Top 12 Archaeologist Skills to Put on Your Resume

In today’s tight job market, archaeologists need more than trowels and field boots to get noticed. You need skills that speak clearly, travel well, and show you can turn fragments into stories. The twelve skills below spotlight the craft behind the science—practical, technical, and ethical—so your resume doesn’t whisper, it resonates.

Archaeologist Skills

1. Excavation
2. Stratigraphy
3. GIS (Geographic Information Systems)
4. Radiocarbon Dating
5. Photogrammetry
6. Artifact Analysis
7. Paleoethnobotany
8. Zooarchaeology
9. Remote Sensing
10. 3D Modeling
11. Ceramics Petrography
12. Ground-penetrating Radar (GPR)

1. Excavation

Excavation, in archaeology, is the carefully planned exposure of buried cultural materials—stratified soils, features, and artifacts—through systematic digging and recording.

Why It's Important

Excavation reveals the physical record in situ. Done well, it preserves context, secures chronology, and lets the past speak with fewer gaps and guesses.

How to Improve Excavation Skills

Sharper excavation comes from preparation, precision, and stewardship.

1. Pre-excavation planning: Combine survey, geophysics, and historical research to target areas wisely and minimize disturbance.

2. Employ technology: Use GPR, drones, total stations, and 3D scanning to map, monitor, and document without overdigging.

3. Stratigraphic control: Excavate in defensible units and interfaces, track changes meticulously, and respect the Harris Matrix.

4. Relentless documentation: Notes, photos, drawings, and digital logs—every pass recorded, every context traceable.

5. On-site conservation: Stabilize fragile materials immediately; pack and store with conservation in mind, not convenience.

6. Work with specialists: Bring in paleoethnobotany, zooarchaeology, geoarchaeology, and materials science for deeper interpretation.

7. Ethics and community: Follow laws and international principles, collaborate with local stakeholders, and plan for long-term curation.

How to Display Excavation Skills on Your Resume

2. Stratigraphy

Stratigraphy studies layered deposits and their relationships, letting archaeologists build relative chronologies and reconstruct sequences of human activity over time.

Why It's Important

Layers matter. Stratigraphy anchors interpretation, controls association, and guards against anachronistic storytelling.

How to Improve Stratigraphy Skills

Better stratigraphy blends field acuity, lab rigor, and clear visualization.

1. Field recording: Describe sediments, interfaces, and features consistently; photograph and draw sections; log contexts in detail.

2. Geoarchaeology: Use micromorphology, sedimentology, and soil chemistry to decode formation processes and disturbance.

3. Chronology integration: Combine relative sequences with absolute dates and independent markers to test and refine phased layers.

4. Matrix tools: Build and review Harris Matrices; use software or clear schematics for complicated sites.

5. Continuous learning: Engage with professional societies and workshops; compare case studies to sharpen judgment.

How to Display Stratigraphy Skills on Your Resume

3. GIS (Geographic Information Systems)

GIS captures, stores, analyzes, and visualizes spatial data, enabling archaeologists to map sites, model landscapes, and uncover patterns across space and time.

Why It's Important

Spatial thinking changes questions and answers. GIS turns scattered data into pathways, clusters, and trends you can test.

How to Improve GIS (Geographic Information Systems) Skills

Accuracy first, analysis second, integration always.

1. High-quality data: Use reliable basemaps, lidar, and GNSS control points to anchor your layers.

2. Analytical depth: Apply terrain modeling, cost-distance, viewshed, kernel density, and network analysis where they fit the research design.

3. Open tools and plugins: Explore QGIS and specialized extensions tailored to archaeological workflows.

4. Cross-method synthesis: Fuse GIS with geophysics, remote sensing, and excavation records for stronger interpretations.

5. Training: Keep skills current with structured courses, project-based learning, and peer review.

How to Display GIS (Geographic Information Systems) Skills on Your Resume

4. Radiocarbon Dating

Radiocarbon dating measures carbon-14 in organic remains to estimate ages up to roughly 55,000 years, anchoring archaeological timelines to absolute time.

Why It's Important

It’s the backbone of chronologies for much of prehistory—turning relative sequences into dated narratives.

How to Improve Radiocarbon Dating Skills

Precision thrives on good samples, clean chemistry, and careful modeling.

