23rd October 2008, 04:58 PM
Two very good posts there.. I would just like to pop in one point.. re:
I think you may be an exception rather than a rule, as from what I have seen.. and I haev seen a bit [8D] When I went to Uni (briefly!) I already had over 12 weeks exp, and was expected to do 4 weeks every year as a minimum ... this has dropped considerably.. there is no getting away from it. And As one who has seen both the baking sands of Araby and the wet hills of Home, I noticed that when I started as a commercial archaeologist - it was a bit of a shock... I was not ready for commercial archaeology in certain respects when I had spent time troweling sand and looking for Roman mosaics.. in some cases with a team of workers!
It is however again... and good point well made... a bit of pride in profession... I felt I could dig anything in the UK, once I had coped with mudbrick arcaheology in Turkey... I was an arcaheologist, and as such, you could point me at anything and I would use my archaeologist mind to adapt to the situation... archaeology is after all archaeology (which came first, what is the extent of the feature, what process do I need to record it. etc)
The suggestion would be to have an element of apprenticeship .. a 4 week training period in 3rd year? and an attempt to produce commited individuals who pop out of the uni system with both eyes open to what lies ahead AND with a confidence in being able... not newbies (as they are often seen as, who you have to coax through taking levels) but as New Archaeologists. Acceptance by old timers.. but also equality and recognition of time served... it often wrankled that a fresh graduate would be paid the same as a 10 year pro... a bit of progression.
We come back again to Training... Progression, Telescoping the pay scales, Commitment, Reward, Confidence, Achievement. In other words.. a Profession.. with a Professional attitude. a start point and various directions that lead to a stable life.
"I don't have an archaeological imagination.."
Borekickers
Quote:quote:So, I don't think one can accuse universities (some perhaps, but not all) of not showing students what its like to work in the field - whether that's commercial excavation or straightforward research.
I think you may be an exception rather than a rule, as from what I have seen.. and I haev seen a bit [8D] When I went to Uni (briefly!) I already had over 12 weeks exp, and was expected to do 4 weeks every year as a minimum ... this has dropped considerably.. there is no getting away from it. And As one who has seen both the baking sands of Araby and the wet hills of Home, I noticed that when I started as a commercial archaeologist - it was a bit of a shock... I was not ready for commercial archaeology in certain respects when I had spent time troweling sand and looking for Roman mosaics.. in some cases with a team of workers!
It is however again... and good point well made... a bit of pride in profession... I felt I could dig anything in the UK, once I had coped with mudbrick arcaheology in Turkey... I was an arcaheologist, and as such, you could point me at anything and I would use my archaeologist mind to adapt to the situation... archaeology is after all archaeology (which came first, what is the extent of the feature, what process do I need to record it. etc)
The suggestion would be to have an element of apprenticeship .. a 4 week training period in 3rd year? and an attempt to produce commited individuals who pop out of the uni system with both eyes open to what lies ahead AND with a confidence in being able... not newbies (as they are often seen as, who you have to coax through taking levels) but as New Archaeologists. Acceptance by old timers.. but also equality and recognition of time served... it often wrankled that a fresh graduate would be paid the same as a 10 year pro... a bit of progression.
We come back again to Training... Progression, Telescoping the pay scales, Commitment, Reward, Confidence, Achievement. In other words.. a Profession.. with a Professional attitude. a start point and various directions that lead to a stable life.
"I don't have an archaeological imagination.."
Borekickers