Hi. I have an aspiring Egyptologist at home, preparing to start a career in the subject. Is anybody on your team from the University of Chicago, or the Oriental Institute?

(name witheld by request)

I've been teaching at the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago since 1990, first as an Instructor, then as an Assistant Professor, and then as a Visiting Faculty Member. It's a good place to be. You can't do better if you're going into Egyptology.

Hi. My question is how do you become an archaeologist? I'm really interested in becoming one. Is there any college you have to go to to become one? How many years of college does it take? I really am interested in searching for the Inca civilization and Cleopatra.

(name witheld by request)

There are a number of ways to become an archaeologist. Some people go into it studying anthropology. Archaeology at universities in the United States is a subset of anthropology, because you're studying cultures in the past rather than contemporary societies. Another way is to study ancient language and history. A number of people go into it through Near Eastern studies in my area. Near Eastern studies include Egyptology, Assyriology, and the archaeology of Syria and Palestine.