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Archeologist

Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
This job announcement has closed

Summary

This position is located on a Forest Service unit, where the incumbent serves an Archeologist responsible for inventory, evaluation, protection, and development of historic and prehistoric sites.

See EDUCATION SECTION for specific information for each location and grade level.

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
03/20/2023 to 03/27/2023
Salary
$57,118 to - $69,107 per year

Salary wage as shown is for Rest of the U.S. For more information, refer to the Office of Personnel Management, Salary and Wages web page.

Pay scale & grade
GS 9 - 11
Locations
MANY vacancies in the following locations:
Andalusia, AL
Brent, AL
Double Springs, AL
Talladega, AL
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel for this position with overnight lodging for meetings, trainings, and project work.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
11 - Full performance level (target grade) will vary based on location of position.
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Trust determination process
Announcement number
23-R8-GVA-11883288-DP-SH
Control number
713396700

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Duties

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  • Interpret heritage and cultural resource to public and professional contacts.
  • Represent the agency at regional and national scientific organization and society meetings to present and exchange information.
  • Consult with recognized Indian Tribes under provisions of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), and Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) to discuss concerns, ensure compliance, and assess impact.
  • Direct the preparation of maps, inventories, reports, and records relative to the discovery, protection, inventory, salvage, and interpretation of heritage and cultural resource areas to provide support to survey crew.
  • Prepare contract specifications for surveys of cultural and heritage resource sites to establish terms and conditions.
  • Develop interpretive information and technical reports to present the results of on-site surveys, research or other studies.
  • Administer archeological examination of road, reservoir, recreation, and other ground disturbing projects where archeological materials may be subject to destruction or damage for protection and mitigation of cultural sites.
  • Conduct inventory of cultural resources.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • Must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
  • Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service or exempt.
  • Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check.
  • Successful completion of one-year probationary period, unless previously served.
  • Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to their financial institution.
  • Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit E-Verify.

Qualifications

In order to qualify, you must meet the eligibility and qualifications requirements as defined below by the closing date of the announcement. For more information on the qualifications for this position, visit the Office of Personnel Management's General Schedule Qualification Standards.

Your application and resume must clearly show that you possess the experience requirements. Transcripts must be provided for qualifications based on education. Provide course descriptions as necessary.

Basic Requirement:
GS-0193:
A. Education -
1. Degree that included 3 semester hours each in the following course areas:

  • History of archeology.
  • Archeology of a major geographical area such as North America or Africa.
  • Regional archeology, archeological cultures, or sites in a specific part or portion of a major geographical area to acquire or develop a foundation for regional specialization for professional development.
  • Theory and methods of archeology. Methods include, but are not limited to, typology, classification, sampling, cultural evolution, diffusion, dating, and analytical techniques.
  • Archeological field school, to provide a basic understanding of theoretical and practical approaches to research design implementation, field preservation techniques, and report preparation by participation in actual field work.
and Six semester hours of related course work in:
  • geography, geology, or cultural geography;
  • history, historiography, or historical archeology;
  • environmental studies;
  • scientific writing (nonfiction English composition); and/or
  • surveying;
and Archeological field school.

2. Related Curriculum: degree in anthropology (with emphasis on ethnology, physical anthropology, or scientific linguistics), history, American studies, or a related discipline may be accepted as satisfying in full the educational requirements, provided the curriculum supplied academic course work sufficiently similar to the requirements in A.1 (including archeological field school).

OR
B.
Combination of Education and Experience
College-level education or training that provided knowledge equivalent to that described in A above, plus appropriate technical experience or additional education.

OR
C. Experience
Four years of archeological work experience that demonstrated a thorough knowledge of the fundamental principles and theories of professional archeology. The work experience must have included archeology field experience, which may include that gained in an archeological field school. Field experience should have included a combination of professional experience in archeological survey, excavation, laboratory analysis, and preparation of written materials. Applicants with such field experience should, after additional experience under the direction of a higher-grade archeologist, be able to demonstrate the ability to be a crew chief, directing the work of others at a single location as a part of a larger archeological project.

In addition to meeting the basic requirement, you must also possess experience and/or directly related education in the amounts listed below.

Specialized Experience Requirement:
For the GS-09: You must have one year specialized experience equivalent to the GS-7 in the Federal service. Specialized experience is defined as one or more of the following: Assisted in conducting background studies and document reviews pertaining to archaeological project development; Participated in archaeological survey and site evaluation work and preparation of technical reports; Interpreted cultural resources to public contacts in one-on-one conversations; Received formal and on-the-job instructions and training on the practical application of archaeological principles, theories, methods, practices, and techniques; Developed and coordinated networks and contacts beneficial to the successful performance of archaeological work assignments, such as interacting technically with colleagues and supervisors, and demonstrating the ability to work cooperatively with other persons.
OR: Two (2) years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a master's degree or have received a master's or equivalent graduate degree in archaeology or directly related coursework.
OR: A combination of graduate level education (beyond 18 semester hours) and specialized experience that is directly related to this position that together meets the qualification requirements for this position.

