Example of expenses
Hasanlu bowl, found in 1958, 9th century BC
Just to get an idea of the cost of archaeology, here are some examples of regular expenses:
In euros:
- Round trip flight ticket between Europe and Iran for European researchers :
- ≈ 550 euros
- Visa fees :
- ≈ 60 euros
- Cost of a C14 dating :
- ≈ 150 euros
In rials :
- Car daily rental ≈ 18 to 26 euros (700 000 to 1 000 000 rials) ; for a month :
- 540 to 780 euros
- Monthly rental of a house in a small provincial city (including water, gas, electricity and furniture expenses) :
- ≈ 550 euros (20 000 000 rials)
- Daily salary of a worker :
- ≈ 10 euros (400 000 rials)
- Daily salary of an Iranian undergraduate Bachelor student :
- ≈ 8 euros (300 000 rials)
- Daily salary of an Iranian Master / ph. D student :
- ≈ 13 euros (500 000 rials)
- Daily salary of a cook :
- ≈ 13 euros (500 000 rials)
- Food daily cost for a 10 members team :
- ≈ 26 euros (1 000 000 rials)
- Excavation furniture cost (wheelbarrow, bucket, shovel, trowel, pickaxe…) for a 15 to 20 members digging team :
- 790 euros (30 000 000 rials)
Here is the example of a 10 members team, composed of 5 Europeans and 5 Iranians (including 2 undergraduate Bachelor students and 2 Master / Ph. D graduate students), working for 45 days with 15 local workers (40 working days in the field) :
| 5 Round trip flight tickets and 5 visas : | 3050 euros |
| Car rental : | 1000 euros |
| House rental : | 825 euros |
| Salary for 15 workers for 40 days : | 6000 euros |
| Salary of 2 Iranian undergraduate Bachelor students for 45 days : | 720 euros |
| Salary of 2 Iranian Iranian Graduate Master / ph. D students for 45 days : | 1170 euros |
| salary of a cook for 45 days : | 585 euros |
| Food cost for 10 persons for 45 days : | 1170 euros |
| Excavation furniture cost : | 800 euros |
Sassanid silver vessel found in Qouri Qaleh cave (Kermanshah, Iran)
The cost of such an excavation would be then around at least 15 320 euros, without taking into account expenses like the petrol, the rental of costly devices (like a total station for topographic measurements), the transportation cost for all the members between Tehran and the field, the insurances, the cost of the analyses made after the excavation…
The cost of such an operation would then be finally closer to 20 000 euros.
These examples aim to give a realistic view of the cost of fieldwork activities. Archaeology remains however one of the least expensive scientific discipline, compared above all to ‘hard sciences’.
Armlet coming from the Oxus treasure (5th-4th century BC, British Museum)