4th December 2010, 04:27 PM
I so wish I could share the Antiquity Editorial for this month with you all... Martin Carver cuts right into the heart of archaeology today... and its not pretty... however, for once he answers the question... why! Whats the points
One quote that I am sure I can pass on is this.
and this
I am asking if I can republish the whole editorial, so cross fingers.
The point is... What happens to archaeology is going to be our fault or our sucess. we will have no-one else to blame.
As your posts show, this Big Society is a sham - it could be great, but it will be half baked, hopeless and impossible to implement control in practice.
What I see is a forking path... one way is hard work, reorganisation, admissions and forgiveness... another is self delusion and blinkered selfishness. why do I know which way we will head!
One quote that I am sure I can pass on is this.
Quote:In these times of economic unrest, archaeology needs to decide whether it is a public service, has something to sell or is just an inspiring pastime. While the latter is always true, it’s not particularly relevant in the context of maintaining an income. As for the first two, silver-tongued advocacy has employed professional archaeologists as never before, caring for earthworks and old buildings – the conservation sector – and recording everything that is going to be destroyed – the mitigation sector.
and this
Quote:Our source of income is drying up because development has slumped, it [commercial archaeology] says, so we need the state to step in and pay us anyway, otherwise we might lose our skills. That’s like the league of embalmers complaining there aren’t enough dead people. It might have been easier to make the case that mitigation archaeology in Britain is really a public service, if it hadn’t already been commandeered by companies operating like giant businesses at national and international level. The document also makes some questionable claims about the high standards of mitigation fieldwork, which in practice is too often rushed, messy and perfunctory;
I am asking if I can republish the whole editorial, so cross fingers.
The point is... What happens to archaeology is going to be our fault or our sucess. we will have no-one else to blame.
As your posts show, this Big Society is a sham - it could be great, but it will be half baked, hopeless and impossible to implement control in practice.
What I see is a forking path... one way is hard work, reorganisation, admissions and forgiveness... another is self delusion and blinkered selfishness. why do I know which way we will head!