Leveling Archaeology to 525 is very straight forward but brace yourself as it will take time and plenty of patience. So let's get started... here is a simple guide on how to powerlevel your Archaeology from 1 to 525 which will be updated as the game progresses.

To start off, head to your faction's Archaeology trainer in either Stormwind or Orgrimmar (there's also one in Dalaran). You will need to be at least level 20 to get started. Now you've gained two abilities, Survey and Archaeology. For the first 100 levels we'll only use Survey and avoid Archaeology. Let's start by heading to our first digsite. To find one, open up your map and look for shovel icons.


Once you arrive at a digsite, use your Survey ability and your character will survey the site and determine the location and distance the artifact is away from your current location. The scope will point in the direction of the artifact and the color of the light will tell you if it's very close (green), near by (yellow) or far away (red).

The moment you find and receive the artifact you will gain one level. You can survey each digsite 3 times and you will always have 4 digsites available per continent. Continue surveying until level 100. Try to avoid completing artifacts until you've reached level 100 since you will no longer be able to level up by surveying after level 100.

Once you're level 100, you're done leveling by finding artifacts (although you'll need finding artifacts). Now you should complete your artifacts by solving them. You can do this by using your Archaeology ability and selecting 'Solve' where you have enough artifacts to do so. This will give you 5 levels per completed artifact as well as a novelty item, often worth a few silver or gold to a vendor. As you reach higher levels and solve better artifacts there are novelty items, Bind on Equip and even Bind on Account items available from Archaeology.