With the release of the Cataclysm expansion comes a new profession called archaeology. Archaeology is a secondary profession, which means you can learn it regardless of what other professions you have. It is also a way to get some useful items, as well as some that are just for fun.

Getting Started

To learn archaeology, you must be at least level 20. This is because you will be looking for items outside the starting areas, and you need to be high enough to not aggro mobs while you are doing it. The Horde Archeology Trainer is Belloc Brightblade in Grommash Hold in the Valley of Strength section of Orgrimmar. Look for him to the right of Garrosh Hellscream as you are facing the throne. The Alliance Archaeology Trainer is Harrison Jones on the right side of the Stormwind Keep library. As with all profession trainers, a guard will point you in the right direction if you ask.

Looking for Fragments and Solving for Artifacts

The first step in archaeology is to look for fragments. To do this, open your game map. Digsites are shown as red ovals on the zone map, and as shovel icons on the continent map. Each continent contains four digsites, and each digsite contains three finds.

Under the professions tab in your spellbook are two buttons you will need. One is shaped like a shovel and is called survey, and the other is the archaeology button. When you are at a digsite, click on the survey button. A scope will appear, pointing in the direction of the find, with a light next to it that is red, yellow, or green. A red light means you are greater than 70 yards from the find, a yellow light means that you are between 30 and 70 yards, and a green light means that you are between 5 and 30 yards from the find. When you are within 5 yards, the find will be uncovered and you can right-click on it to pick it up. All archaeology finds contain 3-6 fragments, and may contain keystones, which can be substituted for 12 fragments in an artifact. Archaeology finds also provide a chance for a skill increase below level 100.

To solve for fragments, open the archaeology window. All the races for which you have collected fragments are highlighted on the screen. Click on a race, and the number of collected fragments are shown on a bar along with the number of fragments needed to complete the artifact. An artifact may have up to three spots for keystones to complete the artifiact. Once the bar is full, click on solve to create the artifact.

Leveling Up

From levels 1 to 300, the only digsites available are in pre-Cataclysm areas of Azeroth. Kalimdor contains mostly Night Elf and Fossil digsites, with a few Troll digsites in Tanaris, and one Dwarf digsite in Southern Barrens. Eastern Kingdoms contains Troll, Dwarf, and Fossil digsites, with a few Night Elf digsites. With the release of patch 4.0.6, archeology finds will give a skill point through level 50, and then not provide any, so you will want to hold off solving for any artifacts until level 50. Be aware that you can only hold 200 fragments per race, however. Solving an artifact nets 5 skill points.

At level 300, digsites in Outland become available in addition to the Azeroth digsites. The Outlands contain Orc and Draenei digsites. At level 375, digsites in Northrend, which contain Nerubian, Vrykul, Night Elf, Troll, and Dwarf digsites, become available. At level 450, all the previous digsites are still available, but so are digsites in Cataclysm areas, including Tol'vir digsites in Uldum. These digsites are part of the four on Kalimdor, so Tol'vir digsites are not as common.

Achievements and Rewards

There are several achievements related to Archaeology. Two achievements for finding rare artifacts give the titles of Assistant Professor and Associate Professor. There are also some achievements that reward you for finding common artifacts that tell a story.

There are also several rare artifacts in the game, from an epic mount and vanity pets to rare and epic gear that is Bind on Account. For alchemists, there is also a chance to get a recipe for Vial of the Sands, a Bind on Equip item that allows the user to become a mount.

Archaeology takes some time and effort, but also provides some great rewards. Happy hunting!