Another snapshot for the album: a decade of Australian Archaeology in Profile survey data

Abstract

A comprehensive survey of Australian professional archaeologists undertaken in 2015 is used to explore key aspects and emerging trends in the state of the archaeological profession in Australia. Comparisons are made with data collected using the same survey instrument in 2005 and 2010 to allow consideration of longer-term disciplinary trends related to working conditions, changing participation and access, trends in qualifications and workplace confidence and re-evaluating skills gaps identified in previous surveys. Substantial changes in the archaeological workplace are identifiable with deterioration in employment conditions and an increasingly casualised workforce, contrasting with a growth in professionalisation observed through an increasingly qualified workforce. Restructuring of the discipline observed in previous surveys, showing increases in Indigenous archaeology and a corresponding decrease in other subfields, are less pronounced. Survey data demonstrate the Australian archaeological workforce to be a highly qualified discipline by world standards but also a discipline that is being reshaped by downsizing of government regulation of heritage issues and volatility in the private sector related to external economic factors. ARTICLE HISTORY

Identifying marsupials from Australian archaeological sites: current methodological challenges and opportunities in zooarchaeological practice

“…Specialist training in faunal analysis has been consistently identified as one of the top 10 skill gaps in Australian archaeology (Mate & Ulm 2016;Ulm et al 2005Ulm et al , 2013. A key barrier to training new specialists in Australian faunal analysis is access to specialist resources.…”

Disrupting paradise: Has Australian archaeology lost its way?

“…It is within this context of broader neoliberal government policy of ever decreasing financial support that transformations to Australian archaeological practice and teaching have occurred (e.g. Balme and Beck 1995; Beck and Head 1990;Bowman and Ulm 2009;Casey et al 1998;Colley 2003;du Cros and Smith 1993;Feary 1994;Frankel 1980;Gibbs et al 2005;Mate and Ulm 2016;Pate 2005;Smith and Burke 2006;Truscott and Smith 1993;Ulm et al 2005Ulm et al , 2013.…”

Using communities of practice to build a resilient archaeological discipline in Australia

“…Practical and field-based skills acquisition in Australia have become progressively perilous endeavours over the last two decades, largely due to limited funding linked to economies of scale. The ramifications of these changes have been felt across all heritage sectors but are most keenly observed in Cultural Heritage Management (CHM), the primary source of employment for most recent archaeology graduates (Mate and Ulm 2016;Ulm et al 2005Ulm et al , 2013. It is at this intersection between educators, students, practitioners and Traditional Custodians that a Community of Practice would be of most benefit.…”

“…A recent successful output is the Australian Archaeological Skills Passport (ANCATL, Roberts and Marshall 2019), which brought together 27 collaborators across all subdisciplines. In designing the Skills Passport, ANCATL utilised the collective knowledge and experience of its members and discipline data (Mate and Ulm 2016;Ulm et al 2005Ulm et al , 2013, to map a path towards training that better matched the needs and expectations of contemporary Australian archaeology. This approach could be scaled up to work towards legislative change, development of Best Practice Guidelines, the implementation of the National Benchmarking Guidelines across all universities and a system of national professional registration.…”