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Last night someone asked me if I felt that getting an archaeology degree had been a waste of time, a mistake.
I left the field of archaeology (& paleontology—a post for another time) about 10 years ago for various reasons including the unpredictability of fieldwork assignments, the instability of year-round lab jobs, exposure to hazardous chemicals, low pay, poor treatment, and lack of advancement opportunities. And let’s not forget that even though the number of women in contract archaeology may have grown, the attitudes of many of men working around us on development projects—contractors, operators, tradespeople—were still very much that it was a boy’s club, and they didn’t really want us there.
Being a woman and essentially an inspector that had the power to shut the project down if we found anything often meant a lack of cooperation and communication on their parts. Also, being sent all over Southern California and living out of suitcases in cheap hotels is not as exciting as you may think.
My experience working in the lab was better by far, but that too ran its course and had its own issues.
I ended up getting laid off 3 or 4 times in my chosen field of study, and by the end of all that, I was ready for a change.
Do I regret my degree? Not really. Studying anthropology made a lot of sense to me at the time. It reinforced my own ideas about how I saw the world and gave me invaluable insight to why people are the way they are. Anthropology is still very much the lens through which I see the world and make sense of larger social issues. I also got to work on some amazing projects with mammoths, giant ground sloths, and yes, even dinosaurs!
As I considered this question, I realized another important factor. I never really fit in with the archaeology world, even as I pursued it. Maybe that is why It didn’t work out for me in the long run.
Why would I pursue a field when I didn’t fit in? After thinking it over today, I realized it’s because I never felt like I fit in anywhere. Back then, I felt like a square peg in a round hole in most circumstances, to the point where I guess I just thought it was normal. And because I was very good at the detail-oriented, structured tasks of field and lab work, nobody could tell how much anxiety I had or how much I struggled to understand things that other people seemed to know innately.
If I could go back and change things—I know it’s not popular to say this—but I just might. My life has been difficult, and, in many ways, it hasn’t felt right. I keep thinking about the Dr. Who episode where they change Donna Noble’s life path by having her turn left at a critical juncture instead of right (or right instead of left, I can’t recall exactly), and she never meets the Dr. based on one simple moment.
Since I can’t go back, I guess I must try to make sure the little moments going forward count.
Sowing Crafty Seeds 
Maybe you turned left when you could have turned right in the past. And who knows where that may have led you. But every decision you made then gives you the wisdom you can now draw on when you make your decisions for your future. <3.