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+--- Thread: Findings on Tara were altered, says archaeologist (/showthread.php?tid=1006)
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Findings on Tara were altered, says archaeologist - BAJR Host - 6th July 2008
This from World Archaeology Conference reported in Irish Times
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/0704/1215110024070.html
serious allegations ... anyone care to comment? (either on or offlist... this is delicate I know, as AUP does still stand.
"...ARCHAEOLOGISTS working on excavations for the controversial M3 motorway feared they would be ?sacked, blacklisted or bullied out of their profession? for not supporting the building of the chosen route, it was claimed yesterday. Speaking at a debate on the motorway near Tara at the sixth World Archaeological Congress at UCD, Maggie Ronayne, a lecturer in the department of archaeology at NUI, Galway, said pressure was put on site directors and field teams by archaeologists employed by the National Roads Authority (NRA).
?Lip service was paid to archaeology, but archaeologists were used to destroy our heritage,? ... reports ..... had been altered, (and) the building of the motorway posed serious ethical questions for archaeologists worldwide. ....."
read the whole story....
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/0704/1215110024070.html
Given the size of this project, I am surprised that I received no complaints at the time... I have many others from much smaller and less contravercial - the question arises... if this was known at the time, why wait until now?
See the entire paper here
http://www.nuigalway.ie/faculties_departments/archaeology/documents/ronayne_wac.pdf
"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu
Findings on Tara were altered, says archaeologist - Dirty Boy - 7th July 2008
Dear God. That's quite libellous!
Having no idea of the issues involved, it's hard to comment. I'm surprised no complaints have been made so far!
If reports have been altered, the authors can assert their intellectual property rights and have their names removed if that is the case.
Leading a crack team of archaeologists in the hunt for death or glory.
No-one's died yet and I think we lost the glory down the back of the sofa.....
Findings on Tara were altered, says archaeologist - diggingthedirt - 7th July 2008
Yes it is libellous, and if I were involved with any of the companies who excavated the scheme, Id be suing the arse of the Public Archaeology journal and NUI Galway, who should have cleared this nonsense pre-publication. The timing is all about publicity, coinciding with the World Archaeological Congress visit to Dublin. Crafty news management.
I was at WAC06 and sat in for the Tara debate in which we heard from all sides: contractor; commissioning consultant for the developer; neo pagan mythologist; local resident; academic critic (Maggie Ronayee, and self-appointed whistle blower); pressure group co-ordinator; chief state archaeologist; and local archaeological society member.
Unfortunately there was no time for questions or discussion, a shame, because we didn?t get to hear how the rest of the world felt about this all consuming issue. Chatting to a few delegates from over seas at the bar afterwards, it seems that most were a bit bored by it. I did get into a very heated argument with a PhD student whose research is in archaeological ethics, basically because he agreed with everything Maggie Ronayee had said and written? whilst I take issue with nearly every single point.
I wasnt involved in the M3 scheme, but would have heard if my fellow professionals had been compromised. You can dismiss out of hand the allegations of malpractice. 30 million euros has been spent on that scheme to date, the kind of blank cheque approach wet dreams are made of. The on-the-record criticism comes from a director employed during testing and evaluation of the scheme, called Jo Ronayee (Maggies sister). Never met her, but get the impression from reading her comments that she didnt really understand the terms of her employment. Perhaps hoping to delay indefinitely the road development, she seems to be quite surprised that she was asked to evaluate and then mitigate construction impact on buried archaeological remains. Errrrrrr, yep. Reports should always be edited. Just as plans and context sheets should always be checked. It?s a necessary part of quality control, but licensed directors always have final say. One of the many privileges of working within a legal framework.
Maggie Ronayees criticism isnt focussed on the quality of the work undertaken on the M3. That ones a non-starter, but thrown in for good measure (everyone loves a plucky whistle blower).
If you read her article from Public Archaeology, her real criticism is aimed at the privatisation of the archaeology profession. Irish archaeology, and the M3 road scheme are used as a case study symptomatic of a wider malaise. Shes actually making a broader point about whether we as archaeologists can remain embedded within the construction industry, servicing the needs of development, and still produce valid results for the benefit of society as a whole. She sees this as particularly troublesome in the case of large-scale infrastructure because of the global scale of the companies bank-rolling such projects, and their probable involvement in the arms trade and war zone reconstruction.
As an archaeologist she wants to identify with the displaced communities that make way for these developments world-wide, and wants archaeologists employed globally in the commercial sector to realise that clearing a development of archaeological deposit is not preservation by record but an Orwellian sleight of hand on behalf of? not quite sure but they seem like a very shady bunch of people indeed. Her challenge to congress was that if we, as commercial sector archaeologists (or as academic archaeologists mutually funded by the commercial sector) dont take a direct stand on these issues whilst still taking this tainted money, then we are taking a position by default.
Ooh. Controversial.
If we are to have a thread on this topic, perhaps we can keep to the article that generated it ? Maggie Ronayees principled criticism of commercial sector archaeology. Are we or are we not on the side of the angles?
Findings on Tara were altered, says archaeologist - BAJR Host - 7th July 2008
Twas ever thus... there is plenty of scope for a debate on the ethics of development/commercial archaeology, in effect temporal sterilisation engineering ... I too would be suggesting to Public Archaeology that they check with their lawyer.
The Tara is a red herring... as I have yet to hear a bad thing about the standard of archaeology.
The question seems to be easier to answer if you are an academic archaeologist in a university job. As a commercial archaeologist, why can't you have ethics and work for the devil?
"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu
Findings on Tara were altered, says archaeologist - Paul Belford - 7th July 2008
I did try to start a debate on this about two weeks ago by posting a link to the article, but no-one noticed...
Developer-funded archaeology in Ireland
...I think the wider points do merit some discussion in a broader global context, but suspect that in using Tara as a case study, Dr. Ronayne chose poorly.
Findings on Tara were altered, says archaeologist - trowelhead - 7th July 2008
All sounds very, very, very familier to me.
Close enough for a country job!
Findings on Tara were altered, says archaeologist - oldgirl - 7th July 2008
Quote:quote:Originally posted by Paul Belford
I did try to start a debate on this about two weeks ago by posting a link to the article, but no-one noticed...
Developer-funded archaeology in Ireland
...I think the wider points do merit some discussion in a broader global context, but suspect that in using Tara as a case study, Dr. Ronayne chose poorly.
Sorry, I didn't reply, but I did go and read the article at the time and passed it on to a number of people.
I felt that the article was rather...... emotive..... and really quite insulting in places. But then I probably don't have a long enough spoon when supping with the devil.......
Findings on Tara were altered, says archaeologist - BAJR Host - 7th July 2008
Thanks Paul...
My excuse is I was away saving Vultures... [:I]
Now we seem to be on it.
"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu
Findings on Tara were altered, says archaeologist - diggingthedirt - 7th July 2008
I missed it too, sorry pal, never normally miss anything Irish on here.
So firstly, is there a connection between digging a post-hole and making the world a better place?
And secondly, is this corrupted by money?
PS. For the sake of argument, said post-hole is filled with mid grey brown silty clay.
Findings on Tara were altered, says archaeologist - Dirty Boy - 8th July 2008
I'd probably have to say that thewre is no correlation between making the world a better place and a posthole full of mid grey brown silty clay.
If the posthole had been full of mid brown grey silty clay, that would be a different matter
Leading a crack team of archaeologists in the hunt for death or glory.
No-one's died yet and I think we lost the glory down the back of the sofa.....