Learn with us.
Thank you for your interest in an internship with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) Archaeology team. The SCDNR Archaeology team offers up to three internship terms per year (spring, summer, and fall) at Parker Annex Archaeology Center (2025 Barnwell St., Columbia, S.C. 29201). More information about each term and a link to the application can be found below. For further questions, please contact SCDNR archaeologist Meg Gaillard at GaillardM@dnr.sc.gov.
The application for the upcoming internship term can be found here.
The spring internship is a 15-week, in-person internship that begins in mid-January and ends in late April. Applications for this term open in September and close in October. Up to two interns will be selected for this term. Interns are paid $12 per hour, may work up to 20 hours per week, and must be enrolled at the time of the internship as an undergraduate (B.A./B.S. and Associates) or graduate (M.A./M.S. and Ph.D.) student seeking a degree in anthropology, archaeology, history, or a closely related field. Housing is not provided.
During the spring term, interns will assist the SCDNR Archaeology team with ongoing public engagement projects and research in the field (e.g., shovel testing) and/or laboratory settings (e.g., processing artifacts).
The summer internship is a 6-week, in-person internship that begins in early June and ends in mid-July. Applications for this term open in December and close in February. Up to eight interns will be selected for this term. Applicants must be enrolled at the time of the internship as a rising high school senior, undergraduate student (B.A./B.S. and Associates), graduate student (M.A./M.S. and Ph.D.), or a recent graduate (high school to Ph.D.). Interns at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and those who have recently graduated, are paid $12 per hour. High school interns are unpaid. All interns may work up to 40 hours per week. Housing is not provided.
The primary focus of the summer internship is for interns to gain a greater understanding of the diverse field of archaeology and to discover if archaeology, or a closely related field, is the right career path for them. Interns will attend guest lectures and workshops that cover topics including, but are not limited to terrestrial and maritime archaeology, forensic anthropology, visual anthropology, archaeology public engagement, museum studies, geographic information system (GIS), and disaster preparedness and recovery. Guest lectures and workshops account for approximately 60% of the summer internship. Summer interns will also assist the SCDNR Archaeology team with ongoing public engagement projects and research in the field (e.g., shovel testing) and/or laboratory settings (e.g., processing artifacts). Assistance with ongoing projects will account for approximately 40% of the summer internship.
The fall internship is a 15-week, in-person internship that begins in mid-August and ends in early December. Applications for this term open in April and close in May. Up to two interns will be selected for this term. Interns are paid $12 per hour, may work up to 20 hours per week, and must be enrolled at the time of the internship as an undergraduate (B.A./B.S. and Associates) or graduate (M.A./M.S. and Ph.D.) student seeking a degree in anthropology, archaeology, history, or a closely related field. Housing is not provided.
During the fall term, interns will assist the SCDNR Archaeology team with ongoing public engagement projects and research in the field (e.g., shovel testing) and/or laboratory settings (e.g., processing artifacts).