Intensive infrastructure works, construction of roads, railways, gas pipelines and other facilities have led to an increased need for fast and high-quality archaeological interventions. However, in Serbia there is not enough trained and available field staff to respond to those requests. Institutions for the protection of cultural monuments have an insufficient number of permanently employed experts, especially archaeologists, while the educational system does not follow the real needs of practice. There are almost no courses in the field of archaeological heritage protection and preventive archeology at the faculties, so students finish their studies without adequate preparation for work in institutes and on protective excavations.
The situation is further aggravated by the small number of students who enroll in archeology studies. In the last few years, there has been a decline in the number of candidates with archeology as their primary choice. At the Department of Archeology of the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade, 67 students can enroll for basic studies, of which 11 are self-financed, but in recent years there has been a significant drop in the number of interested students, to the extent that places are filled only through several enrollment periods. The main reason for this state of affairs lies in uncertain prospects for employment. High unemployment in the profession and the absence of stable jobs deter young people from deciding to enroll in archaeology.
Added to this is the wrong image of archaeologists in the public, and many students give up after only a few months of study, realizing that the reality of the profession does not match their expectations. Master archaeologist-conservator Aleksandar Aleksić from the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments in Niš says that "archaeology is still unknown to the general public - an archaeologist is still perceived as a kind of Indiana Jones, but in reality the working day in the field lasts at least 12 hours, the work does not end when you leave the field, it is physically extremely demanding and takes place in all weather conditions. Young people see this. Then there is also the generational dimension, which we ignore. Generation Zed does not want to be exposed to insecurities and challenges in the way that previous generations accepted it. They want security and much more opportunities than can be offered now".
The problem is further expressed regionally. The largest number of archaeologists is employed in Belgrade, and the southern and eastern parts of Serbia are facing a chronic shortage of personnel precisely in areas where intensive construction, illegal excavations and deliberate destruction of archaeological sites are frequent. "The Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments Nis covers a territory the size of the Republic of Slovenia or Vojvodina. In Slovenia, there are eight institutes and about 50 archaeologists working in the same territory, while we formally employ only two archaeologists for seven administrative districts and 41 municipalities," Aleksić states and lists that there are six institutes in the territory of Vojvodina, and the work is performed by 12 archaeologists and they are also overloaded with work. So the question naturally arises, is it normal for only two archaeologists to work on the protection of the archaeological heritage in the southeast of Serbia?
According to the data of Dr. Adam Crnobrnja from the work "Archaeological heritage in Serbia today - the concern of the state or the work of enthusiasts" (2018), there are 13 institutes for the protection of cultural monuments in Serbia, in which only 24 archaeologists are employed on protection duties. At the same time, they perform administrative tasks, issue technical conditions, supervise earthworks, conduct research, react in cases of violations of the law and participate in court proceedings related to illegal mining. "According to European average standards, Serbia should have between 250 and 400 archaeologists under immediate protection. Currently, there are about 25 of them in institutes. Therefore, we are only at 10 percent of the required capacity," he points out.
A particularly critical period occurred in 2014 and 2015, when a large number of members of the generation enrolled after the discovery of the Lepenski Vir retired, while the ban on employment in the public sector prevented the admission of younger experts. That lack is still strongly felt today, both in institutes and museums. "The archaeological heritage protection system created in the middle of the 20th century was never fully developed. For decades, we have been training archaeologists as academic workers, not as security guards. Institutes and museums are left to political and local circumstances, and the employment ban remains a key obstacle," Aleksandar Aleksić believes.
Although there are formally unemployed graduate archaeologists in Serbia, many retire from the profession after a few years and reorient themselves towards other fields - education, journalism, administration or completely unrelated jobs. This results in the loss of already invested knowledge, as well as the possibility of transferring experience to younger generations.
It is difficult to expect that the situation will significantly improve in the near future.
