I maybe should have posted this as a reply in the other Postgrad thread? but didnt want it to get buried as I would like some input.
Postgraduate Diploma's, are they any good, or would potential employers look upon such a qualification in a negative way? Perhaps some may feel they show lack of commitment, or worse, an inability to handle a Masters dissertation? As I have previously mentioned I would really like to go down the GIS route but fear of more debt is making me very twitchy. Though the tuition fees for a PG Dip are the same as for the full Masters, supporting myself for six months rather than for the full year would obviously make a huge difference financially, but is this a false economy, what do you guys think, anyone out there have such qualifications? Would be grateful for fresh viewpoints on this as quite frankly it's driving me nuts.
Penfold

Just how many versions and hybrids of single context recording can there possibly be? Love it, loathe it, lets have it...what do you think of single context recording? How would you enhance the system or run it more efficiently?

Interesting about the new poll... Are Digger kept informed about whats going on.

At teh moment 2/3rds of Diggers say no and 2/3rds of supervisors and project officers say yes...

a contradiction

Should we support the Thornborough festy? Who fancies going to show some support? A BAJR mini-bus anyone? I`m not wearin no dress fer no-one though.....

My goodly wife is moving to the good ole US of A with her work (no archaeological) and Im gona shoulder my trowel and make off with her. Im a graduate 7 years experience in the field any of you guys know if I have a chance of being able to secure a job in archaeology over there, obviously having to go through the various green card/visa machinations. Has anybody had or gone through a similar experience.. what do the American archaeologists want in the way of experience qualifications etc. I would be very grateful of any info you guys could give as i cant do anything else so its either archaeology or prostitution and I wouldnt get thrupence half penny for the latter.....:face-stir:

Cheers.

Hey everyone,
[:0] I have to say am excited but having small panic at what I have let myself in for during the summer... 4 weeks of excavation in wales (muchos rain and mud then) and a project surveying dinosaur footprints. I am completely green on the digging front so any advice would make my life in summer sooo much easier im thinking! cheers

There is recently much discussion about post grad degrees on here. I was reading in one of the Sunday papers this morning about MBA's and whether or not they are worth the time and (extremely serious) money that goes into them. One commentator made the point that everyone has a degree, to be taken seriously you need two.

Do you think archaeology post grads are good or not? (in terms of helping you become fully trained excavating all singing all dancing archaeologists)

Summary of the First Cambridge Regional Meeting ? 23rd April 2005

There was a level of excitement prior to this meeting. Two national ?Diggers? Forum? meetings had been held before (in October 2004 and February 2005) but this was the first regional meeting to be held anywhere in the country. Up for discussion was the basic remit of the ?Diggers? Forum?, but also how it could work to meet the concerns of Diggers? in this region. Attendance was a little lower than had been hoped, but there were a wide range of units represented (including CAU, AFU, Suffolk Archaeological Service and MoLAS) and the majority of those attending were new members of the Forum. In addition there were number of Diggers who had expressed a strong interest in the ?Diggers? Forum?, but were unfortunately unable to attend this meeting.
The afternoon began with a small presentation on the brief history of the ?Diggers? Forum? to date. The Forum was set up in October 2004 as an autonomous special interest group within the IFA. It was recognised that diggers and other junior specialist staff are underrepresented within the professional bodies and the Forum intends to rectify this. The ?Statement of Intent?, which had been officially ratified at the previous national meeting on 19th February, was read out. It was generally agreed that the principle of ?Diggers? Forum? was a good one, but the direction that it takes from here is in the hands of its members.
The meeting then proceeded into a general debate about issues affecting those present, and also to provide ideas as to how the ?Diggers? Forum? should function. It was agreed that a key problem is that there is currently no adequate profile of the Diggers in the profession that we are aware of. One of the Forum?s main tasks will be to consult Diggers in this region about their issues and concerns. Having done this we will be in a position to provide help and advice to diggers as well campaigning for solutions to the broader employment issues.
A key issue raised during the discussion was the ?Rights? of diggers. Most site staff are not members of the IFA or a trade union, and this leaves a large number of people ill-informed about their basic rights regarding Health and Safety, pay and conditions of employment. It was decided that the ?Diggers? Forum? could fill this gap by providing information crucial to diggers in the form of a handout or leaflet.
There was also a strong feeling that Health and Safety was not being dealt with effectively by some units, with a number of site staff reporting avoidable accidents. This is an issue that should be a priority for the ?Diggers? Forum?. It should not be the case that diggers learn through experience and that it is the Construction Industry that often leads the way on issues of Health and Safety for Archaeologists. The Forum has plans to produce guidelines for site staff - so that they are familiar with their employers? responsibilities under current Health and Safety law - and a method for recording so-called ?near misses?. It was also felt that support should be given to those who feel that Health and Safety issues are not being properly addressed in their workplace.
Lastly, the ?Diggers? Forum? should be seen as an invaluable way of sharing information and practices between staff at different units. Even in Cambridge, members of the CAU and AFU rarely talk to each other, let alone discuss best practice and common problems. The ?Diggers? Forum? can provide a focal point for site staff across the region and even nationally. It is hoped that at future meetings time will be allocated to sharing basic information on how we do our job, and the conditions we work under.
All in all it was a very productive meeting and much was discussed. We hope to meet again in two months or so but in the meantime we anticipate a lot of work being done. Keep an eye on our page on the IFA website for any more news and information about membership - http://www.archaeologists.net/diggers. We hope to see you at the next meeting.

