March 10, 2003
A: FROM MENTOR KRISTINE THOMPSON IN SD
I would suggest enrolling in pre-calc or AP calc in high school for pursuit of a degree entailing science. Education and training requirements are different for different kinds of archaeology. In the U.S. anthropology departments include archaeology as one of four subdisciplines (the others are physical anthropology, cultural anthropology, and linguistic anthropology). For an inside look into a career in Archeology, visit: http://www.museum.state.il.us/ismdepts/anthro/dlcfaq.html#two.
This web site was created by Professor David Carlson, an Associate Professor of Anthropology, Texas A & M University.

You might wonder why someone in the field of paleontology is responding to a query on archaeology.
A: Archaeologists primarily work with human artifacts -- objects that have been made by humans -- and with human remains. Anthropologists work with humans -- their cultures, societies, languages, and ways of life, in addition to their bones and artifacts. Some paleontologists do study the fossil record of humans and their relatives. However, paleontology as a whole encompasses all life, from bacteria to whales. Paleontology does not usually deal with artifacts made by humans.

However, archaeologists and paleontologists might work together. For instance, a paleontologist might identify fossil animal bones or plant pollen associated with an archaeological site, to find out what the people who lived there ate; or a paleontologist might be called on to analyze the climate at the time a particular archaeological site was inhabited.
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A: FROM MENTOR CHANDRA INGLIS-SMITH IN WV
Your basic math skills are going to be fine for going into
Archaeology. We do a lot of conversions between Metric and English
measurements. We also use a bit of statistics for modeling and figuring out
percentages. Pay attention in Geometry as well, not only will it be useful
in the field, but also for those long nights playing pool while your on
location somewhere!