We welcome responses from archaeologists who do not work in traditional academic settings in archaeology, which might include, but are not limited to: commercial, contract, consulting, heritage, museums, and other specialist fields including post-excavation and associated laboratory or desk work as well as those who formerly worked in these settings but have left archaeology:
Thank you to Jesper de Raad, Michael D’Aprix and Nicola Scheyhing for making this survey available.
Thank you for casting your vote! The new Chairpersons of the ECA Community are Bianca Preda-Bălănică, Maxime Brami and Nicola Scheyhing!
The results of the 2022 ECA Elections, which were organized by the European Association of Archaeologists on behalf of the ECA Community, can be read here:
The results of our 2021 international online survey of 419 early career researchers in archaeology are now available Open Access on European Journal of Archaeology:
A Precarious Future: Reflections from a Survey of Early Career Researchers in Archaeology
Key findings:
Thank you to everyone who has taken our survey so far, we’ve had over 400 responses! We are now in the preliminary stages of preparing our findings and data from the survey for publication and, therefore, we will be closing the current survey on 1st October 2021. So, this is your last chance to contribute and have your say and make your voice heard! If you haven’t taken our survey yet, then please do so in the next couple of weeks. Please also encourage friends, colleagues, and peers to take it if they haven’t already and share it through your social media and university/research institute networks, thank you!
And once again a reminder that all responses are completely anonymised.
We hope to share some of our preliminary results with you soon!
The latest in our ECA series of interviews with archaeologists is now online! Professor Dr Kristian Kristiansen (Gothenburg University), the initiator and first President of the EAA answers questions, and discusses, about his early career and progression, the EAA, ERC grants, women in academia, and the problems facing current early career archaeologists.
We are delighted to launch our brand new website, which will provide a place for discussion of issues that particularly affect Early Career Archaeologists (ECAs).
Bear with us as we continue to upload content. We want the website to be as user-friendly and functional as possible, and would welcome any suggestion for improvement. Please e-mail ecatasforce@outlook.com with any feedback. You can also write to the team that designed the website: Maxime Brami, Benjamin Irvine and Bianca Preda.
This website is for you – meaning that you can suggest additional content and sections. We look forward to welcoming you and hope you enjoy your time with us!
The EAA Executive Board approved our application to form the ‘Early Career Archaologists’ (ECA) Community. The Community web page is now live by clicking the Community title at https://www.e-a-a.org/EAACommunities.
The ECA Community will continue the activities of the ‘Early Research Careers in Archaeology’ (ERCA) task force, created in November 2019 to address employment precarity in the early stages of archaeologists’ careers and its impact on, e.g. economic and mental wellbeing, research independence and representation.
Specifically, the task force was set up to highlight the widespread trend to substitute permanent position in archaeology with fixed-term and underpaid jobs. The aim is to gather intelligence on this subject, build awareness and develop a series of recommendations to improve early careers in archaeology.
The task force consists of Maxime Brami, Stephanie Emra, Aldo Malagó, Bogdana Milić and Antoine Muller. Manuel Fernandez-Götz served as the EAA Executive Board ex officio member. We thank him and other members of the Executive Board for their continuous support!
