As promised some time back, I have set up a blog with details of transport links to York for the BAJR conference.

http://www.freewebs.com/travel-to-york

I will be updating the blog as and when I get further information. Obviously it is a bit difficult at the moment to give precise details of cheap travel options until the rail and coach booking periods open, circa June, but any comments or suggestions appreciated.

I am willing to act as go-between for drivers seeking passengers and/or passengers seeking lifts to York. See the blog for details.

I find when a land owner appears to have intentions of keeping artefacts that a few words about conservation, storage and the implicated costs often persuades them to hand over the goodies.
Paul Blinkhorn's case sounds very frustrating. I've never encountered any squabbling over pottery; more usually metal items. Obviously the landowner / developer needs some gentle persuasion by EH, County Archaeologists and local museum.
I would have thought that planning permission would have stipulated the usual about depositing the archive at a named location. Isn't the developer therefore contradicting the planning consent?

At The Digger we are currently writing a major article on the experiences of curators. If you are a curator we would appreciate your help. If you wish, we will publish your contribution anonymously, but we would be grateful if you could supply your name and other details ? for example which local authority you work for (we will treat this information in confidence and will not publish it without your express permission).

The questions below may or may not inform your contribution.

PLEASE REPLY OFF LIST TO: thedigger@email.com

* Are you paid enough for the responsibility you have?
* Has your workload increased? With increasing workloads, is it possible to monitor sites effectively? How often are you able to visit sites ? do you find yourself relying on the archaeological contractor?
* How do you think the job could be made to work better?
* How has your job changed over the past few years?
* Have local authority cuts had a detrimental affect on the service you can offer?
* Do you have an archaeological background?
* Do you think PPG15 and 16 offer you effective control, if not ? how would you like them changed?
* How much power do you think PPG16 gives you over a developer? Have you used your powers to block a development because not enough care was taken over the archaeology?
* Do you operate an ?approved list? of archaeological contractors, either officially or unofficially? How do you assess archaeological contractors for their ability to do the job?
* Have you ever thrown an archaeological contractor off a site?
* Have you ever been under pressure to, for example, order a watching brief rather than an evaluation or an excavation? Who exerted this pressure?
* Are you part of the planning department in the council, or another department? What are the advantages of being in the department that you are in? Do inter-departmental politics hinder you doing your job?
* How could higher standards be achieved? What one thing would make your job easier?
* Have contractors or developers ever tried to ?pull the wool over your eyes??

The latest Digger can be read at:
http://www.bajr.org/DiggerMagazine/Latest/index.html

Previous editions can be read at:
http://www.bajr.org/DiggerMagazine/DiggerArchives.htm

Ok, I'll admit it, I work in television, sadly leaving my career as an archaeologist behind...

But, I am making a series about archaeology and would love to know your thoughts about what's big news in archaeology at the moment. What do you think are the major revelations and unexpected discoveries in the British Isles and worldwide? What's causing all the excitement?

Cheers!

I might be throwing this up as an idea and it might alreadyy be old hat, but I was having a chat, as you do, about standards of contract archaeology and our wages at work being largely determined by how much we can tender for to win a job (this is in light of an eval we lost out on where there was a good twenty grand difference in the price range of the submitted tenders)and this came up: what if the local authority (or whoever) who issue the brief for work to be undertaken also quoted the price range which the job should be undertaken for. Then the potential contractors would not be able to vastly undercut or overprice, and standards of work and pay could be raised. Is there any law that prevents this happening?

At the moment the quality control is more at the other end, with county arch's sending poor reports back, or envoking the mythical 'blacklist'. This seems to me a bit 'after the lord mayors show' (i.e. the sites already trashed).

I know that more money doesnt necessarily mean better standards of work. But 'bracketted' tender levels would surely help.

So what do people think, or am I, like, so five minutes ago and consultants have been doing this for years...


Gumbo

Has any of you guys ever been presented with a flux gradiometer survey that indicated no ditches or other positive archaeological features other than ridge and furrow yet on excavation found the site littered with archaeology that had not been caputered by the G fizz. Thank gawd I went for the just in case evaluation trenchs!!!

The guy was an experienced bloke who i had used loads to great effect. The method was suitable for the geology type and everthing. Very Strange.

Any similar experiences.

That system does sound good in theory, though stories of low standards of work, rushed jobs and poor treatment of staff (and archaeology) from Ireland are common. I'll admit this is hearsay - i've not worked in Ireland myself, but from talking to people who have, standards vary widely. It would seem even if you can come up with what you should do at the interview, you could get away with a lot in the field standards wise. Good to hear things are getting tougher though!

I'd be in favour of some sort of licensing or charterd profession here myself,though apparantly it takes a lot of work to get a royal charter - mentioned elsewhere on these boards - I don't understand the ins and outs

I'm of the view I would put my name to a petition / raise my hand in a vote for any plan for change that involved some sort of defined professional status for archaeologists in the UK.

On another thread it was suggested that consultants are fat and drive range rovers. One of my archaeological friends has suggested to me that consultants driving nice cars demonstrates that there is a career structure in archaeology. So here are the statistics for the week to show what some consultants do.

Miles travel 500
Projects worked on 14 Charity projects 3
Pages of reports printed 1800
Photographs taken 750
work emails recieved 37
work emails sent 12
telephone calls made 30
Telephone calls recievbed 20
Letters sent 6
Work mail recieved 18
quotes 1
Invoices 2
Emails read on BAJR & Britarch
Indifferent meals eaten in motorway services, resturants and cafes all very fattening. 6
Total hours worked 70 or so
Chargeable hours worked not enough

The weekend
Hand delivering reports
Completing tax return
Sorting web site

Car of Choice Honda Civic automatic. Comfortable, reliable, nice to drive and relatively cheap to buy. The heated leather seats are a bit of a luxury but ....They are very good in mud and in the wet.

Daimler - the interiors are not well laid out if you sit in the passenger seat. Very expensive.
Porches - too uncomfortable and expensive to run
Mercedes - dealerships unhelpful but cost effective cars. The Stuggart Taxi.
Landrover - too unrealiable according to the statistics
Skoda Fabria - Brilliant to drive but the automatic with a 1400 engine is unpowered. The fabrics let them down. The heated/cooled glove compartent is a plus.

Peter

What do people think of the study of late 20th and early 21st century sites? There is an increasing amount of stuff going on, and a lot of noise being made about it at English Heritage

This website at the University of Bristol outlines some of the philosophy behind it. Our Ironbridge blog has a separate 'Contemporary Archaeology' section highlighting some of our work on developer-funded projects. A project in Sheffield is mentioned here. Finally, in the states, here is some work on 'Graffiti Archaeology'.

Is it 'proper' archaeology? Is it being built into PPG16 responses where you are? If not, why not? Or indeed should it be?

At last! Hopefully this will be a revelation/revolution for archaeologists!

First of all WELL DONE BAJR and its members for making this their mission, hard work certainly does pay off.

As the post above says, we will be offering an initial discount for BAJR users when the trowel is officially launched!

In the meantime we are running a competition to "Win a Trowel" - as well as fantastic runner-up prizes - go to http://www.getatrowel.co.uk/photo_gallery.html for more.

Thanks

http://www.getatrowel.co.uk

Ian

http://www.getatrowel.co.uk - trowels for archaeological excavators