In the UK there are primarily two kinds of archaeologists: contract archaeologists and academic archaeologists.

The minimum requirement to be a contract archaeologist tends to be a bachelor’s degree in archaeology. Contract archaeologists are either freelance or attached to a ‘unit’ based with a museum, such the Museum of London Archaeology Service (http://www.molas.org.uk/) , or a regional group such as Archaeology South East (http://www.archaeologyse.co.uk/) . In London, at least, contract archaeologists tend to excavate sites that are at risk of destruction due to construction projects (a ‘rescue excavation’), during such a project some archaeologists will be digging and some will be processing finds (cleaning, sorting and marking). Outside of London there tends to be a mix of rescue work for property developers and work for county councils (see http://www.archaeologyse.co.uk/projects.html) . Contract archaeologists tend to be low-paid unless they attain management positions.

Academic archaeologists are based in universities. Most, if not all, paid academic archaeologists have attained a doctorate (Ph.D.) to get their jobs. Academic archaeologists split their time between the summer months (May-September) when they tend to do fieldwork and the rest of the year (October-April) when they will work (lecturing, supervising research students, lab work) in the institution that employs them. Academic fieldwork is different from contract fieldwork in that it is focused on asking specific research questions rather than rescuing sites at risk; in some institutions there is a lot of work done abroad (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/research/index.htm) . Academic archaeologists also include undergraduate students studying either a BA (bachelor of arts, 3 years) or a BSc (bachelor of sciences, 3 years) and graduate students studying either an MA (master of arts, 1 year full time) a Msci (master of sciences, 1 year full time), an Mphil (master of philosophy 1-2 years full time) or a Ph.D. (doctor of philosophy3-4 years full time). It can thus take 8 years of study or longer to gain the necessary qualifications to work in a university’s archaeology department.

Many professional archaeologists work in the ‘heritage sector’ for employers such as English Heritage (http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/) , who manage many archaeological sites including Stonehenge, or the National Trust (http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/) , who also manage historic buildings and sites.