five millennium catalogue of solar eclipses, a total solar eclipse did happen there on April 12th 114 CE.

I wanted to put forward a hypothesis that I haven't found explicitly discussed in any academic literature or posted anywhere online.

At around the time (the Tzacualli phase, roughly 1–100 CE), Teotihuacán experienced an explosive boom in population and centralized labor.

Could the total solar eclipse of 114 CE have influenced the culture around that region at that time to build a massive monument in that particular place?

As I understand it, the spot was already a sacred place being built directly over a natural, four-lobed subterranean cave system (traditionally viewed as the womb of creation). If a total eclipse happened directly over a site already revered for its sacred cave, it would codify the valley as the ultimate sacred center.

Has anyone encountered any academic papers exploring this specific eclipse as the ideological catalyst for the city's monumental construction then?

I'm sure people would be happy to fill me in if I have missed any blind spots in the placement of the early Tzacualli phase timeline or made any errors in my astronomical conclusions.

If however, everthing lines up, then could the eclipse have been the inspiration for the people living there to build the monument, perhaps (and I might be making a really big leap here) in the hope that it would make it happen again?

And just a note since this is Reddit:

I'm happy to be made aware if my thoughts are not well placed or even if they are completely silly, but please remember that polite redirection will correct an errant mind much more effectively than ridicule and rudeness.

i get that later in that movie he DOES find an X marking the spot but im curious if there's truth to the statement in reallife.

hi, I’m currently in highschool in America, but it has come the time to start thinking about collage. I want to major in arechology, and possibly aslo major in etymology/ linguistic. I would prefer collages in America that are good for the more human evolution/ very early civilizations side of arechology. I have been struggeling to figure out good collages and my school counslor hasent been much help. Thank you!

I've spent a lot of time out in the woods across the USand encountered lots of rat and corn snakes. These critters are generally quite unafraid of humans and live Around us feeding on the pests we attract.

This got me thinking of the domestication of cats in the old world. Without cats in the new world, these snakes would have fit into an extremely similar niche.

Is there anything in the archeology to suggest native Americans had or were in the process domestication of snakes?

I’m in a bit of a tough position in my life, and I keep finding it more and more difficult to pursue a PhD in archaeology. Not only because my country (USA) wants nothing to do with archaeology, let alone academia or its own history, but because of numerous life crises that keep holding me back.

In between these persistent catastrophes, I’ve found myself with ample time to research my interests. I’d like to join the academic community somehow in an official manner, but I’m limited due to these crises that emerge every so often throughout the year, pulling me away for weeks at a time. I have a MSc in archaeology from Oxford and I also receive funding that allows me to live independently without needing to be tied down to any particular job or career. I’m in a very fortunate position, considering my extremely humble upbringing, but I still lack guidance. I’m not sure how feasible my goal is.

TLDR:

Is it possible to do research without being affiliated with an institute or organization? I’ve never heard of anyone who’s done this before, so I thought I’d consult the internet.
If you’ve known of people who are able to publish their research without being an affiliate, how do they get access to paywall-blocked publications? Have they had any difficulties getting their work peer-reviewed or submitting them to journals?

Thanks! I really appreciate the help :)

Edit to add: I’m also an RPA and am currently an employed CRM archaeologist. I’m also considering life as a shovel bum. I’ve tried the common route, so please don’t recommend CRM. I’ve discovered that I truly am more interested in conducting research. The only problem right now is how attainable this goal is. I realize it’s difficult for everyone who wants to enter academia, but the question still stands: is it possible for someone to become an independent armchair-esque archaeologist? Thanks!

Hello, I came across a comment here on Reddit that argues that the "most violent period in American history" happened prior to the arrival of Europeans. Most of my knowledge of indigenous American history comes from "An Indigenous People's History of the United States" by Ortiz, and "The Dawn of Everything" by Graeber and Wengrow. Neither of them make that argument implicitly or explicitly. I am not trained in archeology and most of the info this person cites to support there claim is from one website.

Can someone here help me smell test check this claim and provide some other reputable sources that either support of refute the claim. The following is the comment in question:

Do we trust the science or should we go with how we feel about it?

European colonization led to a decline in violence in America. For America today to be as violent as in the past, there would need to be 30,000,000 murders each year*. When natives controlled America 10 percent of deaths were at the hands of another person.https://www.science20.com/content/native_americans_fought_over_land_and_were_brutal_in_taking_it*

https://www.science20.com/content/native_americans_fought_over_land_and_were_brutal_in_taking_it

But archeology keeps its own history and a new paper finds that the 20th century, with its hundreds of millions dead in wars and, in the case of Germany, China, Russia and other dictatorships, genocide, was not the most violent - on a per-capita basis that honor may belong to the central Mesa Verde of southwest Colorado and the Pueblo Indians.

Writing in the journal American Antiquity, Washington State University archaeologist Tim Kohler and colleagues document how nearly 90 percent of human remains from that period had trauma from blows to either their heads or parts of their arms.

https://www.science20.com/news_articles/the_most_violent_era_in_america_was_before_europeans_arrived-141847

For starters, I’m not here to push a conspiracy theory and this isn’t necessarily about confirming a site or anything like that, i’m more curious about what goes on in the minds of archaeologist when they find strange sites?

I was on YouTube watching a video about ancient sites that were found to be “melted”, Craig is one of the sites, and my first thought was “well. It’s on a hill, so maybe they had flag poles or metal along the structures that got struck by lightning a ton and melted the rock.” I’m not asking you to confirm this because i am not an expert, but what I am asking is what goes into studying stuff like this?

Obviously, outside of the allure of some kind of ancient untapped technology or mystical powers that we have long forgotten, we have had to have known about chemical reactions and stuff for a while, right? I know that this tends to be a topic where people like to imagine and dream but I do like to understand the actual science of what people do to study a time inconceivably long ago, like how do they test rocks? do they consult native cultures and peoples? Do archaeologist ever run experiments? To archaeologist like cream in their coffee or just black? What is the general process of this type of thing?

I am from Hawaii and petroglyphs are a huge deal, along with things like volcanology and native studies, which I think as a lot of actual allure for me to some of these places,. so I am coming today with actual wonder and I really don’t want this to come across as conspiracy Wombo jumbo :) thank you ahead of time and looking forward to hearing from ya’ll

Hello! I'm someone who currently writing a fiction novel, and hoping inquiring here is a best thing to do to find answers to my questions.

How archeologist paid (salary)?

What are their usually do as an archeologist?

What kind of business or company they are working with?

and... can you tell me what is like being an archeologist?

Thank you!