Applied Anthropology Profile: Karyn de Dufour, Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer

http://shpo.nv.gov/

The road to becoming an archaeologist was not a linear one for Karyn de Dufour.  It was one that bobbed and weaved and led down a couple of meandering paths.  Each of which eventually added to her repertoire of skills that she currently uses in her current position as the Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer through the State Historic Preservation Office of Nevada. 

Karyn always knew that she wanted to be an archaeologist.  She spent her childhood growing up in Washington, D.C. during the Bicentennial days, and her parents’ expansive collection of National Geographic magazines kept her flush with research for various school papers, all of which focused on archaeological subject matter.  It should come to no surprise then that one of Karyn’s favorite childhood activities was to bury her toys and excavate them a few days later. 

As Karyn grew up, though, her archaeological aspirations were side tracked as she discovered her love of dance and theatre, and she focused her studies on art history during her first Bachelors of Arts degree at the University of Maryland.  She did, however, participate in an excavation in Israel.  She was surrounded by a variety of classical scholars, who primarily come from Art History, History, Classical Studies, etc., but the scholar who most intrigued her was an archaeologist by the name of Dr. James Adovasio.  His work at the Israeli site focused on the micro-stratigraphy analyzes.  While many other students thought very little of his work Karyn defended his approach and was intrigued but continued her original studies upon returning to Maryland. 

After receiving her Art History degree Karyn acquired a position at a regional theatre and worked for their IT department in database management.  While she really enjoyed the job and the technical aspects of it she did not love it or feel the same passion as her fellow theatre professionals felt.  As she put it, it was not a “eat beans-n-weenies” type of job (aka a job that you have no problems living in poverty for).  Shortly thereafter she did discover a career field that she could do that for, and it was through one of the most unlikely of places: a PBS documentary featuring none other than the archaeologist, Dr. James Adovasio, who was at the dig in Israel.  Within a year, Karyn had quit her job and relocated to Erie, PA, where she started a new Bachelor’s program in archaeology at Mercyhurst College, which was started and headed up by Adovasio.

Because of Karyn’s previous degree and occupational experiences Karyn knew that she wanted to focus her studies in archaeology as a means of fulfilling her goals of being at the intersection of the past and the future.  She dedicated her studies to technical aspects of archaeological research, learning mapping techniques, surveying, and database management.  These skills eventually landed her a position at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, where she acquired new skill sets in remote sensing and ground penetrating radar (GPR). 

Karyn eventually left this position to pursue graduate studies in Colorado, and it was during her studies that she found out about a position through the Archaeological Records Management Section (ARMS), which is a division of the New Mexico State Historic Preservation Office.  At that point in her life she wasn’t interested in acquiring full time work as she was about to delve more deeply into her graduate work and the position was actually one that her husband was considering applying for.  Through their conversations, though, Karyn realized that this was the position she had always dreamed of-one that combined her technical skills with her archaeological interests.  She applied and took the job in 2006.  

From there, she eventually took a similar position through the Nevada state government, where she is currently employed as the Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer.  Karyn soon realized that her art history training was the perfect complement to her new job responsibilities, which in part involved evaluating architectural history.  Karyn loves her job and as she puts it, “I joke with my workmates about “anthropoverty” but compared to the arts (specifically theatre & dance) it’s actually a more stable and lucrative career path!“  Karyn notes that there are several opportunities both at the state and federal government level for positions in archaeology, not to mention the jobs available in the private sector.  More information on job opportunities in anthropology can be found at the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Anthropology.