What career allows you to do lab work on artifacts and mummies?

VintageFiend: What career allows you to do lab work on artifacts and mummies?
Like I’ve seen some T.V., where they work alongside archeologists to do the medical work on mummies and testing artifacts. What major would you go under and what is the career title?

Answers and Views:

Answer by random6x7
Biological anthropology if you want to work with human remains (you’d probably want bioarchaeology; easiest way to do that would be to go to a four-field program and take both biological anthropology and archaeology classes). Just plain ol’ archaeology if you want to work with artifacts. Lab techs are still archaeologists, and lots of us do both; fieldwork in the summer, lab work when it gets too cold to work outside.

Just so you know, working in Egyptology is difficult. It’s like classical or Mesoamerican archaeology- everyone wants to do it, so job openings are tight. What’s more, Zahi Hawass has a pretty tight hold on Egyptian archaeology. If you decide to become an archaeologist, you’re most likely going to end up in your home country, doing cultural resource management.

Answer by Steven A
A couple of career choices here: Forensic Anthropology would give you some pretty amazing exposure, probably leading to Forensic Archeology, if you had your druthers. If you would prefer doing work with rather older stuff, I would seriously consider becoming a Museological Conservator. It is a mouthful to say, but simply stated, you would be in demand by any institution which has an interest in preserving everything of a delicate nature which Field Archeologists excavate, even Mr. egocentric Egyptologist himself. this career has virtually unlimited potential exposure to just about everything and anything you might be interested in. One word of caution: You will have to take enormously diverse studies to specialize in Museum Conservation, but it is well wroth it.