24th May 2007, 02:39 PM
Hey Troll,
As an archaeologist who specialises in Classical Greece, and therefore by loose definition a 'classicist' or classical archaeologist (if you want to pigeon hole me), can I just take exception to your need to define this guy by his background or area of research rather than simply as a crap archaeologist!
I have over 20 years experience of working in the UK with contract and University units carrying out urban deep strat and rural research excavations and I most certainly know my way around an archaeological site; indeed I teach archaeological skills at university.
I would also like to point out, that Mediterranean sites are not always excavated in the way you might expect in Britain, but that is because 'stratigraphy' as we know it, is not always in evidence. Sometimes it is just about moving dirt from the structures. You cannot always excavate a dry and dusty Mediterranean site in the way you would excavate in Britain - I personally hope that I never ever again have to spend a soaking winter in Glasgow bailing out my trench with a bucket and sponge!
All sites are different, and all site directors have different experience - we're all human after all. Embrace the differences and add them to your arsenal of fieldwork experience and stories to tell around the camp fire (like when I worked in Holland and the director, in his wisdom, decided to put the wet sieves in low-lying water next to the dyke and in the shade of the site hut where they never saw sunshine, and we all got trench foot!). I certainly wouldn't caution anyone against working abroad for this reason, and I can tell you that the students who will be working with me in Greece this summer will leave the site with skills they can take to any excavation...
Don't tar us all with the same classicist brush!
As an archaeologist who specialises in Classical Greece, and therefore by loose definition a 'classicist' or classical archaeologist (if you want to pigeon hole me), can I just take exception to your need to define this guy by his background or area of research rather than simply as a crap archaeologist!
I have over 20 years experience of working in the UK with contract and University units carrying out urban deep strat and rural research excavations and I most certainly know my way around an archaeological site; indeed I teach archaeological skills at university.
I would also like to point out, that Mediterranean sites are not always excavated in the way you might expect in Britain, but that is because 'stratigraphy' as we know it, is not always in evidence. Sometimes it is just about moving dirt from the structures. You cannot always excavate a dry and dusty Mediterranean site in the way you would excavate in Britain - I personally hope that I never ever again have to spend a soaking winter in Glasgow bailing out my trench with a bucket and sponge!
All sites are different, and all site directors have different experience - we're all human after all. Embrace the differences and add them to your arsenal of fieldwork experience and stories to tell around the camp fire (like when I worked in Holland and the director, in his wisdom, decided to put the wet sieves in low-lying water next to the dyke and in the shade of the site hut where they never saw sunshine, and we all got trench foot!). I certainly wouldn't caution anyone against working abroad for this reason, and I can tell you that the students who will be working with me in Greece this summer will leave the site with skills they can take to any excavation...
Don't tar us all with the same classicist brush!