Archaeological Science on Haida Gwaii.
So I’ve never posted job ads here before and I may never do so again, but there are two ones posted right now with a lot of potential for readers of this blog: one is an archaeological position with the Council of the Haida Nation (PDF), the other a tenure track position in archaeological sciences at Washington State University.
The Haida Nation position is intriguing. There is a huge opportunity here to help achieve Haida goals of management of the archaeological and heritage record of Haida Gwaii, and I suspect the right candidate could also help encourage and facilitate research oriented projects, including focused inventory. I’m posting the job here because I know they have had some trouble filling this position and I truly hope they can find the right person – you need to be an experienced archaeologist with a minimum B.A., able to hold a permit, etc. The bar is actually quite low in many ways.
Believe me I am tempted to apply for this job myself. It even is rumoured to pay pretty well! I hope they find someone with great experience but here, perhaps, is the kicker — you must be willing to move to Haida Gwaii.
In some ways I wish that moving wasn’t a requirement, that they were willing to accept hiring someone on retainer, say, who would work on the islands for 4 months a year or something. It may be an impediment to find successful mid-career professionals who can relocate. On the other hand, I can fully understand a desire to have the professional position be on the islands, as a form of economic development if nothing else. Maybe there is a constructive compromise — I can think of some absolutely awesome people who could do the job on island as needed, and be on retainer the rest of the time. The CHN might even save some money or be able to reallocate money if it was less than full-time. Well, that’s my two cents. I’d move to Haida Gwaii tomorrow if I didn’t have some serious obligations on the home front. Read the ad and consider the amazing potential of such a job!
The other job, at WSU, is not limited by geographic area. They are seeking an archaeological sciences type, so “molecular, earth or environmental sciences, archaeometry, geochemistry, remote sensing methods or quantitative/spatial analysis (GIS)”.
I really hope they hire a NW Coast specialist to complement Colin Grier and carry on the long tradition of WSU excellence in NW Coast archaeology. Probably they should hire a zooarchaeologist (“environmental sciences”) since that is so core to NW Coast archaeology, and would balance nicely with Colin. I’d love to have a WSU zooarchaeology colleague who was interested in Haida Gwaii, for example – so much potential to keep working in Gwaii Haanas despite the Parks Canada staff reductions. Pullman is a great town*, and jobs like this are increasingly scarce.
* Variable definitions of “great” may apply.
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Northwest Coast Archaeology 
With respect, would you consider attaching photos posted to this great blog as a jpg? Embedded photos take up a great deal of bandwidth, cannot be viewed in the space of one’s screen, and “freeze up” my pc because of the lengthier time it takes to download?
Thanks for your kind consideration 🙂
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Hi Eileen,
Thanks for your comment and feedback. I’m not sure what you mean though — do you mean, you’d rather see no pictures on the blog except as links that one would have to click on to see? (Because that sort of text-only blog is not going to happen, I’m afraid)
Most of the pictures I put up are in jpg format including the one on this post, though some are .png which is functionally equivalent I think. The pictures are set to a standard display width of 500 pixels so I don’t understand how they could “overflow” your screen unless you are somehow “zoomed in” (e.g., ctrl-+).
Anyway, I’d like to know more, or, if anyone else is having problem with display or with bandwidth, especially on a pc. I am on a mac and I periodically view the site through safari, firefox and chrome, and it always seems to look normal to me, but I’d be interested in all experiences.
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Yep, it is frustrating to see the CHN position posted again with the same parameters. Surprising actually as there are so many forward thinking folks up there. The position, in my humble opinion, would be better undertaken by an individual (or individuals) with massive amounts of experience on the islands, and clear VISION of what is required, with a main goal to mentor young Haida archaeology proteges and bring in experts as needed. I say, why recruit some off islander and pay him/her loads of money (in a depressed economy) simply to move to the island (that’s the crux) and work within the old 20th century framework, when they could use the same money to hire an archaeologist (or even a shared position by a couple, part time retainer kinda thing as Q suggests) and a permanent full time position for a young Haida archaeologist or two. While I see, at a glance, the economic benefits of having that entire salary stay on Haida Gwaii, the big picture is that there needs to be a team of people working together and ultimately that will bring as much or more related cash to the islands.
Given the bureaucracy just to get started (one year of archaeology lost), I would sadly envision a standard band office entrenchment posting (anyone looking to retire?), lost of desk work, meetings and CMT site forms. Go for it!
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