6th June 2012, 02:10 PM
BAJR Wrote:Now as I was saying - This is just to see if this is widespread. --- often it would be a great idea to have an inhouse archaeology unit able to do works.
For Fife, it should be noted that other companies do indeed work there. so it is not closed. --- I am hearing of another possible in Essex. but will find out more.
Unfortunately I did not see this thread earlier as I have been out of the office a lot, so to clear a lot of confusion up:
Fife has two archaeologists on staff (Douglas Speirs and Steve Liscoe) who do a huge amount of work in supporting archaeology in Fife (not just in the sphere of planning). They do not have the equipment, stores or other resources to undertake substantive pieces of intrusive fieldwork and I can categorically say they do not undertake commercial work. However, where the council themselves commission work (from an external company) they do often take a keen interest and have on occasion become the media face of the project - an approach that promotes the archaeologists on the council staff and the role they have in safeguarding Fife's Historic Environment.
How, my detractors may say, can I prove this - well the quoted excavations in the public library were conducted by our company under contract to Fife Council and indeed they have been fully published: [FONT="]Rees, T, Gordon, D and Matthews, A 2008 ?Excavations within the graveyard of the Holy Trinity, St Andrews, Fife?, Tayside and Fife Archaeological Journal 2008 vol 14[/FONT]
I think the problem in this hunt for atypical behaviour from our council archaeologists is the separation of media presentation from contractual reality - the real clue in whether a council is undertaking what may otherwise be commercial work is not press releases but how many field archaeologists they employ (ie how many seats are in that organisation rather than independent provider).