Archaeology
Archaeology is the study of the human past from the physical remains. It's a combination of the heady fresh air and excitement of an excavation and the forensic attention to detail needed to piece together the evidence uncovered. Put broadly, it is the study of human artefacts and remains (including the ruins and buildings) in an attempt to see how humans originated, spread across the world, developed tools and technology and lived and died over the past few million years - and understanding how human activity has developed and changed the environment around it.
As a subject, it's never been more popular, with its public image somewhere between the extremes of Indiana Jones and the cheery enthusiasts of TV's Time Team. It's significant that there are a relatively large number of mature students on archaeology degrees - many opt out of work to return to study it - it's that kind of subject. But if you're still not sure whether it's for you, try your local museum, who will doubtless be delighted to help you find a nearby short course or dig to give you the chance to see if it's what you want.
Once you've made the choice to go for archaeology, the UK is a great place to study it. The huge popularity in the subject in the 18th and 19th centuries when some remarkable discoveries were made (such as Knossos, Troy, Pompeii and Tutankhamen's tomb), have embedded the subject into the culture of the older universities, and the rich history of these islands means that, from Stonehenge onwards, this is a ripe place for study. Even the waters around us offer increasing opportunities, with underwater archaeology offering an exciting alternative to the norm.
After graduation, the reality is, of course, somewhat harsher and many find archaeology to be a tough profession - researchers are sometimes desk- and usually budget-hound, while poorly paid field archaeologists are often engaged on high-pressure, short-term developer-funded rescue excavations - the quick digs before the car park people move in.
Saying this, the employment prospects are pretty good - only one in 10 graduates from archaeology courses find themselves looking for jobs six months after university - although they don't, by any means, all end up still working in the profession. Archaeological careers can land you in academia, in a museum, in some form of landscape management, or as a consultant (perhaps to the car park people). This last option is a growing business; few developments are now allowed to go ahead without the academic experts coming in to check the site. Consider too the rather more glamorous world of forensic archaeology - working for the police or for human rights organisations, trying to piece together incidents of murder or genocide. It's a new and growing branch of archaeological specialisation - you may have seen it on TV, on CSI.
The chances are, though, that you'll end up outside the field (as it were) working in the civil service, banking, the media - anywhere where there is a need for critical and analytical thinking in areas both scientific and human.
Most courses include the opportunity to develop excavation skills, but the approaches vary, from degrees based in the theoretical and documentary to those specialising in particular periods (such as classical archaeology or Egyptology), and yet others with a geographical bias. Most courses offer a range of choices, and students have to take a number of options, including general (that is, theory and methods) and specific (such as human remains or Far Eastern). A number provide excellent scientific and professional education, as well as the possibility of combining archaeology with other subjects, or studying as part of a modular degree. If you're into languages, you could think of a joint honours - someone's got to make sense of all those inscriptions.
