My other secret career aspiration

A few weeks ago I blogged about my secret dream career as a jet-set buyer of modern furniture. Most people who know me probably didn't find that surprising given my well-known love for modern furniture and design as well as travel. However, what many of my friends don't know is that I have a secret desire to be an archaeologist. I've subscribed to Archeology magazine for years. Everywhere I travel I make sure to check out all the sites of archaeological interest. I even have a tattoo of the Egyptian symbol the Eye of Horus. (I'm chalking that up to my love of archeology and not to being an silly, slightly inebriated 18 year old trying to be "alternative".)

I know this is a common dream career. What kid hasn't daydreamed about being Indian Jones and discovering lost temples in the jungle that harbor mystical secrets? What most people don't realize is what the day to day work of archeology is really like. It's not anywhere near as glamorous as movies and TV make it seem. It's basically a few months in the summer digging slowly and methodically in the dirt, while spending the rest of the year teaching and writing up your research. No facny Indiana Jones whips and running from boulder booby-traps. I know this because I spend a couple of weeks one summer volunteering on a dig in New Mexico through the Earthwatch Institute. Even with all my previous notions wiped away of what archeology entailed, I still absolutely loved it. After I left the Ph.D. program in political science at Ohio State (a topic of a future blog post), I even seriously considered applying to anthropology Ph.D. programs. Of course, I ended returning to political science at George Washington, but there's always that small voice in the back of my head that wonders if I made the right decision.

In any case, I still read a number of archeology websites and blogs. With the wonders of the internet you can now follow digs in real time. Some of my favorite online interactive digs include the Field Museum's Valley of Oaxaca project, Johns Hopkins University's work in Egypt, Jamestown, and a Late Bronze Age shipwreck in the Mediterranean. Archeology magazine also has a great listing of interactive digs online.

So what does everyone think? Should I ditch the political science Ph.D., get a graduate degree in archeology online, and start digging? Perhaps during breaks between digs I can peruse the local modern design and architecture.