Tim Vickers, Secretary of ?The ?Diggers? Forum?- The East of England?

recently i bought a trimble gps, the thinking behind this was that between jobs i may be able to do some archaeological survey work to sort of supplement my meagre income. have only done one actual paying job so far, but my question is this.
does anyone actually pay for anything in archaeology or is everything done as a favour?
everytime i get close to doing a job the answer seams to be
"ah yes, i was going to get you in to do it but so and so is doing it for free"
quite sickening sometimes.

deep

Bit of a huge post here... I might even recommend copy paste and print to make it easier on the eyes... If you can suggest ammendments, corrections or disagree... feel free to say so... this is the most democratic dictatorship there is! [8D]

The Role of BAJR - British Archaeological Jobs & Resources
David Connolly - Director, BAJR

What is BAJR?
Among the national institutions of archaeology, such as the IFA, CBA, Rescue, etc there has appeared an independent organisation run by an archaeologist for archaeologists and heritage workers. There is no committee, no formal membership and no subscription; however BAJR is run democratically, with decisions, guidelines and documents put out to public vote and/or consultation from interested groups, such as the CBA, SCAUM, ALGAO or the IFA.

BAJR provides information and services to the whole Heritage Industry and those who interact with them. In conjunction with the Digger, it also acts as an independent voice for the workers in archaeology and heritage, providing advice and protection on an informal basis, empowering the workers with facts and data concerning all aspects from Health and Safety to Employee Rights.
As our heritage belongs morally and ethically to us all, BAJR supports all those who adhere to the highest professional and ethical standards. To this end, BAJR provides information to groups as diverse as Local History Societies, the Portable Antiquities Scheme, Metal Detecting Groups, Developers, as well as Archaeological Contractors. The IFA Code of conduct is recognised as the highest standard that should be adhered to and as such, BAJR has adopted the IFA Code of conduct as the condition for Archaeological Contractors to both be included in the database of contractors and to advertise on the jobs pages.

[u]BAJR?s mission statement is as follows:</u>

to provide practical information concerning all aspects of archaeology and the heritage disciplines, promoting the professional standards already available and creating an environment where care and respect of the archaeological resource is understood to be the responsibility of everyone.

BAJR is primarily concerned with providing up to date information and resources for public and professional use. It also involves facilitating the way in which archaeology and other related activities are conducted and creates standards, in conjunction with other national organisations.

Who uses BAJR?
A range of groups and individuals both professional and amateur use BAJR. Our visitors come from universities, contracting units, development control departments, museums, conservation laboratories, environmental. They come from metal detecting clubs, local societies, building development companies, architects firms, schools and colleges, but all have one thing in common ? Need for easy to find and easy to use information. Every day, over 2500 people from across the globe visit BAJR.

What does BAJR do?
To maintain the intentions within our mission statement BAJR has the following aims
1. To provide a employment service for all.
The primary function of BAJR is to provide an advertising service for Heritage Organisations, whether Contracting Units, Council Services, Higher Education Institutions or Heritage Body. This is updated daily, with access to hundreds of jobs a year. In addition there is the CVs Online service, where a large searchable database of individuals is held that can be accessed freely by employers looking for staff. Over the past 5 years, BAJR has now become the primary location for job adverts in UK heritage.

2. BAJR provides information services to all.
Gathering information and making this easily accessible to all has become an important goal for BAJR. To this end, the following datasets (continually updated) were gathered and are available as fully searchable databases online;
1. Council Curators (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Isle of Man)
2. Local History Centres
3. Educational Institutions
4. Heritage/Archaeology Courses (HERA)
5. Archaeological Contractors
6. PAS and Treasure Trove centres.
7. Young Archaeologist Club Locations
8. Funding Sources and Grants (Heritage based)
9. National Organisations
10. Resources in Archaeology (Maps, Software, useful sites)
We recognise that the CBA along with the IFA contains many useful datasets, and we will work closely with them both to avoid over duplication of effort. It is not the intention of BAJR to challenge the pre-eminence of these organisations in this aim, more to enhance and provide an additional parallel source for the public and archaeological/heritage professionals alike.

