Many more women than men are now taking up archaeology but far from being glamorous, it's actually a backbreaking occupation.

A WOMAN'S place is in the past. More women are becoming archaeologists and interest in archaeology generally is booming. You can blame it on Indiana Jones, you can blame it on Time Team... Deborah Anderson blames it on her mum.

"Every week when I was little, she used to take me to the museum in Doncaster. I loved it. Especially the stone coffin with the skeleton. Ever since then, all I've ever wanted to be was an archaeologist," she says.

Now 30, Deborah is an assistant county archaeologist for County Durham. She did her first and second degrees at the University of Durham and never wanted to leave the area. She worked at the Fulling Mill Museum before her present job. Her colleague, and other assistant county archaeologist is Canadian, Lee White 36, the mother of two young children.

"I was eight months pregnant when I saw the job advertised and thought I just had to have a go," she explains.

They are part of the new breed in County Durham who are trying to get more people more involved in the archaeology of the county. Earlier this month, they were at Binchester Roman fort near Bishop Auckland, introducing enthusiastic groups of teenagers to basic archaeology in the fourth year of their "Time Detectives" activities.

"They were very involved in the geophysics," says Deborah, "Binchester is an important military site but we think the civilian site surrounding the fort will prove to be enormous."

But what they both like is the enthusiasm of the youngsters. "It's the perfect introduction to basic principles and it's good to see some of the same people coming back every year, determined to be archaeologists."

Numbers of archaeology students have soared in recent years and now there are many more women than men studying it - about 80/20 on some courses. But despite all those television programmes, it's far from a glamorous occupation, especially in the early years.

"Trowel fodder, " says Lee cheerfully. "You start your working life, lucky if you have a three- month contract, living in a hut with a hosepipe."

Deborah was lucky. She worked in Africa, where not only did she have a comfortable hotel room and shower, but air conditioning too. "Luxury -very rare."

But it's hard physical work. "Everyone thinks of an archaeologist doing that delicate work with a trowel, gently uncovering a skeleton. Well, you don't get much of that. Basically you're just labourers. Most of the time you're busy with a mattock or a pickaxe, digging ditches or just barrowing away loads of soil. Very physical," says Lee.

And also quite often in the middle of nowhere. Both Deborah and Lee are married to archaeologists.

"Because a lot of the time they're the only other people you ever see or get to socialise with," says Lee.

It also leads to busman's holidays. "You look at an OS map and you see burial chambers and forts and you have to go and look at them," says Deborah. "My husband and I have just been to Orkney. So much archaeology it was wonderful!"

As they discover more about the country's history, they are keen to get as many people as possible involved. Durham and Northumberland have led the way by putting their records of sites on the Internet, where they are accessible for everyone. From the smallest prehistoric flint to the largest medieval castle, it's all there online. It's easy for people to see where interesting features are, but also for them to check if the county actually knows about something they might have found.

"Archaeology is a vast jigsaw," says Deborah, "a fitting together of small scraps of information and we're learning all the time. And, of course, we're losing a lot of these features, so we need to record them while we can."

Many things are discovered by accident. The bath house at Binchester - probably the best preserved in the country - was found in the 19th century when a farm cart fell into a hole above the Roman hypocaust. "If someone discovers an interesting hump or lump, or bit of stone, or anything, we'd love to hear about it. We might already know, but if not, it all adds to the picture."

They are both clearly fascinated by their work and particularly enjoy being in Durham.

"Ideally, I'd like to stay here and get to know the archaeology of this part of the world really well," says Deborah. "When I was starting out there was a marvellous man who seemed to know everything. If we were puzzled we'd just ring him. Well, I'd like to have that same sort of knowledge myself one day and you can't get that if you're moving from place to place."

They are pleased that archaeology is proving popular. "It makes my job easier when I'm dealing with planners or developers," says Lee, "If I explain that the JCBs will have to come in, that we'll be digging trenches, using geophys, they've seen Time Team, they know what I'm talking about."

But it's a mixed blessing. "People expect instant results. Time Team seems to do it all in three days. Well, that's a television programme, that's entertainment. Real archaeology isn't like that, so they can get disappointed."

Spectacular finds or discoveries make the headlines, but less dramatic achievements can be just as worthwhile. Deborah was delighted when she helped persuade a local farmer to stop growing potatoes on one particular field and let it return to pasture.

"We know there's a lot of interesting archaeology there, but we can't investigate now. Potato planting goes deep and disturbs the soil and could destroy a lot of valuable items or information. If the land stays as pasture, it will stay undisturbed.

"I might not get to find out what's there but it will be preserved for future archaeologists to unearth. I'm really proud of that," she says.

And if something's lain undisturbed for 2,000 years, another 50 is just the blink of an eye, especially to an archaeologist

* Keys to the Past is a great, easy to use and very informative website that tells you all about the archaeology of County Durham and Northumberland. We particularly like their Site of the Day, which highlights little known buildings or lumps of old stone which turn out to be fascinating. So who needs Time Team? www.keystothepast.info.