Your Future


Do people get jobs in archaeology? Yes.

The Archaeology Program prepares you to meet the federal requirements for the position of ‘archaeologist.' These requirements filter to state, municipal, and private sector job descriptions. Not only does the program provide you with a broad toolkit for understanding the past, it prepares you for a future career or advanced study in archaeology and other related studies.

A proven track record of success


College of Charleston archaeology graduates are not just in the field or the lab. We’re everywhere. Our alumni include authors, scientists, teachers, lawyers and a host of other professions. The Archaeology Program is highly successful in placing graduates in the Cultural Resources Management industry and in master of arts or doctoral programs. Some choose other career tracks. Leveraging an interdisciplinary perspective honed by archaeology, graduates are successful in a wide array of jobs and careers.
  • Heritage Resource Management and Consulting
    Most archaeologists work within the heritage management sector. Heritage management engages in the discovery, study, use, and maintenance of cultural resources in a way that minimizes destruction and preserves and communicates our shared past. Cultural resources can be:
    • archaeological sites or artifacts,
    • architectural remains,
    • historical sources,
    • languages,
    • belief systems,
    • rituals, or
    • other markers of a society’s culture

    In the US, heritage management is often synonymous with ‘Cultural Resource Management,’ or CRM. The process is often organized within a legal framework which has many layers at the international, federal, state, and local level. Cultural resource managers are found in a wide array of contexts:

    • federal, state, and municipal agencies
    • public and private museums and historic sites
    • historical and preservation organizations
    • private companies that provide CRM consulting services

    Currently, the heritage management sector is undergoing a period of growth. There are more positions advertised than qualified applicants. The Archaeology Program has great success in placing students within this growing field.
  • Advanced Study

    Some alumni choose to enter graduate school directly after graduation. Others decide to enter the job market (often in CRM) before choosing a direction for graduate studies. If you opt for advanced study, you will find your application strengthened by the Archaeology Program's emphasis on high impact learning, interdisciplinary approach, addition of a cognate major, and the mentoring of the faculty. Archaeology alumni are placed in highly ranked programs, often with substantial financial aid packages.

  • Careers Outside Archaeology

    Archaeology alumni are authors, scientists, teachers, lawyers, and a host of other professions. Our program and interdisciplinary approach provide you with the tools and abilities to succeed in any number of careers. You will develop the ability to think across traditional boundaries and to synthesize and integrate disparate types of information. Through the program, you will benefit from a cognate major providing additional training in related fields such as history, classics, biology, data science and historic preservation. In addition to making you even more marketable upon graduation, our cognate majors have provided additional pathways and career tracks for our graduates.

Whether it was via long nights of studying or valiant attempts at setting up grids in the field, the Archaeology Program provided me opportunities to build a network that now crosses continents.

Molly Van Ostran Learn More About Molly's Career

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