Discovering the Archaeologists of Europe

Archaeologies: Journal of the World Archaeological Congress

Discovering the Archaeologists of Europe 2014 has shown that measuring archaeologists’ capabilities is a tool that can be used to plan for the development of the profession, development that is necessary to enhance to protection and interpretation of the global archaeological resource.

A special issue of Archaeologies: the Journal of the World Archaeological Congress (vol. 10, no. 3) entitled "Discovering the Archaeologists of the World" has been published by WAC.

Kenneth Aitchison was the guest editor for this volume, which included five articles, all of which were written by contributors to the Discovering the Archaeologists of Europe project.

  • Editorial: Discovering the Archaeologists of the World - Kenneth Aitchison
  • Jobs in American Archaeology: Pay for CRM Archaeologists - Doug Rocks-Macqueen
  • National and transnational labour markets in European archaeology - Katharina Möller
  • Perceptions of ethnicity, religion and language within the archaeological community of Bosnia and Herzegovina - Andrew Lawler
  • The archaeologist of the future is likely to be a woman: age and gender patterns in European archaeology - Irena Lazar, Tina Kompare, Heleen van Londen & Tine Schenck
  • Responding to the financial crisis in five European countries – people, roles, reactions and initiatives in archaeology - Kerri Cleary, Jan Frolík, Eduard Krekovič, Eva Parga-Dans and Elena S. Prokopiou

The articles all use labour market intelligence from professional archaeology to tackle a wide range of issues, ranging from financial and economic to cultural and political, identifying how professional archaeology operates in the world in 2014.

December 02, 2014 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Andrew Lawler, archaeologists, archaeology, archaeology, Archaeology, bosnia, Capacity building, Cultural Resource Management, discovering the archaeologists of europe, discovering the archaeologists of the world, doug rocks-macqueen, Eduard Krekovič, education, Elena S. Prokopiou, ethnicity, Europe, Europe, Eva Parga-Dans, financial crisis, gender, gender balance, Heleen van Londen, herzegovina, innovation, Irena Lazar, Jan Frolík, Katharina Möller, kenneth aitchison, Kerri Cleary, labour market, language, market demands, practice, profession, profession, professional archaeology, Tina Kompare, Tine Schenck, wac, wages, woman, work contracts, world archaeological congress

Transnational Report published

The Transnational Report, bringing together data from all of the 21 national reports published as part of Discovering the Archaeologists of Europe 2014, has itself been published.

Discovering the Archaeologists of Europe 2012-14: Transnational Report

Executive Summary

Between 2012 and 2014 representatives from 23 organisations in 21 European countries worked together in the Discovering the Archaeologists of Europe 2014 project to gain insight into the profile of the archaeological profession and labour market in those countries. The results can be compared with those of a predecessor Discovering the Archaeologists of Europe project, undertaken in 2006-08,

Employment. Across the 21 participating states, it is calculated that a total of over €1 billion is spent on professional archaeology every year, with the majority of that expenditure being on the salary costs of the estimated 24,740 people who work as archaeologists in these countries. This group of professionals represents 0.006% of the combined total workforces of those states. In many states, the absolute numbers employed in archaeology has fallen significantly over the previous six years. It is estimated that approximately 33,000 archaeologists now work across Europe as a whole.

Growth of the sector. Across Europe, organisations employing archaeologists have typically become smaller over the five years prior to this project, and employers are very cautious about predicting future growth.

Nature of the workforce. A slight majority (50.3% to 49.7%) of archaeologists are women. The proportion of women in the workforce has increased over the six years since 2006-08 from 45.9%. On average, European archaeologists are 40 years old. Very few European archaeologists are disabled – 1.1% of the total number of workers for whom data were available, a reduction from 1.5% in 2006-08.

Countries of Origin. 94% of archaeologists work in their own countries of origin, 5% are from other EU states and 1% from elsewhere in the world. Overall, this shows a slight decline in sectoral transnational mobility, as in 2006-08 more archaeologists were working away from their countries of origin.

Qualifications. In every participating state, it is normal for people working in archaeology to hold a degree – on aggregate, 94% of European archaeologists are graduates and the majority (69%) are postgraduates. 90% of archaeologists gained their highest qualifications in the countries in which they now work, with 9% obtaining those qualifications elsewhere in Europe (and 1% elsewhere in the world). When compared with the figures from 2006-08, this shows that archaeologists are increasingly educationally mobile.

Salaries. In twelve of the 21 participating states, archaeologists were paid less than the national average for all workers. An average figure of €24,901 was calculated as the mean salary earned by an archaeologist, but this is relatively meaningless as average salaries vary enormously between counties, with Danish archaeologists earning on average nine times the amount earned by their peers in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Nature of the work. 78% of the archaeologists for whom data were available worked full-time and 22% part-time. This is a marked change from 2006-08, when the percentages were 86% full-time and 14% part-time. 63% of archaeologists held permanent contracts at the time of the research, while the remaining 37% of workers had time-limited contracts.

