Archeologist

US National Park Service; Alaska; On-site; USD 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

US National Park Service invites applications for an Archeologist at Katmai National Park & Preserve in King Salmon, Alaska. This is a Permanent, Career-Seasonal, full-time appointment with benefits.

Qualifications include a bachelor’s degree in archaeology with field school experience and multiple years of archeological work, plus specialized experience in surveys and excavations.

Qualifications

• Minimum qualifications require a bachelor’s degree in archaeology with coursework in archaeology history regional archaeology field school and methods.
• Combination of education and experience acceptable as described in the announcement.
• Specialized experience includes planning and conducting investigations, surveys, testing, excavation, and monitoring projects.

Responsibilities

• Plan and conduct archaeological investigations in Katmai National Park & Preserve.
• Conduct archaeological surveys, testing, excavation, and monitoring of projects.
• Perform field inspections, research, and project resource assessments.
• Review cultural resource permits and fieldwork plans.
• Write determinations of eligibility and National Register nominations for properties.

Skills

Archaeology fieldwork

Surveying

Excavation

Lab analysis

Report writing

Education

Bachelor's degree in archaeology

Archaeology field school

4 years of archeological work experience

Job description

You will serve as an Archeologist at the Katmai National Park & Preserve in King Salmon, Alaska.

Please visit find a park for additional park information.

This is a Permanent, Competitive, Full-time, Career-Seasonal appointment.

Career-Seasonal appointments are permanent positions and include the same benefits as permanent appointments, but do not provide work on a year-round basis.

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement - 10/07/2026 - unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement.

To receive credit for experience, your resume MUST state either 40 hours a week or Part-Time with the number of hours worked per week to ensure proper crediting of specialized experience.

Failure to adequately provide information needed to determine number of hours worked in each position/grade level may result in that time not being credited when evaluating qualifying experience.

For periods of time that reflect military service, the DD-214 or Statement of Service is sufficient to meet the full and/or part-time hours requirement as the service dates will be reflected.

Credit will be given for all appropriate qualifying experience. To receive credit for experience, your resume MUST state:

1. the nature of the duties and responsibilities for each position;
2. starting and ending dates of employment (month/year); and
3. total hours worked (as indicated above).
4. If position was developmental in nature, resume must breakdown duties and start/end dates per grade level.

Minimum Qualification Requirements

To qualify for this position, you must meet the following minimum qualifications:

Basic Educational Requirements

In addition to the specialized experience requirements for this position, you must meet at least one of the following:

1. Education - ALL appropriate transcripts must be submitted for proper crediting of individual course requirements

A. Degree:

Completed a full 4-year course of study in an accredited college or university leading to a bachelor's degree or higher that included:3 semester hours or the equivalent in EACH of the following course areas:

• History of archeology; and
• Archeology of a major geographical area such as North America or Africa; and
• Regional archeology, archeological cultures, or sites in a specific part or portion of a major geographical area to acquire or develop a foundation for regional specialization for professional development; and
• Theory and methods of archeology. Methods include, but are not limited to, typology, classification, sampling, cultural evolution, diffusion, dating, and analytical techniques; and
• Archeological field school, to provide a basic understanding of theoretical and practical approaches to research design implementation, field preservation techniques, and report preparation by participation in actual field work;

AND 6 semester hours of related course work in: geography, geology, or cultural geography; history, historiography, or historical archeology; environmental studies; scientific writing (nonfiction English composition); and/or surveying;

AND Archeological field school.

-OR-

B. Related curriculum:

Degree in anthropology (with emphasis on ethnology, physical anthropology, or scientific linguistics), history, American studies, or a related discipline may be accepted as satisfying in full the educational requirements, provided the curriculum supplied academic course work sufficiently similar to the requirements in A above (including archeological field school)

-OR-

2. Combination of Education and Experience

A combination of college level education or training that provided knowledge equivalent to that described in A above, plus appropriate technical experience or additional education.)

-OR-

3. Experience:

4 years of archeological work experience that demonstrated a thorough knowledge of the fundamental principles and theories of professional archeology. The work experience must have included archeology field experience, which may include that gained in an archeological field school. Field experience should have included a combination of professional experience in archeological survey, excavation, laboratory analysis, and preparation of written materials. Applicants with such field experience should, after additional experience under the direction of a higher-grade archeologist, be able to demonstrate the ability to be a crew chief, directing the work of others at a single location as a part of a larger archeological project.

Specialized Experience Requirement for GS-11

In addition to meeting the Basic Education requirements for this position, you must possess at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-09 level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors).

Specialized experience includes:

• Planning and conducting archeological investigations;
• Conducting archeological surveys, testing, excavation, and monitoring of projects;
• Performing field inspections, research, and project resource assessments;
• Reviewing cultural resource permits and fieldwork plans;
• Utilizing computerized systems to process, and analyze archaeological data;
• Planning long range protection and management of cultural resources; and
• Writing Determinations of Eligibility and National Register Nominations for archeological properties

-OR-

Three full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a PhD or equivalent graduate degree, in archeology, anthropology, or other closely related field.

-OR-

An equivalent combination of graduate education and specialized experience as described above, that when calculated as a percentage of each requirement and added together, equals at least 100%. Only graduate education beyond the second year is creditable to meet this standard.

Volunteer Experience

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.