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Volunteer opportunity?

  • 02-02-2021 6:29pm
    #1
    Acccck
    Registered Users Posts: 10 ✭


    Hey all. I've got a degree in archaeology but have gone into a completely different profession. Still, I love to work on sites whenever I have the chance. I am not from Ireland, is there a database or website I could go to in order to see about volunteering at a site?


Comments

  • #2
    slowburner
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 5,218 Mod ✭✭✭✭slowburner


    Acccck wrote: »
    Hey all. I've got a degree in archaeology but have gone into a completely different profession. Still, I love to work on sites whenever I have the chance. I am not from Ireland, is there a database or website I could go to in order to see about volunteering at a site?
    There is no volunteer database that I am aware of, and there are not many opportunities for volunteers in Ireland.
    The few opportunities for volunteering that come up from time to time tend to be based on the local community.
    If you are thinking about a career in professional archaeology, learning about the way an excavation works through participation on a community or voluntary dig can be a very useful experience.
    There are a few pages on other social media that you could follow but by and large, selection tends to be based on word of mouth


  • #3
    Acccck
    Registered Users Posts: 10 ✭Acccck


    Thanks so much for the reply.
    I should mention that I've worked on a few digs before, and spent a few years as a shovel bum. I changed orientations professionally because I actually love the work of being in the field more than the work of being in the library and lab -- I got a postgraduate degree in another subject instead. So I'm not so much trying to build experience as much as... I miss it. And I would love the chance to periodically volunteer on a site. This was easy in previous places I've lived, but I'm new to Ireland and not linked to the network. So less about charity or experience building and more just like "this is what I do for fun, and I am a valuable asset to a team." Maybe not the best attitude to have when I'm going against a bunch of plucky and ambitious undergrads.


  • #4
    slowburner
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 5,218 Mod ✭✭✭✭slowburner


    Maybe drop the term shovel bum then


  • #5
    slowburner
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 5,218 Mod ✭✭✭✭slowburner


    Such terms are denigrating to archaeologists and not really very welcome


  • #6
    tromtipp
    Registered Users Posts: 262 ✭✭tromtipp


    Acccck wrote: »
    going against a bunch of plucky and ambitious undergrads.




    What does that even mean? Are you suggesting that you want to prevent the employment of an actual graduate in an already underpaid profession (or of someone recruited from the local labour pool).



    Or that if you get a job as a 'shovel bum' (another term I've never heard and don't understand), that will prevent undergraduates from getting field experience and that this will mean you've won some competition?


    You need to think about what you would be able to offer an employer - think about archaeology as a job not a hobby. Supervising volunteers takes time and costs money, and is only going to happen if there's a reward - community education being the main one. What can you bring to that?


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