So called 'archaeologists'

[troll]

Greetings RedEarth! Do I hear war drums bein beaten perchance? I suppose to answer the question-I don`t know why we argue amongst ourselves.It could be that after years of the "same old" and endless appeals for change,the people at the sharp-end become powerless and turn on eachother.Of course there are plenty of individuals in the job who really should have their IFA accreditation re-assessed. In recent times and on another thread here, Mr David Hinton made it clear that the responsibility (his view) lies with you to inform the IFA of your issues. One of the more cheery bits of the last few years is that we`re starting to communicate in better ways now.BAJR for just one example, has regular subscribers from all arms of the heritage profession/industry (take yer pick) and the forum makes for a good read all round.We found that we did`nt actually know much about eachothers jobs either. Scary. I suppose what I`m trying to say is this- welcome to BAJR, think you`ll like it here.Lots of people from all walks and really informative too.Do a nice cuppa char too if you ask nicely.Don`t forget-the Digger publishes donated work. I`m surprised at how little space is dedicated to whingin per se.The Digger manage to publish an informative and sharp newsletter whilst also allowing contributors to vent! For someone to write to a newsletter and critiscise a colleague-the implication surely is that "all is not well". It is all too easy to see discontent simply as "whinging". I see it as just another symptom of the general malaise.Unfortunately, on occasion, issues become individualised and it`s this that has the historical habit of stalling movements.You`re right-nuff bitchin.

[RedEarth]

'Do I hear war drums bein beaten perchance? I suppose to answer the question-I don`t know why we argue amongst ourselves.It could be that after years of the "same old" and endless appeals for change,the people at the sharp-end become powerless and turn on each other.'

My point wasn't so much people within the profession turning on each other - I would hope that we could do that in a dignified fashion, and where necessary through the IFA (which I have some, perhaps mis-guided faith in).

It's the type of people who claim themselves to be archaeologists based on very little apparent experience or knowledge that I'm criticising. You all must have come across them at some time: many run local night-school courses on the subject, carry out excavations with bands of volunteers and made quite extraordinary claims about themselves and their discoveries. I don't know how prevalent this is in other parts of the country, but where I am (the north end of the wonderful North) there are at least two that I could name. As I said before, while it would be easy for the and well-informed (professional or amateur, this isn't a dig on behalf of the commercial and research sector) to call them crack-pots and ignore them they are doing a great deal of damage, largely because people are afraid to openly attack them. They are also extremely good at getting publicity, either through local press or TV, perhaps the fault of Time Team's influence. In addition they are exploiting money meant for good causes - particularly the HLF and LHI, which is a disgrace on moral grounds as much as archaeological.

Archaeology isn't like a lot of other professions/academic disciplines, people quite like to do it in their spare time for fun, but also as a means of making themselves look important. While the former can be quite useful, the latter is undermining all the good work that we do and making us look bad.

What can be done? A forum for more open and public critical appraisal of work by all (professional and amateur) would be a good start. This needs to be more coherent than the usual moaning and pub-gossip. In order for this to happen it needs to be published; although the problems of lible obviously need to be taken very seriously. None of the mainstream publications by the CBA, IFA etc would be able (or probably willing to deal with it) and it might need to be more regularly covered. The Digger is an excellent potential place for this to start, perhaps crossed with Private Eye...

[deepdigger]

The ones that I can't ignore are the part time army of volunteers!
They really do spoil all the good work done by the proffesionals!!

deep

[RedEarth]

'The ones that I can't ignore are the part time army of volunteers!
They really do spoil all the good work done by the proffesionals!!'

It certainly wasn't my intention to criticise volunteers too fiercely - there are a lot out there that do some good work, although there are others that have seen a couple of episodes of Time Team and think they know everything, which is a bit insulting to people who've spent years 'in the field/trench/office'. The worst offenders that I have come across are those that actually have qualifications in archaeology but can't apparently be bothered to put any of the work in to proove themselves i.e. spend a few years doing every menial job there is in order to earn their position. Many of the ones I have come across are mature students, who clearly don't like the idea of being told what to do by people 10 years younger than them. Unfortunately, because they have the qualifications on paper, they are difficult to criticise even though they are likely to be taking on more than your average experienced supervisor would care to. I have heard it said by various people, who should know better, about cases of very poor work carried out by 'qualified' archaeologists - 'At least they've got a degree in archaeology'. I'm sure this is straying into familiar territory...