1. Use AMS: Accelerator Mass Spectrometry supports smaller samples, greater precision, and less destructive sampling.

2. Calibration: Apply the latest IntCal calibration curves and report uncertainties transparently.

3. Bayesian models: Integrate dates with stratigraphy and prior information using tools such as OxCal to refine phase boundaries.

4. Pre-treatment: Choose protocols (e.g., ABA, ABOX, collagen ultrafiltration) that remove contaminants appropriate to the material.

5. Cross-checking: Where feasible, compare with dendrochronology, luminescence, or tephrochronology to validate results.

How to Display Radiocarbon Dating Skills on Your Resume

5. Photogrammetry

Photogrammetry generates accurate 3D models from overlapping photographs, capturing artifacts, features, and entire sites without touching them.

Why It's Important

Non-invasive, precise, repeatable. It preserves context while enabling measurement, analysis, and open sharing.

How to Improve Photogrammetry Skills

Good inputs, clean light, smart processing.

1. Capture quality: High-resolution sensors, stable lenses, and consistent camera settings reduce noise and drift.

2. Lighting control: Aim for diffuse, even illumination; tame shadows and specular highlights.

3. Coverage and overlap: 60–80% overlap with varied angles; include obliques and nadir shots to lock geometry.

4. Scale and control: Use coded targets and ground control points to improve accuracy and comparability.

5. Robust processing: Calibrate cameras, mask backgrounds, and clean meshes; document settings for reproducibility.

6. Version and archive: Store raw images, project files, models, and metadata so results can be audited and reused.

How to Display Photogrammetry Skills on Your Resume

6. Artifact Analysis

Artifact analysis examines materials, manufacture, use-wear, and context to interpret technology, exchange, and daily life in the past.

Why It's Important

Objects are evidence. Analyzed well, they reveal choices, skills, networks, and meaning.

How to Improve Artifact Analysis Skills

Combine careful observation with science and experimentation.

1. Non-destructive techniques: Apply 3D scanning, microscopy, XRF, FTIR, and CT to see past surfaces and preserve samples.

2. Materials perspective: Collaborate with conservation, materials science, and metallography to decode composition and technology.

3. Chronology and sourcing: Use AMS, luminescence, and isotope methods where appropriate; build comparative datasets.

4. Spatial and digital workflows: Employ GIS and structured databases to track provenience, attributes, and analytical results.

5. Experimental archaeology: Replicate manufacture and use to test hypotheses about function and wear.

How to Display Artifact Analysis Skills on Your Resume

7. Paleoethnobotany

Paleoethnobotany studies ancient plant remains tied to human activity to reconstruct diets, agriculture, environments, and cultural practices.

Why It's Important

Seeds, charcoal, phytoliths—small traces, big stories. They map subsistence, seasonality, and adaptation.

How to Improve Paleoethnobotany Skills

Better recovery, broader proxies, deeper context.

1. Recovery protocols: Use flotation and targeted soil sampling strategies to maximize botanical yield and reduce bias.

2. Diverse proxies: Add microfossils such as phytoliths, starch, and pollen alongside macrobotanical remains.

3. Interdisciplinary teamwork: Partner with botanists, paleoclimatologists, and geneticists to refine identifications and domestication timelines.

4. Experimental and ethnographic parallels: Test processing pathways and compare with living traditions where appropriate.

5. Digital curation: Build reference collections and databases; standardize taxonomic nomenclature and metadata.

6. Training: Pursue specialized coursework and lab practicums to strengthen identification and quantification skills.

How to Display Paleoethnobotany Skills on Your Resume

8. Zooarchaeology

Zooarchaeology examines animal remains from archaeological contexts to reconstruct diet, economy, environments, and human–animal relationships.

Why It's Important

Bones record behavior—hunting, herding, ritual, trade—and track ecological change across landscapes and centuries.

How to Improve Zooarchaeology Skills

Precision in identification; nuance in interpretation.

1. Reference collections: Build or access comparative osteological sets to improve taxonomic and skeletal element identifications.

2. Taphonomy first: Assess weathering, burning, butchery, gnawing, and breakage to parse human and natural agents.

3. Biomolecular tools: Apply collagen fingerprinting (ZooMS), aDNA, and stable isotopes for species assignment, mobility, and diet.

