yes! well i am kind of a full-on archaeologist. the program i am working for (http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmcap/) is all contract archaeology, meaning that when a construction company wants to develop new land, they are required by law to fund an archaeological investigation of the site prior to development, so that we can evaluate the potential consequences of building on this land, like: please don't build a mall on top of a native american burial ground. we are doing mostly phase I projects right now which means we put in a bunch of 50x50cm test pits and see what we find, which could lead us to phase II or III investigations. it is great because when we do find something we work with the developers to find a way for them to continue their project without destroying an important site. this week we are actually working on a historic site (we mostly do native american sites) where a company wants to build a new water line, and we are looking for the foundation of a historic house with burned down in 1880-something, so that they can avoid building through the old foundation. it is cool because instead of finding debitage from stone tool making (tiny flakes of rocks) like we usually do, we are finding old bottles, ceramics, glass door knobs, rusty handmade nails, and coins from the 1800s. haha, you can tell i'm loving my job. i am not full-time, or very expert, which means i may get laid off in the winter, after the ground freezes and we can't dig anymore, cause they don't need as many people to do the winter-time analysis and report writing in the lab. but we'll see. if you are serious about learning archaeology, i would really encourage you to look into a field school -- many universities with anthropology programs also have archaeology field schools in the summer -- UVM's is in anguilla, an island in the carribbean, and UMass has one every summer right in massachusetts -- there are more around upstate new york, connecticut, etc, even in egypt or ireland. whatever you want to do, it is out there. once you have experience, and probably a college degree, you can often get temporary work through a mailing list called shovelbums -- i'm not sure of the website, but you could google it. every day they send out a compiled list of jobs that they need extra diggers for -- usually they will put you up in a hotel, give you food allowance, and then you can dig in the southwest, mississippi, whatever -- i've had my eye out for a job like that for in the winter, but the more experience the better.... haha, i hope that answered some questions! i love to talk about archaeology anytime... rock on, summer!