Southport Consulation

[moreno]

I am still away in Wales just now, with patchy internet. however. now it is outthe bag (so to speak) I am shocked at

The key point is that identifying the potential for public involvement should become the norm. There is no intention that this should replace or reduce the numbers of paid historic environment practitioners and the report goes on to make reference to the IfA policy statement on the use of volunteers which has not changed

also seems to allow for untrained individuals with no experience be allwoed to excavate without training on commercial sites. They are paid and so one would guess the client will be charged for having untrained staff carrying out commercial projects. How does this square up?

Very very worrying :face-rain:

This situation the advert creates certainly isn’t going to solicit support. The advert reads as a very poor attempt at a disclaimer for not being a training dig. It may not be a training dig, yet who is going to provide the training for these “students of archaeology”? I note the advert is not one for recruiting archaeological students. It’s these word twists that seem to be a prevalent method for providing the most broad range definition to avoid being held down to a specific, understandable and straightforward explanation. It gives the appearance of politicising the situation.

One of many of my concerns is the wage structure for the advertised position. How will this go down with other more experienced “digger” staff? Again, it may not be a training dig, but we know from experience that it will put upon other diggers to support these students of archaeology. This can only mean less attention paid to their site work. I can only see this as divisive. If this were to become the “norm not the exception”; what about the welfare of senior staff and the stress and workload that will be put upon them?

It doesn’t appear that this aspect of the advert and the SG consultation has been very well thought through. While supporting the public involvement in archaeology, there is a time and a place for it. Where the SG consultation is leading is an overstatement of public involvement and may be well meaning in spirit, but as practical application it needs rethinking.