20th October 2008, 12:20 PM
In answer to Unit of 1.
I did not advocate - and never will - 'taking away' excavation. Excavation is essential. I simply meant that archaeology is not [u]just</u> about excavation and never has been. To make it purely about excavation is to deny the possibilities that the application of archaeological method has in other areas - such as historic building recording or landscape survey for example.
And archaeologists can and should and must make contributions to heritage management - which is the means by which the historic environment (above and below ground) informs our identity, actions and values [u]as a society</u> in the present and the future. If we did not contribute all of that sort of thing will done by architects, engineers and historians who understand 'heritage' and how to manage it in very different ways.
I did not advocate - and never will - 'taking away' excavation. Excavation is essential. I simply meant that archaeology is not [u]just</u> about excavation and never has been. To make it purely about excavation is to deny the possibilities that the application of archaeological method has in other areas - such as historic building recording or landscape survey for example.
And archaeologists can and should and must make contributions to heritage management - which is the means by which the historic environment (above and below ground) informs our identity, actions and values [u]as a society</u> in the present and the future. If we did not contribute all of that sort of thing will done by architects, engineers and historians who understand 'heritage' and how to manage it in very different ways.