3. BAJR provides Guides in archaeology.
To promote archaeology and standards within both the profession and amateur organisations and individuals, BAJR has worked with specialists in a number of fields to produce simple to use guides to several key aspects of archaeological work and standards. These range from guides to archaeology in the planning process, health and safety in archaeology and employment rights in archaeology to short explanations of GPS, geophysics, osteology, fieldwalking, survey, metal detecting (including recording), aerial photography and marine archaeology. Many more of these guides are planned including recording historic buildings, building standards in the planning process, excavation, battlefield archaeology, onsite conservation. These guides are not intended to supplant the current documents, which they reference as the main source of information, but, are designed as easy to read introductions to these subjects.
By promoting standards and ensuring that breaches of the IFA Code of conduct and associated Guidance documents are brought to their attention, it is hoped that all archaeological contractors will ensure Best Practice as standard. In addition, it is expected that amateur and hobby groups will maintain similar rigorous standards and therefore protect our shared archaeological resource.

4. BAJR promotes fair wages, employment conditions with a career structures
BAJR has created a 7-grade career structure in archaeology, which has been in existence since 2002 to create the framework for a professional career structure. The levels look at the responsibility that each grade should be expected to undertake, from trainee to top. The salary levels are based on grading structure within local government and the IFA minimum levels. BAJR strictly enforces pay levels and will not advertise jobs that fall below BAJR approved minimum.
BAJR also provides informal guidance on the employment rights of self employed individuals and employees, to ensure that the IFA stated goal is upheld by all companies that use BAJR?s services.
?the archaeologist shall recognise the aspirations of employees, colleagues and helpers with regard to all matters relating to employment and equality of opportunity.? IFA
The conditions and career structures that are part of advertising on BAJR in turn provide clear guidelines for contractors on what is expected, and include treatment of staff from matters concerning Health and Safety to Employment Law.

5. BAJR allows archaeologists communicate.
BAJR is part of the network that allows Field Archaeologists and other Heritage Professionals to communicate both ideas and concerns about the profession. The new Hotline. Provides a confidential outlet to highlight problems at a stage where they can be dealt with or explained. The important Digger Newsletter is published online and both the BAJR message board and BAJR poll allows frank exchanges of information and ideas about archaeological practice which can then be communicated to the profession more widely. With the recent addition of the Heritage Calendar, detailing events from re-enactments and conferences to lectures and exhibitions BAJR is providing information to help plan the year.

Conclusion.
BAJR is here to stay, but it is thanks to the support from many hundreds of people and organisations that this has taken place. One person can make a difference and this can be seen in the vast resources that are now available via BAJR. In the future it is hoped that further collaboration with other National Organisations can take place to ensure that the archaeology that we all hold dear is both cherished as a national resource and investigated by genuine professionals, aided by amateurs and all other groups that care for our heritage. BAJR will be pursuing a course to support the creation of Chartered or Licensed Archaeologists in the immediate future.

For more information about the BAJR, please contact us at:
British Archaeological Jobs & Resources
5/2 Hamilton Terrace
Edinburgh
EH15 1NB

Tel 0131 669 2686 & 01620 861643
Mob 0787 6528498
Email info@bajr.org
Web http://www.bajr.org

About David Connolly
Began working in archaeology in 1981 before entering Edinburgh University in 1983. Spent the 80s working in various locations throughout the UK, mainly in York, Lancaster, Scotland and Europe. Created Backtrack Archaeology in 1992 which specialised in illustration, survey and site recording using cutting edge computer technology, while also spending 6 month a year excavating and supervising excavations and surveys in the Middle East and Central Asia. Began recording buildings and designed landscapes in 1995 in conjunction with Kirkdale Archaeology and devised several new methodologies for their documentation. In 2001 he joined forces with Tom Addyman to assist in the recording of major buildings, including the Scottish Parliament site, and continued for 2 years as a co-director until completing the Cowgate Fire Project, which created a 3D model of a rescue fire site in the heart of Edinburgh. Currently he is the assistant archaeological officer for East Lothian and the development control archaeologist of Midlothian council, as well as the Director of BAJR. The contracting company is still available for specialist work in illustration, survey and building recording. Recently, he has joined the IFA Buildings Archaeology Group committee.