Twitter Users Speak Out: Reasons Why You Became An Archaeologist

After my recent epic tale entitled 30 Reasons Why You Should Become An Archaeologist, I took to twitter to find out why archaeologists in the field really chose their profession. Was it glamour? Was it the money? We all know there’s not that much unless you suddenly become the face of a syndicated history show. 

Here are the real reasons why these individuals became archaeologists.

1. You think the labs at museums are way cooler than the exhibits.~ventur514 (Eric Shertz)
2. No degree needed - just mad skillz. I've worked w/many fellow refugees from humanities-degree-land!~lisagrimm
3. The Summer after finishing a B.A. in Economics, I went on a field school & it changed my life. Love finding stuff in the dirt!~circledigs
4. I enjoy rifling through peoples rubbish- it was this or tabloid journalism~transit_monkey
5. I love everything that's old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wine." but mainly the wine ...~YorksArch
6. I became an archaeologist because; as far as I can tell, it's the reason God made me. This is why I exist.~JohnGallinPi
7. What would it be like to follow in the footsteps of Indiana Jones :-) Serious, I prefer fact to fantasy.~jdarch1
8. So I could get paid for picking things up off the ground!~archaeocore
9. It's a field that balances physical & intellectual work with the reward of showing the variety of cultures through time.~processarch
10. I went to field school in Israel and discovered my heart is still in the balk. I'll to keep excavating and find it. ~mknowles22
11. I wanted the chance to hold something in my hands that was thousands of years old. An artifact untouched from another century or era is pretty amazing.~AncientDigger

I want to thank each and every Twitter user for contributing to this list. For new readers, I think it’s important to hear the truth from the archaeologists in the field.