Dear Colleagues,

I have been accused off-list, of making statements to this list, simply to
keep my name in circulation among its members.  It is true, my career has
moved me to the side of archaeology, as presently I am employed in managing
archaeological and environmental consultants, and not actually doing
"archaeology."  I think perhaps there are many on this list, who likewise
for whatever reason, are not doing "archaeology."  Does that make them or me
any less of an archaeologist?  For more than 20 years, my full-time
employment was in "archaeology."  Partially for the reason of not being able
to advance to a decent living in "archaeology," I moved into an
administrative position.  I realize that some groups have conducted salary
surveys but it continues to daunt me that archaeology even though considered
by the public to be important, continues (for the most part) to pay such
incredibly low salaries.

I cannot fault anyone asking whether one can make a decent living from being
an archaeologist.  Often, when jobs are advertised, the salaries are not
listed.  Is this an oversight, or is it that we are too embarrassed to show
how little we will pay for someone with at minimum of a B.A., M.A., or
Ph.D.?  Certainly, it couldn't be that we would be giving our competitor an
advantage of some sort, by letting them discover our generally low pay
ranges.

When I first started in archaeology in the mid-1970s, I was satisfied to be
doing archaeology, simply for the love of the work, and being able to be one
of the first to discover something important.  The wages were pitiful.  I
was $3.15/hour with no benefits (other than social security!).  Eventually,
I got a raise to $3.25, $3.53, and then to a whopping $4.25, still no
benefits, and about three years later.  Friends of mine, who in Western
Pennsylvania and unlike me, wanted a job with more than minimum wages, went
to work in the steel mills following high school.  They had no college loans
to pay off, and received wages in the range of $12-15.00 per hour plus full
benefits!  They were Union employees.  The point of this is two-fold, if you
do archaeology, it has to be for the love of it, not the money, and you
should make your discoveries based upon your talents, knowledge, and
abilities, not by circulating your name through the Internet on lists such
as this one.  With that in mind, I intend to sign-off this particular list.
I have offended enough people with my comments (humorous or not), and do not
wish to be labeled as one who simply is using the list to keep his name in
circulation!

J. Mark Wittkofski