Post Ex

[Curator Kid]

I tend to do the same sort of thing as HB, although there are lots of exceptions - developments work in different ways so it's not always possible to pursue the same process all the time, and there isn't a "one size fits all" approach. Some large sites - especially minerals extraction ones - last for years. Bits and pieces have to be signed off as and when, with post-ex and publication a long way off, so I guess I'd be doing the same as Vulpes and ML there. It's a question of getting the wording right in any letters sent, and explicitly specifying that the overall archaeological conditions [u]should not </u>be discharged.

To go back to Trowelhead's original question - my heart sinks when I'm told that the post-ex for any site is to be put out to tender. I've [u]never </u>had a satisfactory result from this process, and it involves a lot of pointless work and wasted time to get to the same end result.

[1man1desk]

Posted by Kevin Wooldridge:

quote:...and surely a developer isn't beholden to the same contractor who undertook the field work to also carry out post-excavation work.

That depends on the contract they have signed. All of the specs and associated contract documents drawn up in my organisation cover both fieldwork and post-ex, so that from the outset the developer is tied-in contractually to paying for the post-ex, and keeping it with the original contractor.

Posted by Curator Kid:

quote:my heart sinks when I'm told that the post-ex for any site is to be put out to tender. I've never had a satisfactory result from this process

Maybe so - but you don't always get a satisfactory result from keeping the work with the original contractor either.
To my mind, the main advantage of keeping the post-ex in the same unit that did the fieldwork is that you retain the knowledge and understanding of the site held in the head of the person who was in charge on site. If they have moved employer, or are sent out on site again while someone else does the digging, where's the advantage? That is why our specs and contract documents try to tie the contractor down to using the original excavator as the main author of the report.

1man1desk

to let, fully furnished