Nice little rant

[lucy78green]

Someone's posted a thread on the state of Irish archaeology which some of you over the pond might be interested in for comparison purposes http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Irish-Arch...ssage/2353

Lucy

[deepdigger]

it says you need to be a member to open it lucy and, er, well, you know!!

deep

[lucy78green]

oops didn't realise, actually although I am a member I never post there-it seems to be very academic and I don't want to incriminate myself! Anyhow I am not sure about repeating the post here as I didn't write it....

Lucy

[kevin wooldridge]

I have access to the web-site and agree that Ciara Reynold's comments are a concise summary of many of the problems affecting UK as well as Irish archaeology. I am willing to copy her critique to BAJR if anyone is interested as I don't think that the web-site concerned has an secrecy policy and the message has been moderated...(Awaiting a 'Yes please', from someone/anyone)

[Digger]

Yes please.......

[kevin wooldridge]

A copy of Ciara Reynold's mail to Irish Archaeology...

What's bugging me most about Irish archaeology?

I wouldn't know where to start.

I'm working at the coalface, as a lowly digger with idealised views and quickly disapearing enthusiasm. I've been working on excavations for a couple of years now. I've done most of the major road schemes in the country (including the M3 and monitoring the Blundlestown interchange near Tara, which was a bog that i nearly lost my car in!!) and worked for all the major private companies. I can honestly say that the conditions for staff are appalling and that they are not getting any better.

You might ask what this has to do with our heritage and archaeology in general? Is still a case of diggers moaning again? My opinion would be that the conditions in the business (no rose-tinted view here) at the moment are conducive to retaining the worst staff and not getting the best out of the staff that are there and are motivated and passionate about archaeology. You can imagine the implications that this has for rushed road-schemes when everyone has to pull their weight to get the job done professionally and in time.

First i will say that the vast majority of my peers are extremely
interested, concerned and professional about their careers. But I do believe that this profession at the excavation level encourages people who don't have that interest to work in it anyway. You could come in to work for 3 days a week for the entire project without getting repremanded. You can leave early , come in late etc and while you will be docked wages, there is no interest in getting productivity out of the staff. I have no problem with people with no university qualifications coming in and training on the job; they are usually the most motivated and productive. Unfortunately it seems
to be seen as a job that you can just fall in and out of as the mood takes and just work towards the friday paycheck. They'll be the ones asleep in the ditch on a Friday, or pretending to do paperwork in the office for days on end. Unfortunately they are dragging down the level of professionalism and giving the rest of us a bad name. I have never once seen anyone cautioned or sacked on an archaeological site.

The wages in these jobs are not good though some companies are better than others. There are 2 or 3 companies that pay well for high quality staff and this is recognised amongst diggers and developers alike. Just to give a broad example of the wages. I am 25 with a Masters and 3 years experience and I barely get 20,000 euros a year. Even if i went up the next level, it's only an extra 50 euros a week. Some people would say that that is ok for my age, experience etc and maybe it is but it doesn't really get any better.
There is no wage structure and there is a huge difference between wages for assistants and supervisors and directors. There is no career ladder to speak of . A lot of my friends have left for more lucertive jobs in other areas.

You can survive on the wages but that's about it. It's no coincedence that the digging population consists largely of 20-something years olds with no commitments or responsibilities. If you are unluckly enough to have a car you are used by general dogsbody by the company and director (not all i hasten to add); fetching and carrying, moving tools (especially during monitoring and testing), giving lifts to other staff members, getting the water for breaks etc. I was once told by a director that i couldn't go on my prebooked holiday time as the 4 people i gave a lift to wouldn't be able to get to the site with no transport. Needless to say I didn't go back!

Lest people think I am moaning, all we are looking for is a fair wage for a fair job. 3 days sick pay a year is standard with most companies. If you get a bad flu because of being out in the rain for weeks on end that's your tough luck. The most prevalent injuries are muscle and back injuries. Most of these are stress and strain from years of digging and lifting and badly laid out and resourced post-ex facilities. Because nothing can be proved to be specifically a work related injury then obviously the companies are not obliged to cough up. Usually the young people excavating the medieval graveyards have worse injuries than those they are recording.

Archaeologists go into the job knowing that we're going to get wet, cold, and dirty every day. That's not the problem, the problem is when this is made even worse by the conditions on site. eg. no hot water for washing hands at break time, portaloos emptied only evey 2 weeks with no handwashing facilities or alot of the time toilet paper in them either. You can imagine the stench in the summer! Rubbish left lying around until the project manager/director has time to bring it to the dump and the constant presence of rats and other vermin. It is not unusual for the number of people to excede the room available in the portacabins. In that case the rest of us
sit in our cars in our wet, dirty clothes because we don't, of course have drying rooms or anything even remotely that fancy.

Usually on sites it is up to the diggers themselves to organise the hygenine element, we get a kitty going and buy washing up liquid, hand wash, milton for disinfecting the cups after the rats get in and eat our teabreak biscuts ! We go in our own cars to collect water and boil it up for tea, the company provide the gas though,
i have to give them credit for that. If you are unlucky enough to be on a large site where no-one cares what happens then nothing gets done.

I'm sorry if i sound a bit crazy and i can safely say that my rant is over. I'd like to hear what other diggers working in the field think of the conditions they experience. I honestly didn't think it was so bad until my engineer brother called over one day to have a look. Some people would say why not leave. I wouldn't even if i was offered 50,000 a year. I love my job and feel privleged to be caring for our heritage. Every day is something different with each turn of the shovel. A few basic working conditions would be nice though.

Ciara Reynolds

[Alfie]

I have to say I find that quite a profound and moving summary of what we have all been saying on here for ages.

[Digger]

Well said. Though surprised she left out the 'lets fire everyone for Christmas' bit.

[Venutius]

I'm not an archaeologist but I definately understand and agree with what is being said here.

What's the solution?

Most archy's (probably quite rightly) will not put their head above the parapet for the job security reasons indicated in this post - basically, archaeologists are unskilled labourers in the eyes of the employers and there is no organisation with the balls to try and do something about it.

But WE cannot let this situation to continue or else we are part of the problem. Any suggestions? I'm willing to help.



Save the Thornborough Henge Complex - http://www.timewatch.org

[Digger]

Anyone with a good contact at the BBC, nice little exposure program?
Current state of British archaeology type thing. Blanked out faces and electronic modification of voices? Shadow a few sites? Chat to the digger, BAJR and invis. dig?