14th May 2010, 12:48 PM
RedEarth Wrote:.,.... It strikes me that you are more likely to be able to learn such skills, in a funded environment, as a volunteer, which is surely a bit backwards? If someone asked me how to learn about field techbiques (even if they had an offer of a job in commercial archaeology) I'd probably suggest that they volunteered on an HLF funded project because training would be more likely and better organised.
I agree, although I was mostly trained on commercial jobs, I was lucky. I was on a team of experienced archaeologists who didn't mind training up a newby.
I've been a digger on a comercial dig where we got a handful of volunteer enthusiasts (who'd never been on a site before) who spent their time cleaning and moving parts of a modern cobbled path as unfortuneatley they didn't have enough of a grasp of the basics to be let loose on the archaeology and no-one had any time to train them from scratch....
Its tough for both sides on a commercial site....its difficult to get enough commercial experience to get employed (unless your lucky) and its tough for a team of archaeologists under time pressure to train up and 'carry' volunteers.
I think of it in terms of learning to drive.... you get formal training (volunteer or pay for training digs) but once you've passed your test (got enough of the basics) your let loose on the roads (get a job on a commercial dig), where you start to really learn (where you start to really learn).
A clumbsy metaphor I know....