+- BAJR Federation Archaeology (http://www.bajrfed.co.uk)
+-- Forum: BAJR Federation Forums (http://www.bajrfed.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?fid=3)
+--- Forum: The Site Hut (http://www.bajrfed.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?fid=7)
+--- Thread: The School of Jack (/showthread.php?tid=4991)
The School of Jack - Dinosaur - 17th June 2013
Not sure where Jack's at, he may be out field-trialing the next chapter - but that's not excusing him from the tea-rounds in the office, we've been keeping track of how many turns he's falling behind }
Some madman want's me to give a lecture....
...to an audience who will be able to understand what I'm trying to bluff my way through :0 :face-crying:
The School of Jack - barkingdigger - 17th June 2013
Golden rule - only ever give lectures about your own sites! That way you can always be sure to know more about it than anyone else in the room...
The School of Jack - GnomeKing - 17th June 2013
RE: fear of tribunals > @PP, sounds like a threat...are you a manager by any chance?
BTW, no union membership is nessescary to call out bodgers and miscreants >>> unions now are more often just employee-employer relations (thatcher and blair saw to that)
> do your research, know your rights (i am happy to point to info by PM)
beware of comments such as PPs:
'Blacklisting' is all to easy. Or rather perceptions mean a lot more than facts > your 'good work reord' will mean sod all ('procedural' redundaney/termination is often very open to manipulation, and mostly is stacked heavily in favour of 'the employers' position - never mind '[short' contracts and self-employment).
In this 'proffesion' it is extreemly easy > with a core of employees terrified of losing thier jobs, and an inexhautable supply of short-contract/zero-hour labour to be had at will, any 'employer' who feels threatened by an 'employee' demanding fairness and good practice, can use any old cobblers as an excuse to remove and never re-hire.
Sadly, it is often a whole crappy system an individual is forced to contend with, not just a single issue#
And even when a clear 'moral victory' can be seen, it is probaly extreemly hard in many situations to arrive at practically benifical outcomes for 'the complianant'.
Consenting to this Game makes us all Slaves...while the majority 'just carry on', individuals will continue to be easy targets and little threat.
Of course if it is an issue of Archaeological Standards#, then you must contact the IFA imedieatley...as they they are Custodians of All Archaeolgoical Practice (L O, very much, L)
---and of cousre, given the fine members who make of the 'executive lobby/commitee', they could be no possibility at all that a complainant/whistle-blower they catch the name of could ever suffer proffesionaly in the future.... oh goodness no.
(Just as there is clearly no commercail intrests in Whitehall departments and Downing street.... )
You can keep your head down and Slave-away until 'They' are finished with you - or make a stand (just don't relie on much support in this anaesthetised society)
Prepare for alternatives to comercial archaeology....
...in fact that might be the surest way to impove the situation within 'the proffsion' >> instead of being pertified of losing a job, focus can be put on what that job should entail, and gives freedom to call out the bullshit.
+ telling a shoddy half-baked idiot just where to stick it can be very liberating.
Those still denied Remedy could also consider followoing up on the publicly subbmitted reports of sites or companies they know (if they have 'time on thier hands') > there is a wealth of contractual and proffesional embarresment lurking for the Informed Seeker.
ABOVE ALL:
do as much as you can to document your own work > be sneaky, be subtle > especially log/note everything for yourself if you think there is a Storm brewing
The School of Jack - Dinosaur - 18th June 2013
barkingdigger Wrote:Golden rule - only ever give lectures about your own sites! That way you can always be sure to know more about it than anyone else in the room...
The holes were fine, am right on top of that, it was all the specialist shiny s**t in them that's been causing all the interest...
The School of Jack - Jack - 18th June 2013
GnomeKing Wrote:ABOVE ALL:
do as much as you can to document your own work > be sneaky, be subtle > especially log/note everything for yourself if you think there is a Storm brewing
Definitely. But there is no need to expect to be treated like a slave.
Self-fulfilling prophecy?
Oh, and next lesson coming soon...........been living the life of a spartan for a few days
The School of Jack - Jack - 19th June 2013
Lesson 7 'Clean up your loose'[SIZE=2]
This used to be (but is still on some sites) the call that heralds the five minute warning for a break or that it's time to pack up and go home.
The call was a signal for those digging to get rid of the last of any spoil in or around their slot and to empty and buckets/ barrows. If it was a call for a break, it was also traditional to place any tools in a neat pile and cover their 'heads' with an upturned wheel barrow (if you have one) and upturn any buckets etc.
This tradition was not some form of ritual behaviour, but one of function, primarily weather related. When rained on, loose spoil turns into a variety of troublesome slops. A wheel barrow or bucket of clayey slop is no fun and can be dangerous to move/ empty. A chalky or sandy slop makes a great outwash/ trample deposit that can hide any feature.
So any satellite dumps of loose get trampled by boots to form new layers, and those troublesome halo's of spoil spread to form unexcavated roundhouses, and barrows on the final area photographs. Or worse still, hide actual features/ relationships.
Keeping tools under cover during breaks helps them last longer; but also a tidy site is a safe site. Avoid those comedy cartoon moments with mud encrusted hoes hiding in loose spoil slop, only to be trodden on and fly up into someones waiting nose.
On a commercial site, it is often up to the diggers to manage their own timekeeping and hence their own cleaning up of loose. Learn the lessons of the past and clear up/ tidy up your spoil!
[/SIZE]
The School of Jack - Dinosaur - 20th June 2013
Jack Wrote:[SIZE=2]This used to be (but is still on some sites) the call that heralds the five minute warning for a break or that it's time to pack up and go home.[/SIZE]
...or the cue for the supervisor to go 'find someone's edges' for them for the next 4.5mins, with a mattock}
On the 'halo' issue, best I ever saw was at Stanwick Villa in ?1988 - the tools for no obvious reason were delivered packed in black soot [cue School of Jack Lesson 23 - cleaning tools...], apparently derived from the Windsor Castle fire...this wasn't a good thing on a site consisting primarily of pale yellow sand...the black halo just kept expanding outwards for weeks, its progress could probably be tracked/quantified from the site photo archive if any academic ever fancies a pointless piece of research
The School of Jack - kevin wooldridge - 20th June 2013
Dinosaur Wrote:..- the tools for no obvious reason were delivered packed in black soot ........ apparently derived from the Windsor Castle fire...Did it affect the sampling? One of my early archaeological experiences was working on a site close to Salisbury Plain where we were pointedly told that the reason for no smoking on site (in the days when I would if I could) was potential contamination of the C[SUP]14[/SUP] samples........problem was no-one had told the farmer next door who decided, having harvested his crop, to set fire to the stubble.....it was like a black snow storm....and I guess a field day for the Oxford Lab.....
The School of Jack - Dinosaur - 21st June 2013
kevin wooldridge Wrote:Did it affect the sampling?
Nah, Roman villa - most Romanists still haven't discovered C14 (and certainly hadn't that long ago)...they're in for a nasty shock when they do... }
One year at Thwing we spent the afternoon trapped in the stripped area, surrounded by blazing stubble - not a good thing on a gleaming white chalk site, shame I'd just cleaned up a huge area for photos really :face-crying:
The School of Jack - Wax - 23rd June 2013
So what course of action does the school of Jack endorse for dealing with the supervisor/ manager who waltzes in trowel in hand to demonstrate where the edges of a feature should be. Creates a ruddy great pile of &@£^! on top of that feature you have just spent an hour cleaning then strolls off to deal with other important matters leaving their &@£^ behind them.
!