4. Quantification: Use MNI, NISP, and biomass estimates judiciously; test robustness with multiple measures.

5. Community and training: Engage with professional groups and workshops to refine methods and share datasets.

How to Display Zooarchaeology Skills on Your Resume

9. Remote Sensing

Remote sensing acquires information from afar—satellites, aircraft, drones—to detect, monitor, and analyze archaeological features without touching the ground.

Why It's Important

It scales. Survey landscapes, prioritize targets, and protect sites efficiently and non-invasively.

How to Improve Remote Sensing Skills

Blend sensors, sharpen processing, ground-truth thoughtfully.

1. High-resolution imagery: Leverage commercial satellites (e.g., Maxar’s WorldView series) for fine-grained site detection.

2. LiDAR: Penetrate canopy to reveal subtle topography and architecture; pair with hydrological and slope analyses.

3. GPR and complementary geophysics: Combine with magnetometry and resistivity for a fuller subsurface picture.

4. Multispectral and hyperspectral: Use spectral signatures to map materials, vegetation stress, and site extents.

5. Drone surveys: Plan flight grids, control points, and sensor payloads for repeatable, high-accuracy outputs.

6. Advanced analytics: Apply machine learning and cloud platforms to classify features and automate change detection; verify with field checks.

How to Display Remote Sensing Skills on Your Resume

10. 3D Modeling

3D modeling creates digital three-dimensional representations of artifacts, structures, and landscapes for analysis, reconstruction, and preservation.

Why It's Important

It documents precisely, reveals geometry and wear, and opens doors to virtual exhibits, accessibility, and long-term archiving.

How to Improve 3D Modeling Skills

Practice with purpose, refine your pipeline, and learn from critique.

1. Regular projects: Tackle small, varied modeling tasks—topology, UVs, retopology, texturing—to strengthen fundamentals.

2. Archaeology-focused tools: Use photogrammetry suites and mesh-processing software common in heritage workflows.

3. Quality control: Check scale, watertightness, normals, and mesh density; document assumptions and edits.

4. Study exemplars: Review public model repositories and museum datasets to benchmark quality and presentation.

5. Workshops and feedback: Seek targeted training and invite critiques from heritage technologists and conservators.

How to Display 3D Modeling Skills on Your Resume

11. Ceramics Petrography

Ceramics petrography examines thin sections under polarized light to identify mineral inclusions, temper, and textures—tracing raw materials, manufacturing choices, and provenance.

Why It's Important

It links pots to places. Sourcing and fabric groups clarify production, exchange, and technological traditions across time.

How to Improve Ceramics Petrography Skills

Strengthen geological literacy and laboratory practice.

1. Geology foundations: Study mineralogy and petrology to recognize fabrics and alteration processes confidently.

2. Hands-on training: Prepare thin sections, calibrate microscopes, and practice systematic description protocols.

3. Advanced imaging: Integrate SEM-EDS and image analysis to complement optical observations and quantify fabric components.

4. Collaborate: Work with geologists and materials scientists; share reference sets and nomenclature standards.

5. Publish and compare: Contribute to regional fabric atlases and test inter-lab repeatability.

6. Keep current: Track methodological updates and case studies through professional societies and journals.

How to Display Ceramics Petrography Skills on Your Resume

12. Ground-penetrating Radar (GPR)

GPR sends high-frequency radio waves into the ground and records reflections to map subsurface features without excavation.

Why It's Important

It preserves context while revealing layout—walls, graves, ditches—guiding excavation and protecting heritage.

How to Improve Ground-penetrating Radar (GPR) Skills

Match antenna to target, process rigorously, and integrate results.

1. Frequency selection: Use higher frequencies (e.g., ~900–1600 MHz) for shallow, fine features; lower for deeper targets.

2. Survey design: Collect tight line spacing and orthogonal grids; establish control points for accurate 3D volumes.

3. Data processing: Apply filters, background removal, gain, and migration thoughtfully; visualize time-slices and amplitude maps.

4. Multimethod synergy: Combine with magnetometry, resistivity, and excavation checks to confirm interpretations.

5. Training and QA: Practice in varied soils; calibrate expectations to geology and moisture; document parameters for repeatability.

How to Display Ground-penetrating Radar (GPR) Skills on Your Resume