Structures.  As was identified in the predecessor project in 2006-08, archaeological practice in the participating states is organised on different models, with varying levels of commercial activity balanced against state agency engagement. This is often linked to the funding basis of archaeological practice (variation both on the basis of funding from the state or from private sector industries, and on whether delivery is achieved by the state or by the private sector). Different states define who can be considered to be an archaeologist in different ways. Vocational education and training (VET) in the sector is almost universally delivered by universities through academic degree programmes.

Skills and Training Needs. Issues relating to specific training needs were assessed in each participating country, but, as in 2006-08, because of the variety of ways in which these questions were asked by the project partners (in order to accommodate the differing structures and approaches to archaeological work in each participating state), the information obtained cannot be usefully compared transnationally.

Trends and developments. In comparison with the predecessor work undertaken in 2006-08, the main ways that the sector has changed are that the number of jobs has decreased and the proportion of women working in the sector has increased. Furthermore, jobs are more likely to be part-time and for shorter contractual periods; archaeologists are more highly qualified, but are less well-paid in comparison with other sectors.

 

 

November 25, 2014 | Permalink | Comments (0)

minutes of all meetings

The minutes of all six project meetings are available under Project Documents on the homepage.

The minutes of the final project meeting, held in Istanbul, are supported by a letter from our Cypriot partner explaining why they were prevented from attending.

November 17, 2014 | Permalink | Comments (0)

All National Reports published

The National Reports produced by the partners in all 21 countries participating in this project have now been published. Links to all of them, in national languages and in English, are available by clicking on each country through the map at the project homepage.

September 26, 2014 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Cypriot report updated

The Discovering the Archaeologists of Cyprus 2012-14 report has been updated for final publication, and it is now available in both Greek and in English.

September 26, 2014 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Discovering the Archaeologists of Germany 2012-14

Discovering the Archaeologists of Germany 2012-14 has been published, in German and in English.

September 26, 2014 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Discovering the Archaeologists of Flanders published

The final report on Discovering the Archaeologists of Flanders 2012-14 has been published, both in Dutch and in English.

September 26, 2014 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Discovering the Archaeologists of Greece 2012-14

Discovering the Archaeologists of Greece 2012-14 has been published in Greek and in English.

September 26, 2014 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Discovering the Archaeologists of Bosnia & Herzegovina - all reports now publishd

Discovering the Archaeologists of Bosnia & Herzegovina 2014 is now fully published, in Bosnian / Croatian / Serbian languge, in both Cyrillic and Latin scripts, and in English.

September 26, 2014 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Romanian report update

The report on Discovering the Archaeologists of Romania 2012-14 is now available in both Romanian and in English.

September 26, 2014 | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Front Page

  • Discovering the Archaeologists of Europe: Map Page

Recent Posts

  • Archaeologies: Journal of the World Archaeological Congress
  • Transnational Report published
  • minutes of all meetings
  • All National Reports published
  • Cypriot report updated
  • Discovering the Archaeologists of Germany 2012-14
  • Discovering the Archaeologists of Flanders published
  • Discovering the Archaeologists of Greece 2012-14
  • Discovering the Archaeologists of Bosnia & Herzegovina - all reports now publishd
  • Romanian report update

project documents

  • Cyprus visa entry letter, appendix to minutes meeting 6
    appended to minutes of meeting 6
  • Istanbul minutes (meeting 6)
    note appended Cyprus entry visa letter
  • Bucharest minutes (meeting 5)
  • Santiago de Compostela minutes (meeting 4)
  • Detailed Description of the Project - Discovering the Archaeologists of Europe 2014
    submitted as part of application to European Commisssion
  • Application Form - Discovering the Archaeologists of Europe 2014
    submitted as part of application to European Commisssion
  • Final National Report Template
    updated version, 13th August 2014, includes project logo
  • Discovering the Archaeologists of Europe 2012-14 Core Data Template
  • Plzen minutes (meeting 3)
  • Rome minutes (meeting 2)

2006-08 reports

  • National and Transnational reports from 2006-08
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project partners

  • Abteilung für Klassische Archäologie, Universität Bonn (DE)
  • Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (PL)
  • Archeologický ústav Praha [CZ]
  • Associação Profissional de Arqueólogos (PT)
  • Comenius University in Bratislava (SK)
  • Confederazione Italiana Archeologi (IT)
  • Cultural Heritage without Borders (B-H)
  • Department of Antiquities [CY]
  • European Association of Archaeologists [CZ]
  • Initiative for Heritage Conservancy (EL)
  • Institute of Archaeologists of Ireland [IE]
  • Institute of Heritage Sciences (Incipit) (ES)
  • Internationales Österreichisches Archaeologie Forum (IÖAF) (AT)
  • Landward Research Ltd [UK]
  • Faculty of History and Philosophy, Latvijas Universitāte (LV)
  • MTU Arheopolis (EE)
  • Muzeul Național de Istorie a Romaniei (RO)
  • Norwegian Association of Researchers (Forskerforbundet) (NO)
  • Universiteit van Amsterdam (NL)
  • Univerza na Primorskem (SI)
  • Vlaamse Overheid – Agentschap Onroerend Erfgoed (BE)
  • York Archaeological Trust [UK] project coordinator

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