This Archaeology guide will try to teach you the basics of this profession. You won't gain any real end-game benefits from Archaeology, most of the items you can get have no in-game power like pets, toys, and mounts. This profession is mostly for fun. You don't need to have it; it's optional.

However, most of the armors and weapons you can get are bind to account, which is really cool. Just imagine your alt hitting level 35, and you can equip [Warmaul of the Warmaul Chieftain] right away (keep in mind, these are not Heirlooms, these will not scale with your character level). It's a good idea to level up Archaeology with at least one character.

Once you train in Archaeology, you will be able to see dig sites on your World Map. They look like little shovels. There are always 4 dig sites per continent (only 3 for the Broken Isle), and it won't change on logout, server restart, or anything. You have to dig one out to get a new dig site.

The 9 continents are: Eastern Kingdoms, Kalimdor, Outland, Northrend, Pandaria, Draenor, Broken Isle, Zandalar, Kul Tiras

The number of zones and continents you can find dig sites depends on your Archaeology skill and your character level. A level 50 player will be able to see 16 dig sites, 4 each continent (if his Archaeology skill is high enough). 

These dig sites and the objects you dig out are player-specific, you don't have to worry about competition. Nobody can see your nodes besides you.

Dig sites look like this

You will also get a new ability called [Survey]. You can only use this ability when you are inside of a dig site. The Survey tool will spawn and point in the approximate direction of a fragment, and there is a light that will indicate the distance you are from a fragment.

So how does this work in action?

1. You go to a dig site, use your [Survey] ability, and then a little tripod will spawn with a red, yellow, or green light.
2. First, you check which direction it points to, and then you move that way.
3. If it's red, you should mount up and run for a while, and then use Survey again. When it's yellow, you shouldn't move that much, and if it's green, it's probably within 40 yards.
4. Just keep going to the direction the Survey tool points to, with practice you will find most of the artifacts within 3-4 Survey use.

When you discover your find, you'll get fragments specific to a particular race. There are 10 races, it depends on the zone, and your Archaeology skill which one you will find. Each dig site can be searched 6 times before it despawns and a new site spawns. (8 times at Draenor)

Here is a list of the races you’ll be learning about in Archaeology:

• 1-300 - Eastern Kingdoms/Kalimdor - Fossil, Night Elf, Troll, Dwarf
• 300 - Outland: Draenei, Orc
• 375 - Northrend: Nerubian, Vrykul
• 450 - Uldum: Tol’vir
• 525 - Pandaria: Mogu, Pandaren, Mantid
• 1-700 - Draenor: Draenor Clans, Ogre, Arakkoa
• 1-800 - Broken Isle: Demonic, Highmountain Tauren, Highborne
• 1-950 - Zandalar / Kul Tiras: Drust, Zandalari

When you loot your first fragment, you will start a research project. The number of fragments required for each artifact can vary from 25 to 185. When you have enough fragments, you can click the little Solve button to complete that Artifact. If you have excess fragments, it won't go to waste. They will start a new project. Unfortunately, you cannot control which research projects you get, it's random, but it's based on your Archaeology skill level.

So, you might have to complete all of the research projects with a particular race until you get the one you wanted to in the first place. Not to mention, when you need Troll fragments for example, and you don't get any Troll dig sites for an hour, it can be annoying.

Sometimes you can get [Troll Tablet], [Highborne Scroll], [Dwarf Rune Stone], etc. when you loot a fragment at a dig site. You can use these to speed up your research a little bit. There is a slot that appears on some of the artifacts that you will be able to place one of these in, not every artifact but rare artifacts will often let you use two or three at once. The keystone will increase your fragment count by 12, or 20 for keystones from Pandarian dig sites.

You will get skill points for surveying dig sites, and 5 skill points for any artifact you solve (15 for rare ones), no matter which race it’s for. For example, you can level up to 600 in Eastern Kingdoms alone.

But, after you reach 600, you can only gain skill points if you go to Draenor, Broken Isle, Kul Tiras, or Zandalar, and after you reach 700, you can only gain skill points in the Legion zones at the Broken Isle, or the new Battle for Azeroth Zones, Kul Tiras and Zandalar.

For the last 150 points between 800-950, you will only gain skill points in Zandalar or Kul Tiras zones.

If you have an epic flying mount and you level in zones where you can use flying, then it takes about 10 hours to level up Archaeology to 950.

Profession Ranks

The first rank of Archeology requires level 5, and it allows a maximum potential skill of 75, then each rank will increase your maximum potential Archeology skill. Don't forget to learn each rank of Archeology from your trainer! You have to click on "Train" multiple times!

Archaeology Trainer location

You can learn every rank of Archeology up to 700 from Belloc Brightblade in Orgrimmar or from Harrison Jones Stormwind.

Legion Archeology (800) is taught by Dariness the Learned at the new Dalaran at the Broken Isle!

Battle for Azeroth Archaeology (950) is taught by Examiner Alerinda in Dazar'alor and by Jane Hudson in Boralus. The easiest way to find these NPCs is to walk up to a guard in Dazar'alor, or Boralus then ask where the Archaeology trainer is. Asking the guard will place a red marker on your map at the trainer's location.

Credits:

https://www.wow-professions.com/guides/wow-archaeology-guide