What does a normal day of your job look like? And how often do you work a week? Olivia (14)

Hello Olivia,

Working in commercial archaeology can sometimes feel like any other job: you work five days a week, Monday to Friday, usually from 8 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon but yes, what you do during the day varies immensely! Most of the time you would be on site, digging. Digging features however also requires a set of different skills: it’s not just about the digging but also about recording, making notes, drawing, taking photographs and making sure that nothing is destroyed without a proper record being made (in commercial archaeology, we work mostly on building sites so unfortunately, the archaeology does not survive and that is why we have to do our best to preserve it through our records).

As a professional archaeologist, you also spend some time in the office: when you have finished work on a site, the first thing that needs to be done is processing the finds (washing them, sorting them so they can be sent to the various specialists and they can be analysed) and of course writing a report. Most reports are not published but can be found as grey literature on every company’s website.

Odile, September 2025