Southport - support or betrayal?

[kevin wooldridge]

i am, albeit clumsily, trying to gauge whether bajrs set out to become professional diggers or specialists or managers or whatever else because i think that 'traditional' diggers are now and will in the future feel the brunt of the realignment of priorities which southport is advocating. i also think that it is inevitable that those that dont adapt to the new order will be swept aside or marginalised out of a profession and into a labour force

I am in total agreement, however I suspect that the constituency of BAJRites who do 'just digging' and nothing else is actually quite small. It isn't just the current recession but the trend over the past few years that digging skills alone are no longer really a basis for longevity in archaeology (I hesitate to use the words 'career structure').....I think in that sense that there could be a new model for an archaeological 'career' which actually will be pretty much the same as the pre-1980 'career' model i.e archaeologists will need some kind of back-up profession t support them through the lean periods or when digging isn't taking place. This is not dissimilar perhaps to the career path pursued in some other parts of Europe or the Middle East when at certain times of the year (height of summer/winter) it is physically impossible to work in the field except in exceptional circumstances. Needless to say some of us have been trying for some time now to acquire or adapt or brush off interchangeable skills for that very eventuality.

I wonder if in that sense the older generation of diggers might be more adapted for the 'brave new world' than some more recent comers to the trade, who may have had a more structured path into the profession (school, uni, archaeology, dole queue, scrapheap!!)