9th June 2011, 01:30 PM
Time to be controversial...........
Where are these downtrodden masses, huddling under the shadow of the grey mill-like unit headquarters? Forced to stay on the breadline with no hope of promotion?
I worked my way up from student to pot-washer to underpaid digger.....then after years of hard work to assistant supervisor, then supervisor, then project officer, now senior project officer.
It is true that diggers are underpaid, (I'm still underpaid when compared to other industries) but the opportunities to advance, diversify, specialise or move on are all still there.......
Its just not a ladder like in other industries, there is no set routes to blindly follow, its more of a rock face with many routes, some un-traversed, some more well trod.
Personally, having started out in electronics engineering, I prefer the rock-face to a ladder anyday.
Obviously with the recession and wotnot people have had to adapt, some of my friends who were diggers now work in offices or IT (etc). But thats they way to survive in such an 'industry' as archaeology - adapt, step sideways, and take full advantage of the opportunities that are offered.
In the past I have seen promising diggers choose a life of freedom over opportunities to be trained up for promotion....but it was their choice, and thats what I've always liked about archaeology, there is always a wide scope of choice in finding your own path.
Personally I made mistakes too (who hasn't) not following up opportunities to publish papers, choosing to have a few weeks off rather than stick at a long job and buggering off from a site when things didn't suit me (on occasion). But through perseverance, actually listening to people sometimes I forged a path upwards.
Its not all doom and gloom, work here is picking up steadily now.
But I feel that archaeology isn't like being an architect or a production engineer or a firefighter........ I imagine its more like being a marine biologist or ecologist. In the near future there will still be problems with pay and conditions and career structure.......because ours is barely an industry, and an industry that relies of other peoples whims. The trick is to find your own niche. I talked to many old (some bitter) archaeologists to get advice and find out how others coped.
Some did archaeology as a part-time job, supplemented by a winter money-making job. Others taught evening classes, for some archaeology was their life being involved in many different levels from digging, volunteering, doing talks, writing papers etc. and some just ploughed on, heads down, ignoring the changes happening around them. Many left, came back, left again. A few apprenticed with the hallowed finds specialists. I've seen some move into local planning authorities or organistations like EH or the portable antiquities. Some sold their souls and got jobs with construction companies and others used the skills gained to change careers.....
Where are these downtrodden masses, huddling under the shadow of the grey mill-like unit headquarters? Forced to stay on the breadline with no hope of promotion?
I worked my way up from student to pot-washer to underpaid digger.....then after years of hard work to assistant supervisor, then supervisor, then project officer, now senior project officer.
It is true that diggers are underpaid, (I'm still underpaid when compared to other industries) but the opportunities to advance, diversify, specialise or move on are all still there.......
Its just not a ladder like in other industries, there is no set routes to blindly follow, its more of a rock face with many routes, some un-traversed, some more well trod.
Personally, having started out in electronics engineering, I prefer the rock-face to a ladder anyday.
Obviously with the recession and wotnot people have had to adapt, some of my friends who were diggers now work in offices or IT (etc). But thats they way to survive in such an 'industry' as archaeology - adapt, step sideways, and take full advantage of the opportunities that are offered.
In the past I have seen promising diggers choose a life of freedom over opportunities to be trained up for promotion....but it was their choice, and thats what I've always liked about archaeology, there is always a wide scope of choice in finding your own path.
Personally I made mistakes too (who hasn't) not following up opportunities to publish papers, choosing to have a few weeks off rather than stick at a long job and buggering off from a site when things didn't suit me (on occasion). But through perseverance, actually listening to people sometimes I forged a path upwards.
Its not all doom and gloom, work here is picking up steadily now.
But I feel that archaeology isn't like being an architect or a production engineer or a firefighter........ I imagine its more like being a marine biologist or ecologist. In the near future there will still be problems with pay and conditions and career structure.......because ours is barely an industry, and an industry that relies of other peoples whims. The trick is to find your own niche. I talked to many old (some bitter) archaeologists to get advice and find out how others coped.
Some did archaeology as a part-time job, supplemented by a winter money-making job. Others taught evening classes, for some archaeology was their life being involved in many different levels from digging, volunteering, doing talks, writing papers etc. and some just ploughed on, heads down, ignoring the changes happening around them. Many left, came back, left again. A few apprenticed with the hallowed finds specialists. I've seen some move into local planning authorities or organistations like EH or the portable antiquities. Some sold their souls and got jobs with construction companies and others used the skills gained to change careers.....