The terrain is often rugged. It also means that days are long and hot. However, any hardships can be swept away in a moment when your trowel turns over a bit of earth and reveals a projectile point, or you uncover a magnificent piece of pottery or, better yet, an intact pot. As you analyze the findings of a season, you to understand the kind of dwellings the people built, the tools they used and the foods they ate. You begin to form a personal attachment to those people who so long ago lived and they become alive again.
Nothing can match the thrill of that feeling.
The same person is usually in charge of the analysis of the materials after the dig is over. I became interested in archaeology and anthropology as a young child. My dad was a museum junkie and my mom was just as enthusiastic and National Geographic was usually conveniently at hand. I studied anthropology and archaeology as an undergraduate and graduate student and chose teaching as a way to enter the field. Most archaeologists and anthropologists are college instructors.