9th April 2009, 12:38 PM
Quote:quote:Originally posted by oldgirl
PS and of course lots of specialists work from home with no problems at all, but I'm thinking that you're looking at a potential fieldwork contractor....
Indeed, I'm not talking about specialists, that's completely different. I am indeed thinking of people tendering for and doing fieldwork, from evaluations and watching briefs up to excavations. I can't imagine washing finds in my kitchen sink and sieving samples in my shed (if I had one), and wouldn't think that it looked very professional. Plus, for the sake of argument, say you are in such a situation and faced with a context that is perhaps worth sampling, would you perhaps be thinking 'well, I should sample that, but I really can't face trying to find somewhere else to store it, so I won't bother'. Similarly with finds of perhaps less than massive significance - might you be inclined to think 'I'll just pretend I didn't see them'. It's not the same as being a consultant or an architect, jobs that can be largely if not entirely done on paper. Of course, if you have suitable space to do all these things that's great, but it's a bit crappy to undercut someone who has gone to the effort of acquiring overheads such as these to then struggle to properly deal with the site archive. Or am I still being mean?
And before someone says 'that's their problem for filling up their home with drying bits of pottery and soil' it isn't because they are supposed to have some sort of duty to treat the archaeology in a suitable manner, which is what makes them a suitable contractor to carry out the work in the first place.