12th March 2009, 09:18 AM
Quote:quote:Originally posted by trowelmonkey
I think there's alot to me learnt (not whole sale lifted, mind) from other digging traditions. We particularly lag behind the North Americans in developing exacavation strategy as a discipline.
It's off topic, but could you explain what the Americans do when digging that we should do? The general consensus in Britain is that the Americans are fanatical about sampling (a good thing) but useless with stratigraphy. Perhaps this view is outdated...
Quote:quote:
The thing that concerns me is that if the pool of archaeologists gets too small then we will have to return to using labourers when a large human input is required. I would not like to see a similar situation to Ireland with a G.O. class emerging.
Hard-hearted though this sounds, it needs to be much more difficult to become an archaeologist. When the last recession ended, excavation teams were filled by a great wave of new recruits, many of whom had no experience and no degree (or who were still studying). Anyone who could hold a trowel could be a digger. Hence, for diggers, supply and demand will be all take and no give until there are real barriers to entry into the profession based on whether you can actually do the job.
What those barriers should be is a different matter.
Academic qualifications?
IFA membership?
City and Guilds or equivalent qualification?
Chartered status?
Freemasons?
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