For the GS-11: You must have one year specialized experience equivalent to the GS-09 in the Federal service. Specialized experience is defined as one or more of the following: Performed standard tasks or portions of larger projects of an archaeological program, such as conducted performance studies and examined historical research documents pertaining to project development; interpreted cultural resources to public and professional audiences through presentations, exhibit development, or publication in professional journals; assisted professional archaeologists in developing/enhancing archaeological program components, such as scientific reporting, records and database management, and cultural resource condition monitoring; and/or evaluated problems associated with archaeological site protection and implemented corrective measures within the framework of archaeological program and legal requirements.
OR: Three (3) years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree (coursework directly related to position being filled)
OR: A combination of specialized experience and graduate level education (beyond what is required for a master's degree, i.e., more than 36 semester hours leading to a Ph.D.).

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Education

Refer to the Qualifications Section for the educational requirements.

LOCATION INFORMATION:
In order to be considered for any of these locations verify that the appropriate location is selected.
Final determination of duty station will be made by the selecting official at the time of job offer.

Duty Station Location Vacancies Full performance grade level Contact Name Contact Email
Forest, MS 1 GS-9 Maira Schleidt maria.schleidt@usda.gov
Oxford, MS 1 GS-9 Kyran Kelley kyran.kelley@usda.gov
Milam, TX 1 GS-9 Daniel Gallant daniel.l.gallant@usda.gov
Pineville, LA 1 GS-9 Matthew Helmer matthew.helmer@usda.gov
Golden Pond, KY 1 GS-11 Jamey Thweatt james.thweatt@usda.gov
Whitmire, SC 1 GS-11 Cesar Ramirez cesar.ramirez@usda.gov
Columbia, SC 1 GS-11 Martha Struhar martha.struhar@usda.gov
Double Springs, AL 1 GS-11 David Scott david.scott1@usda.gov
Andalusia, AL 1 GS-11 Anthony Edwards anthony.j.edwards@usda.gov
Brent, AL 1 GS-11 Melvin Harris melvin.harris@usda.gov
Talladega, AL 1 GS-11 Jeffery Kincaid jeffery.kincaid@usda.gov
Mountain View, AR 1 GS-9 Kristina Hill kristina.hill2@usda.gov
Eatonton, GA 1 GS-11 Stephanie Israel stephanie.israel@usda.gov
Blairsville, GA 1 GS-9 Steverson Moffat steverson.moffat@usda.gov
Tellico Plains, TN 1 GS-11 Stephanie Bland stephanie.bland@usda.gov
Greeneville, TN 1 GS-11 Leslie Morgan leslie.morgan@usda.gov
Cleveland, TN 1 GS-11 Stephanie Shelton stephanie.shelton@usda.gov
Hot Springs, AR 1 GS-11 Tamar Mannikko tamar.mannikko@usda.gov
**Location Negotiable anywhere in R8 1 GS-11 Hector Socias hector.socias@usda.gov

** The duty station location is negotiable within the Region 8 boundaries (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia).

Additional information

The USDA Forest Service has legislative authority to recruit and fill Permanent (Career/Career-Conditional), Temporary, and Term Appointments under the USDA Demonstration Project. Under this authority, any U.S. citizen may apply.

Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP), Reemployment Priority List (RPL), or Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP): To exercise selection priority for this vacancy, CTAP/RPL/ICTAP candidates must meet the basic eligibility requirements and all selective factors. CTAP/ICTAP eligibles must meet the agency's definition for a quality candidate as provided in the How You Will Be Evaluated section of this announcement to be considered.

If you are selected for a position with further promotion potential, you will be placed under a career development plan, and may be non-competitively promoted if you successfully complete the requirements and if recommended by management. However, promotion is not guaranteed.

This position may be eligible to telework up to four days per week, based upon the duties of the position. This position may also be eligible for flexible work arrangements as determined by agency policy and any applicable collective bargaining agreements.

The Forest Service may use certain incentives and hiring flexibilities, currently offered by the Federal government, to attract highly qualified candidates. Additional information is available at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/pay-and-leave-flexibilities-for-recruitment-and-retention/

These positions maybe a bargaining unit position that is represented by either NFFE, AFGE, or NAGE.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

You will be evaluated in accordance with the category rating procedure as defined in the USDA Demonstration Project Plan. Applicants who meet the basic minimum qualification requirements established for the position will be placed in the Eligible category. You will be further evaluated against criteria for placement in the Quality category. This evaluation is based on the level of your experience, education, and/or training as determined by your responses to the Assessment Questionnaire. Individuals with veterans' preference are listed ahead of applicants who do not have veterans' preference within each category.

Note: If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications and or experience, your score may be adjusted to more accurately reflect your abilities, or you may be found ineligible. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating. Providing inaccurate information on Federal documents could be grounds for non-selection or disciplinary action up to including removal from the Federal service.

To view the application form, visit: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/11883288

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