12th October 2005, 04:56 PM
Dragging ourselves back to the subject of public involvement, I was part of one of the supervised Time Team 'Big Dig' projects which meant people could see an archaeological trench being excavated and take part (though the health and safety aspect was a nightmare, fortunately most of this was taken on by Troll). The Southampton Unit regularly undertake community digs (by all accounts successfully and long term), so perhaps there is mileage in authority units pushing public involvement forward.