19th July 2011, 12:19 PM
you seem to forget that a lot of the amateurs were working on community digs before ppg16 and your brave new world of professional archaeology but you are quite right in saying few if any understand how the planning process works but the sane is undoubtedly true of some diggers
there is no chance of hlf funding the lions share of commercial archaeology, nor are there many community groups capable or willing to work to commercial timetables - but some will do work on development sites that otherwise would not go ahead because of the costs involved
amateurs are not the threat but unscrupulous undercutting and inadequate sampling strategies are - the fault is squarely in the commercial sector
there is no chance of hlf funding the lions share of commercial archaeology, nor are there many community groups capable or willing to work to commercial timetables - but some will do work on development sites that otherwise would not go ahead because of the costs involved
amateurs are not the threat but unscrupulous undercutting and inadequate sampling strategies are - the fault is squarely in the commercial sector
If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about answers