16th November 2005, 05:56 PM
Whilst im very new to this beautiful game we call archaeology i would say im quite well positioned to comment on the state of archaeology degrees in this country, being in the process of getting mine.
With the set up at bradford I am currently taking part in a placement year where i am learning all the realities of comercial archaeology in Britain. This experience, of actually working in archaeology, is proving by far the most usefull part of the degree so far. However without the past two years lectures and three months digging experience with Bradfords project in Italy then i would have felt overwhelmed by the number of techniques and ammount of knowledge required to work on site.
I believe that if you tailor the Bradford degree properly, as there are many choices regarding modules, and take advantage of all the other opertunities they offer then you will be well prepared for working in the real world of comercial archaeology.
Having a degree, masters or PHD, doesn't however make you a good archaeologist. Field archaeology is a skill that has to be developed over a long period of time and it cant be taught in a lecture theatre.I dont think anyone should be working on a site without having spent at least a month on a training dig where there are supervisors and other site staff whose job is to teach the basics of excavation and recording and can do that without having to worry about budgets, deadlines and developers etc.
With the set up at bradford I am currently taking part in a placement year where i am learning all the realities of comercial archaeology in Britain. This experience, of actually working in archaeology, is proving by far the most usefull part of the degree so far. However without the past two years lectures and three months digging experience with Bradfords project in Italy then i would have felt overwhelmed by the number of techniques and ammount of knowledge required to work on site.
I believe that if you tailor the Bradford degree properly, as there are many choices regarding modules, and take advantage of all the other opertunities they offer then you will be well prepared for working in the real world of comercial archaeology.
Having a degree, masters or PHD, doesn't however make you a good archaeologist. Field archaeology is a skill that has to be developed over a long period of time and it cant be taught in a lecture theatre.I dont think anyone should be working on a site without having spent at least a month on a training dig where there are supervisors and other site staff whose job is to teach the basics of excavation and recording and can do that without having to worry about budgets, deadlines and developers etc.