I thought it might be useful to start thread to see who would be willing to give a paper at this conference.

I would be happy to talk about any consultancy topic including who needs a consultant?

Peter

I was at a health and safety training day last week and one of the trainers was a bit of a 17th century reenactor (not sure which bit ). He asked me about a find of a 17th century gun trail with some paint still surviving on it. Apparently, it was found at a fortified house somewhere in the west of England (possibly Cheshire) together with bits of leaded glass. I seem to recall it being mentioned on the radio as I was driving to work recently but cannot remember the details. Anyone know anything about this? I would be particularly interested in knowing what colour the paint was and what scheme, if any, was used.

Cheers,
Eggbasket

There's nothing like a Dane ...

I hope to gain some positive feedback here so bear with me...
What would you like to see as session topics at the forthcoming conference? To wet your whistle:
1. The treatment of Human remains under ppg 16
2. The unarmed curator-what`s the point?
3. Your heritage in their hands: commerce dictates standards
4. The IFA- just what do they do?
5. What would you do with Tony Robinson in just 3 days?
6. Archaeology-a career in ruins?
7. Towards an accountable profession for the 21st Century
8. Who needs a consultant?
9. An alternative to ppg 16
10. APPAG recommendations-whats the point?
11. Health and safety
12. Terms and conditions of employment
13. off for a fag-your turn.....

A BAJR conference is on the cards. Title and details to follow. Of course it goes without saying that all are welcome and a huge turnout is hoped for. It would be superb to draw together under one roof, all who have something to say about the current state of the heritage profession and the nations heritage. A venue is currently being discussed over on the "now for something completely different" thread.I would like to see a well organised and professional event provide a platform for open dialogue and the preparation of a well-overdue publication. This can`t be done without a joint effort. Immediate needs/wish-list:
1. an advisor-who`s done this before?
2. volunteers-who`s willing to do what?
3. special skills- who`s the artists amongst you? Graphic designers?
4. Funding hunters- someone must know sumfink!
6. Who fancies presenting a paper?

Get in touch soon guys, we need to start talking about this pretty soon. All excited now.....

A member of my family works with Architects. When sent to work away from base, the architects are accommodated. When Archaeologists work away from base, they are "accommodated" too. Lets show the world another little insight into our working conditions.
Being sent to live with a family in their home whilst away digging sounds ok to some but not, to others. My experience of this...a permanently pi**ed family..contents of household pets bowels/bladder all over foor of "kitchen"..kitchen covered in animal blood of varying species..Lady of the house exposing herself over table...inviting me in to clean my teeth whist she sat smiling on the toilet...two of their cars were burnt out outside the house...just fekkin dandy. Great to come home to after a days diggin. Mate of mine and I had had enough and asked boss man for a move-this was refused so we bought tents and lived next to the spoil heap on site for 3 weeks. The torrential rain became too much so we had to abandon tents and live in the site toolshed for a further 4 weeks. The unit in question treated it`s archaeology in much the same way that it treated it`s staff. So, come on, lets have your stories about sh*t accommodation whilst on the circuit. I particularly dislike the one that a mate told me-the girls on one site were housed next to a known brothel in a city context "because it was cheap..".I get the impression that the more we accept this as "part of the job", the more a unit will perpetuate sh*t conditions simply because we say nothing about it.

After airing some extremely profound and disturbing views relating to the current state of archaeology, contributors to BAJR, the Digger and elsewhere have said their piece. At the moment, BAJR is (as always) host to Heritage workers of all flavours, all persuasions. Is it finally time to move things forwards? How about publishing something that will prompt urgent dialogue? Hows about a conference of our own? A call for papers on "change and why" or," towards a coherent profession" or " archaeology- a career in ruins" or, "your heritage in their hands"... Time to get together perhaps-not rocket science, can be organised with little effort. This of course does not exclude us from acting now-plenty of issues require a response now. How about a way of BAJR contributors/supporters being able to issue press releases? Come on you lot, all the ingredients are in place.....

Ok, so you're working as a digger for a medium sized unit, where do you see the pinnacle of our career ladder? Assuming that you intend(and do) stay in the field, where would you like to see yourself in a few years time? When would you be able to say "this is ok, this is for me til......."?
I'd like to know cos i just can't see anyplace right now!!

deep

Just seen this odd piece on News 24. Apparently Heritage Professionals are at a loss to understand why there is a severe skill shortage.

Now I would suggest the a lobby group could be formed overnight, no release a press release expalining exactly why no-one wants (can afford, take the hassle etc.) to work in this sector.

Back that up with a website and you have an immediate effect. In my experience the powers that be are very good at ignoring those that cannot cause troublesome publicity. I think the "happy clappy" view of archaeology that has been carefully built up by EH, UK Gov and TV over the last few years serves as a great contrasting backdrop over which to splash this new message.



Save the Thornborough Henge Complex - http://www.timewatch.org

Dear Digger

All of what you are saying now or has been said even in your forums (even the Time Team stuff)about British archaeology was said by me in a column called the "Dark Side of Archaeology" in the mid 90's that used to be posted on The Mining Company.com run by Kristen Hurst. It doesn't seem to be posted anymore but perhaps Ms Hurst can be persuaded to send you a link, archive or reactivate the site simply for adding to "the secret history of the archaeolgy". The site was similar if not the precurser to this one and my pseudonym was "Digger".

During this time I was contacted by the the Union of American Field Archaeologists who aked me to set up a chapter (section) for digging staff in Britain as the americans had suffered similar problems we suffered in a privatised fragmented deregulated industry and thought a bit of Anglo-Saxon solidarity would help - we are after all an international profession. They have done amazing things in the US for the site staff.I showed the documentation to many friends and collegues (when I was working)all thought it was interesting -other unions in the UK didn't cater to short term temporary site workers. Unfortunately at this period of time (96-9:face-thinks: most experienced people who were interested in joining were leaving the profession and the young and inexperienced still hadn't realised they were heading for the hard world of exploitation.The others were more interested in living in squats, growing dreadlocks, being "alternative" getting pissed or in the knickers of the nubile debutant. A chance missed?

I stopped the submitting the DSoA to the Mining Company when I moved to Switzerland because I lost contact with people in the UK and secondly didn't feel capable of commenting on the situation when I was no longer involved.

I see on your site that Shovelbums.com was founded in 1999 but it was in existence before that (perhaps with a different domain name) because I used to use it to apply for jobs in the US and Canada in the mid 90's.

Keep up the good work archaeology in the UK needs you.

Little Tim

Ok, What are the current issues (apart from lack of storage) on the holding of finds?
At the moment I seem to be retrieving stuff from the skip that someone else has value judged and chucked. Admittedly this has ranged from a stoneware foot-warmer to unattributed medieval masonry.
Who's call is it to decide?