Quite a few of the sci-fi writers who started during the classic pulp era
were also avocational archaeologists of long standing. Not only did they
occasionally bring archaeological themes into their fantasy writing, some
also wrote popular archaeology--e.g., Robert Silverberg's (1968) Mound
Builders of America (originally subtitled, "The Archaeology of a Myth").
Sci-fi author and critic P Schuyler Miller frequently worked on several
archaeological projects as a young man, was a friend to many professional
archaeologists, and toured sites regularly. I still have vivid
recollections of his 1974 visit to our excavation project, lead by Bettye
Broyles, at the Harman Blennerrhassett Mansion site in the Ohio River.
Sadly, after an hour or two with us, he walked down the path about a mile
to the spot where another crew was working on a Ft Ancient site and fell
dead from a heart attack.

Although the sort of things we might write are perhaps better classed as
historical fiction, our ambitions to publish novels drawn in part from the
experience of our research is perhaps similar to the path taken by many
scholars in the physical sciences who turned to science fiction writing
informed by their professional background (Isaac Asimov, for example, had a
PhD in biochemistry, and Arthur C Clarke had degrees in math and physics).
We may also be able to take a few lessons on getting started from the
sci-fi crowd. Science Fiction Writers of America, Inc., maintains what
appears to be a very infomative and largely cautionary web page on literary
agents.  http://www.sfwa.org/beware/agents.html

v





A number have anthropology or archaeology degrees, or have a background in
same.

Ron May <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
In a message dated 9/24/2007 2:20:36 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

Archaeology in Science Fiction
For some strange reason, some of the  great science fiction writers have
been
drawn to write about archaeology and  archaeologists.

<snip>