Obviously, once upon a time all archaeologists were essentially interested amateurs and there is still a place for them - especially in areas of survey that the professionals are never going to have time to touch, but its the semi-qualified ones that are doing the real damage in my experience. One of the major problems at the moment is that EH and the various lottery funds seem to value 'Community Involvement' and learning skills over and above the qualitfy of the work carried out. I'm not sure I see the point teaching a load of volunteers how to be archaeologists when most are unlikely to go into it as a profession, and it is especially galling when so little training is given to most archaeologists, be they students or in the commercial sector. Excavation especially is suppose to be the last thing you do (survival in situ anyone?) and doiig it badly is worse than not doing it all. It's a bit like teaching someone how to be a vet by killing their dog!

[mercenary]

I have thought long and hard about this subject. I have worked with a new community group supervising their fieldwork. We aspire to do the work to a higher standard than in commercial work (which is my regular job), but the reality is that the skills will take a while to come. I should point out that they are very professional in most respects and are paying market rate for my skills.

Some would argue that this is a case of archaeology being done badly, and would try to limit the work done by community groups to non-intrusive work like fieldwalking and resistivity surveys and the like. I would not. My feeling is that community archaeology has a huge role in educating the interested public to a higher standard than Time Team does. As I have discovered, community archaeology can be essential in doing the kind of research that commercial work, or EH for that matter, seldom does. The research goals for this community group are central to EH's local research agenda, and the work will not be done by anyone else.

I think blame for the lack of excavation skills in community groups can be laid fairly at the feet of professionals who have until recently squeezed the life out of local societies. It will take a while before those skills are re-learnt. Until that time I for one am willing to do fieldwork that might be done slightly better by a commercial unit. We are after all doing much the same as field schools, which from other posts on BAJR sometimes do very shoddy work.

As for individuals who call themselves archaeologists with only the flimsiest credentials, they neither deserve nor get any respect from the real archaeologists. They only fool non-archaeologists.

[RedEarth]

'I have worked with a new community group supervising their fieldwork. We aspire to do the work to a higher standard than in commercial work (which is my regular job), but the reality is that the skills will take a while to come. I should point out that they are very professional in most respects and are paying market rate for my skills.'

I am heartened to hear positive stories, and I am sure that there are many more out there. Amateurs do have a valueable role to play, especially in areas of research, although there is a need for more checking of the quality of the work and the published results. Perhaps posts a bit like the officers of the Portable Antiquities Scheme could be set up - regional 'Society Liaison Officers' who could keep an eye on what goes on outside of the commercial sector. It would be a useful way for EH/HLF money to be spent and would take some pressure off the curators. Since the lottery is often responsible for opening this can of worms, maybe it should also be responsible for monitoring it.

[mercenary]

I suspect that this is being done to a certain degree by community archaeologists who are often funded by the same bodies I believe. At present my region's community archaeologist is devoting much effort into helping nurture new groups and not doing much
'quality control' work, but in the future this could change.

[RedEarth]

'At present my region's community archaeologist is devoting much effort into helping nurture new groups and not doing much
'quality control' work, but in the future this could change.'

I have yet to meet any of these Community Archaeologists but they sound like a great idea. Every town should have at least one! They could do a great deal in helping to co-ordinate what goes on, who's doing what and how well etc. Problem solved!

[BAJR Host]

Welcome Red Earth...

You have hit the nail on the ehad of what BAJR is about... finding problems, talking about them and then acting in a reasonable and sensible way... as you say elsewhere... the simplest solution is often the best.

I agree wholeheartedly about Com Archaeologists!

Another day another WSI?

[deepdigger]

It wasn't my intention to suggest that volunteers did a bad job, anything but!
Some are excellent diggers, what I was trying to say was that as long as these people work for nothing in their spare time what chance do we have in getting better pay?

deep