Been made aware of this issue, passing on a letter:

Roman Roads Research Association

Roman Villa Site at Aiskew, Bedale, N.Yorks

When preliminary work took place for the Bedale bypass several years ago, a Roman villa site was discovered. The details of the site were deliberately with-held to protect it, although it wasn't thought that the discovery was particularly significant. For the past few months the site has been partly excavated prior to the construction of the road. It soon became apparent that this is the most significant villa site discovered in the north in recent years despite the remains being heavily robbed out.

During which time several of us who knew about it have been sworn to secrecy, with various promises of open days and site visits which have come to nothing. Finally, however, North Yorkshire County Council have given permission for the distribution of a press release about the site, which you can read by clicking here. You will note that the release is dated four weeks ago, and only just released.

What the press release does not say, however, is that only the part of the site affected by the course of the road direct has been excavated. A licence to excavate the remainder runs out at the end of March and it is now clear that NYCC will not fund the remaining work, even if the landowner were to agree to extend the licence. I understand that an application may have been made for emergency scheduling, although because the land was ploughed before the excavation began scheduling would not prevent the landowner from ploughing the site again. The sad reality is that without a management agreement with the landowner (unlikely because of the costs involved) the site may well not survive for long.

Please feel free to distribute this email to whomsoever you choose.

Regards

Mike Haken
(Chairman, RRRA)

Our mailing address is:Roman Roads Research Association
Park Cottage, Nidd,

Harrogate, North Yorkshire, HG3 3BN
United Kingdom









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Is it within the AUP to ask for accurate reports of redundancies - ie. name of company, how many, what positions and when? I hear this and that on the rumour mill but few hard facts - often a mixture of passed on gossip and speculation, third- or fourth-hand. (This often seems the way in archaeology.)I know we are in difficult times and I know that many jobs have been lost and many more will go (my own is in doubt) - but where can I go for the blunt facts?

The data may be interesting - are there regions that are particularly badly hit and others where the impact is less? Which jobs are going - diggers? post-ex? managers? all? Are some companies faring better than others? If so why? Etc......

Apologies if this has already been addressed.

It's quarter past two in the morning and I've just finished working on this portal for education that the leadership want.

I'm repeatedly told that there's a 'commitment' to education and I'm also frequently told there's a surfeit of information and sites on the web.

What are people's views on this? Is this commitment wide reaching? Can yet more be done online?

I'm doing a spot of research into mollusc shells, and one thing is frustrating me, so I thought there has to be a BAJRite or two who can give me some pointers.

I *know* that oyster shell has been used as a construction material in the past, and not just for making lime or mortar, but the shell itself used as a structural element, e.g. a packing shim; but I can't for the life of me find a printed reference to this going on.

If, by any chance, anybody reading this has encountered such a thing (perhaps in a building survey) and knows that it has gone into writing (grey lit. report or publication), please please please let me know!

Just had a thought! With the lay off of many of us over this year and the associated credit crunch who of us heritage proffesionals still remain invaluable and a constant source of employment?

Close enough for a country job!

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Our election is 49 days away. Politicians and party spin doctors are gearing up. 38 Degrees members are busy across the country campaigning on the NHS, tax dodging and the TTIP trade deal - but with facts and spin and counter-spin flying around, we need to be sure of what’s true.

That’s where Full Fact come in. They’re an independent, neutral organisation - and they’re planning to fact check the election. They’ve persuaded some of the country’s top researchers, statisticians and lawyers to volunteer to debunk myths, respond quickly to lies and point out when the media’s bought the spin.

Just a few months ago, Full Fact produced a briefing on the trade deal TTIP which simplified the mess of complex international law into a few pages. [3] Thousands of 38 Degrees members have sent it to their MPs so far. That’s just one example of how useful Full Fact can be.

38 Degrees members voted together to call politicians out on spin and lies during this election. [4] Full Fact operating at full strength (sorry) would make sure we can do this. And if we can help them get off the ground, we know we’ll have helped keep this election as honest as possible.

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Thanks for being involved, "

https://fullfact.org/

>>> how very admirable,)

I have a whole heap of archives which have spent Christmas with me for the past ten years and I wondered where I could get some insurance for them before the public servants pay me to take them off my hands. I presume that it might be quite specialist insurance but are most country museums insured? If they are can I build up a no claims discount and what kind of excess should I be looking at?

As an archaeologist with well over a decade of experience at various levels under my belt I saw the recent increase in demand for diggers here as a perfect opportunity to get back onsite. I was offered work (in writing) with a respected major employer, given a start date and a site so I packed up my life, rented out my house, sold my car as it wasnt needed in an urban area with lots of transport options, moved to the uk with my limited funds etc etc.
As im due to start very soon and i had not yet seen a contract i emailed asking for the usual details for my first day only to be told casually that they no longer have the place they offered me open until next month and instead offered me another dig. Thing is this new dig is 3 times further away from my home, over 2 hours each way, and about 3 times the commuting cost, which i cant afford right now. I feel i've been really messed around with zero consideration for what i went through to get here for this job. Any thoughts? Is there a commuting time limit for job offers? If employers are so needy for experienced diggers why are they acting like this?

As many will know the Field Staff situation is desperate to say the least, all the big units are trying to recruit (at or above the so called minima which is in itself a joke)....the only way forward I can see is to pay MORE MONEY ! If only we had a Union with balls......

It's been forever since I was on here, but hopefully you kind people can point me in the right direction.

After my so-called academic career proved to be a flop, I more or less gave up on archaeology. It's been ages since I worked on an excavation (2006) barring a couple of days spent as a volunteer. Most of my field experience is from survey-only projects in the USA and I studied rock art in my research (the recording of which required little more than a good pencil and a camera) so I never had that much excavation experience to begin with.

I'd like to get back into contract work but I am not at all confident that I know what I am doing, especially when it comes to paperwork! Can anyone recommend some good resources for getting up to date on field methods? Perhaps a good field guide or undergraduate textbook?