The archaeological work I do is currently field archaeology, which tends to come in 3 varieties, survey, excavation, and monitoring.

Survey is where a parcel of land needs to be checked to see if anything is there. A crew of 3-12 archaeologists will be sent out and will be lined up with an even spacing, usually 15-20m apart, and will hike back and forth in straight lines until the whole parcel is covered. Hard work, especially in rough terrain, but takes me to cool places and find cool things.

Excavation is probably the classical imagery of an archaeological site. There’s methodical digging, often with strings set up for excavation units, and everyone is carefully digging up what’s buried. It’s done in measured layers usually, and everything is thoroughly documented. (Difference between science and screwing around after all!) Have found and seen some cool stuff on digs, pretty much all in the Tucson area so far.

Monitoring is where an archaeologist is kept present during a construction project or pipeline excavation, or anything where a construction crew is digging. Basically what I do with monitoring is watch other people digging, and keeping an eye out for anything archaeological that might come up. Can be interesting, but also sometimes a bit monotonous, I’ll listen to a lot of podcasts when doing that.
Though, I will admit, standing watch while others dig does feel a bit like a meerkat on sentry duty :•)