Archaeology, for the first time demand exceeds supply: boom in requests for services

Archaeologists, it’s your time: according to data told by theNational Association of Archaeologists (ANA), at this moment in history there is more demand than supply, and this is the first time this has happened, thanks in part to the push by the Pnrr. Exactly ten years after Law 110/2014, which recognized the professional figure, requests for services from archaeologists thus exceed the availability of professionals on the market for the first time. This figure is joined by those of the third national census conducted by the National Association of Archaeologists (ANA), which shows a picture in contrast to the responses provided in previous surveys. A first summary will be previewed precisely at the 30th annual meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA), which this year is being held in Rome, Aug. 28-31, hosted by Sapienza University.

With more than 500 members of the National Association of Archaeologists, the survey involved 1,080 Italian professionals, a representative sample out of a total of 5-6,000 active archaeologists in the country. The profession still proves to be largely female (about 65.51 percent of archaeologists are women), albeit showing some rebalancing from past years. As for age, they are mostly young people under 40 (63 percent), and almost all of them are highly educated: 88 percent have a postgraduate degree or are pursuing one.

More than 75 percent of archaeologists work in the private sector (57.34 percent on a VAT number), as self-employed, business owners or employees (fixed-term or permanent) in companies or cooperatives. The remaining 25 percent work in the public sector, but only about 17 percent as employees. However, a comparison with previous censuses, the first carried out in 2006 and the second in 2011, shows a positive trend: for those with specific training, working as an archaeologist has become either the sole (76.47 percent of respondents) or the predominant activity (57.32 percent of the remaining 25 percent). Professional longevity is also growing: while in 2006 more than 50% of archaeologists had been in service for less than 3 years and only 5% could claim more than 16 years of seniority, today 20% of respondents claim more than 20 years of work behind them and only about 34% have been in the job market for less than 5 years.

This growth goes hand in hand with growth in the number of months worked during the year (in 2011, 63% claimed to work less than 6 months out of 12) and with the increase in compensation: if in 2011 the annual gross turnover was around 15-20 thousand euros in only 12% of respondents, today there is an annual gross turnover of around 18-24 thousand euros in 48.57% of respondents, registering, however, compensation of even more than 4000 euros gross per month (9.32% of cases) especially among those who are in the 40-50 age group.

The road to full accreditation of the archaeology profession, however, is still long. And it passes mainly through three paths, according to ANA: university education, professional order and social recognition.

“The picture that emerges thanks to the data of the 3rd National Census of Italian archaeologists,” explains Marcella Giorgio, newly appointed president of the National Archaeologists Association, “allows us to fully grasp the growth of our profession, accelerated in recent years by developments on preventive archaeology, regulatory advances on professional recognition and PNRR projects. This does not mean, of course, that the battles of the past are all won and that the future is rosy. The malaise of a critical past, perceived as still very close, has left a widespread perception of negativity in many colleagues. It is, on the other hand, important to become aware of how much the situation has evolved over the past 10 years, allowing the archaeologist to become a full-fledged professional, living off his or her profession better and better and, less and less, surviving from it occasionally. In this way we can better focus on the professional growth goals of the future: from an increasingly healthy and fairly regulated labor market in terms of fees and working conditions, to the social recognition of an archaeologist’s skills in the management of territories and communities, to the establishment of a professional order that can recognize the complexity of the archaeology profession by guaranteeing its rights.”

In a perspective of continuous comparison and professional development at the European level, which ANA has been pursuing for several years also through the creation of transnational associative networks, is the participation in the EAA Congress of Rome 2024, which promotes debate and cooperation among European archaeologists, combining the themes of research and scientific dissemination with those of professional ethics and the protection of archaeological and cultural heritage.

Image: Volterra amphitheater, archaeological excavation

Archaeology, for the first time demand exceeds supply: boom in requests for services

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