I, for one, would like to encourage Mark to remain on the list.  A
fairly well-know phenomenon, that I call the noisy minority, may be
in play here.  Generally, a small minority makes most of the social
"noise."  In the past, this list has respected the views of people
who do not agree with the "majority" (i.e. the ones who choose to
post a lot).  Popularity is not a requirement for being on the list,
and I prefer that we have a well-rounded discussion group that
includes opinions that do not conform to the "mainstream" views.

Bill

> Date:          Tue, 28 Aug 2001 08:45:15 -0400
> From:          "Wittkofski, J. Mark" <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject:       Is this true?
> To:            [log in to unmask]
> Reply-to:      HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY <[log in to unmask]>

> 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
>