archeological tour Egypt or Greece

There are many opportunities to do volunteer work for Archeologists in Europe. You could restore a church, repair frescoes or help unearth some roman ruins. We do have some resources we could provide to you regarding this (too much to post here). If you are interested in Volunteer Work in Europe email us and ask about our European Volunteering information. You could also try companies such as Smithsonian Tours, National Geographic Tours, Martin Randall Travel or even contact the Tourism Information office in Rome or Cairo and ask who they recommend for Archeological tours. Good luck with your search!

I don't see the OP asking about volunteer work, unless that's an interpretation of "down and dirty".

Do you want an organized tour for the entire vacation, or day tours in specific cities? I think the RS books are good about recommending guides, but you msy be looking for a big bus tour.

Will explore the tour possibilities thanks for the info, Sara. Volunteering right now is probably not an option, working full-time. I am looking for a tour that is organized like RS tours, but one that is specific for prehistoric ruins and cultures.

Andante Travels, a British company, offers tours in both Egypt and Greece specifically focused on archeology. I haven't taken one but they look interesting.

http://www.andantetravels.co.uk

http://www.andantetravels.com/?site=USA

Thanks Lola I will check it out

Another would be Peter Sommer.

http://www.petersommer.com

They do Greece, Italy, and Turkey, but apparently not Egypt. I like the "Footsteps of Alexander the Great" and hope to do that.

Visit www.earthwatch.org/expeditions. They have what you are looking for and have been around for many years. You would be able to work on real projects with archaeologists, historians, scientists, etc.

I have done two trips each to Egypt and Greece (Crete). A friend recently returned from Egypt having done a tour organized by
Ancient World Tours out of the UK. The tour was accompanied by Kent Weeks, an archaeologist working in Egypt. The tour was based in Luxor and stayed at the Winter Palace Hotel there - which was empty - just the smallish group from AWT and a few others. He sent me pictures and all the sites are empty....lovely for visitors but not so much for the Egyptian economy. He spent just one night in Cairo and aside from a visit to the Cairo Museum pretty much stayed in the hotel. Unfortunately it sounds like things are still unstable in Egypt and with tourism being their number 1 industry the lack of visitors is not helping. Some of the hotels in Luxor are closed down.

My own trips to Egypt were some years ago - one was a typical "tourist tour" and hit the high spots - the Pyramids, the Cairo Museum, Luxor and Valley of the Kings, Aswan and Abu Simbal. The other was organized by the Field Museum of Chicago and was a very intensive three week trip of Upper and Middle Egypt and included the sites around Fayum Oasis, Luxor and some of the funerary temples outside the VOK, Tel el Amana, Beni Hassan, a cruise on Lake Nasser to Abu Simbal stopping at some of the temples that had been saved from flooding when the lake was created. Again accompanied by an archaeologist and local guide and tour manager.

I went to Crete with Andante Travel (also from the UK). Really enjoyed the tour. Crete is a lovely area and fascinating archaeology ranging from Minoan through Byzantine. Andante do a great job and on the Cretan tour we had an accompanying archaeologist as well as a very knowledgeable local guide (required by Greek law for visiting the sites). Visited Knossos, Phaestos, Aptera, Spinalonga, Gurnia and other sites.

Andante are still offering tours to Egypt and I thoroughly recommend them.

You might also check universities. A lot of them offer non-credit tour programmes through their continuing education programmes.