25th September 2010, 08:45 PM
A great discussion (as always by people on here), but field archaeologists being always the ones to do the discussing are never the ones in the position to do anything about the conditions of pay/management of archaeology and the problems in the commercial world.
The only people who can make an effective change in commercial archaeology are those that have the power to do it. I would lose my job if i ever spoke up about the problems we all face in archaeology (and the annoying point is - its not my management that i'm having a go at, its the system that we ALL work in).
What we need is those in power to be singing from the same hymn sheet as us field archaeologists. They need to realise the system is very flawed, then to actually be making changes to make it better for everyone.
What I never understand is why developers just see archaeology as something to be gotten rid of, a pollutant that devalues the land. Surely the knowledge of the fact that the land once was (insert interesting piece of archaeology here) should INCREASE the value of the land? What matters for us is how any development affects the archaeology (ie knowledge = power, power and money are intimately linked). Development should mean BOTH finding out about our past for the benefit of everyone and dare i say profit for the developers? When was the last time you saw developers making money off of what was discovered on their site (and I don't mean just selling off what was found!)? I think good development should be AIDED/ENHANCED by the archaeology that went before. This is where a good report/project design comes in.
Please everyone, contribute to this, even if it is a sentence just explaining a thought you had once!
The only people who can make an effective change in commercial archaeology are those that have the power to do it. I would lose my job if i ever spoke up about the problems we all face in archaeology (and the annoying point is - its not my management that i'm having a go at, its the system that we ALL work in).
What we need is those in power to be singing from the same hymn sheet as us field archaeologists. They need to realise the system is very flawed, then to actually be making changes to make it better for everyone.
What I never understand is why developers just see archaeology as something to be gotten rid of, a pollutant that devalues the land. Surely the knowledge of the fact that the land once was (insert interesting piece of archaeology here) should INCREASE the value of the land? What matters for us is how any development affects the archaeology (ie knowledge = power, power and money are intimately linked). Development should mean BOTH finding out about our past for the benefit of everyone and dare i say profit for the developers? When was the last time you saw developers making money off of what was discovered on their site (and I don't mean just selling off what was found!)? I think good development should be AIDED/ENHANCED by the archaeology that went before. This is where a good report/project design comes in.
Please everyone, contribute to this, even if it is a sentence just explaining a thought you had once!