8th July 2009, 11:55 AM
This is a complicated issue...
several levels and types of volunteers..
The local volunteer coming to get involved in their own area,
The external volunteer who just loves the idea of archaeology and getting involved(many of whom pay - for example Thistle camp volunteers with the NAtional Trust for Scotland)
The Society volunteer, who often has a deep knowedge of a particular part of archaeology or knowledge of that area, and in collaboration can add to the knowledge. Often keen to share with others who want to join and volunteer on their projects
The Training volunteer, who needs to learn more about the actual nitty gritty of recording/surveying/excavating etc, and is taught by a professional in each of these fields to a recognised standard, this in itself can be split into requiring this training for a purpose of following a path in archaeology (in which case credits are required) to doing it for the pure love of it, so they can go on more and more sites in the future, with confidence and skill, thus opening up more opportunities.
The travelling volunteer, who will pay to carry out tasks, jsut to experieince, the thrills and special outlook you get on living in a place as an archaeologist (rather than a tourist) this opportunity is one of the reasons I do archaeology abroad, and will take a different approach to volunteering if I get a chance to slide into sealed Roman tombs, discover temples and drive deserts in search of ancient flint sites.
There are more and more shades and grey areas...
I woulod say if you want a credit... make sure you go on the right sort of dig ... mainly field schools, where there will be (should be) formal training in different aspects, and you can if you need it, get a certificate highlighting what you have learned and how you do.. (though of course I would love to see the person who fails!)
What MAggie was saying in my name above... -- guilty of being signed on to her computer
was that academic field archaeology and field schools are very different beasts.
So the difference is Academic/Research/Fieldschools archaeology - plenty of time and driven by a research agenda looking at specific or general concepts and theories.
Commercial Archaeology, less time, requirement for all concerned to be trained to a level of competance as no time for training on the job, and driven by where building and development work takes place, so constrained in that resepect, and the requiremetns of the developer.
And yes this is me!
Constant development is the law of life, and a man who always tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear consistent drives himself into a false position.
Mohandas Gandhi
several levels and types of volunteers..
The local volunteer coming to get involved in their own area,
The external volunteer who just loves the idea of archaeology and getting involved(many of whom pay - for example Thistle camp volunteers with the NAtional Trust for Scotland)
The Society volunteer, who often has a deep knowedge of a particular part of archaeology or knowledge of that area, and in collaboration can add to the knowledge. Often keen to share with others who want to join and volunteer on their projects
The Training volunteer, who needs to learn more about the actual nitty gritty of recording/surveying/excavating etc, and is taught by a professional in each of these fields to a recognised standard, this in itself can be split into requiring this training for a purpose of following a path in archaeology (in which case credits are required) to doing it for the pure love of it, so they can go on more and more sites in the future, with confidence and skill, thus opening up more opportunities.
The travelling volunteer, who will pay to carry out tasks, jsut to experieince, the thrills and special outlook you get on living in a place as an archaeologist (rather than a tourist) this opportunity is one of the reasons I do archaeology abroad, and will take a different approach to volunteering if I get a chance to slide into sealed Roman tombs, discover temples and drive deserts in search of ancient flint sites.
There are more and more shades and grey areas...
I woulod say if you want a credit... make sure you go on the right sort of dig ... mainly field schools, where there will be (should be) formal training in different aspects, and you can if you need it, get a certificate highlighting what you have learned and how you do.. (though of course I would love to see the person who fails!)
What MAggie was saying in my name above... -- guilty of being signed on to her computer
was that academic field archaeology and field schools are very different beasts.
So the difference is Academic/Research/Fieldschools archaeology - plenty of time and driven by a research agenda looking at specific or general concepts and theories.
Commercial Archaeology, less time, requirement for all concerned to be trained to a level of competance as no time for training on the job, and driven by where building and development work takes place, so constrained in that resepect, and the requiremetns of the developer.
And yes this is me!
Constant development is the law of life, and a man who always tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear consistent drives himself into a false position.
Mohandas Gandhi