8th April 2008, 07:46 PM
Can't really answer that yes or no, because we aren't comparing eggs with eggs.
Reports done before PPG16 were nearly always written as academic articles for publication, so the standard was necessarily higher than for 'grey literature'. However, there was a terrible problem with what was called 'backlog' - i.e. projects that were never reported on at all (often excavations on highly significant sites, with important results).
However, a high proportion of the projects reported now as grey literature would simply not have happened at all before PPG16 - in most of those cases, there would simply have been no archaeological intervention.
The great majority of grey literature reports produced nowadays derive from projects that simply did not have sufficiently important results to be accepted by an academic journal - so there is an argument to say that they don't justify the effort (cost) involved in preparing the grey literature to a standard equivalent to an academic article.
Having said all that, I am generally shocked by the poor standard of writing that I see from day to day, both from archaeologists and from a wide range of other environmental professionals.
1man1desk
to let, fully furnished
Reports done before PPG16 were nearly always written as academic articles for publication, so the standard was necessarily higher than for 'grey literature'. However, there was a terrible problem with what was called 'backlog' - i.e. projects that were never reported on at all (often excavations on highly significant sites, with important results).
However, a high proportion of the projects reported now as grey literature would simply not have happened at all before PPG16 - in most of those cases, there would simply have been no archaeological intervention.
The great majority of grey literature reports produced nowadays derive from projects that simply did not have sufficiently important results to be accepted by an academic journal - so there is an argument to say that they don't justify the effort (cost) involved in preparing the grey literature to a standard equivalent to an academic article.
Having said all that, I am generally shocked by the poor standard of writing that I see from day to day, both from archaeologists and from a wide range of other environmental professionals.
1man1desk
to let, fully furnished