The School of Jack

[Unitof1]

Sorry Jack I cant help it I just see working in a unit not as an archaeologist. It is a good thread and your observations work really well

Its a statement of what I (and others) have seen and experienced.

and what I and possibly dinos "I've been convinced for years that most of them have never read a report". is saying is that these are observations about unit based archaeology where everything is locked in a paradigm is that the paradigm you are propagating have a lot of people going around not being allowed to be an archaeologist. Its very hierarchical with the ifa dircotor archaeologists at the top who never even visited the site. I wont interfere again, carry on and leave it as a warning to others about how things were done

[Dinosaur]

Unit - good post :face-approve:

Think Jack's angle is that's how things should be done on site, as an aspiration (and to be fair sometimes are, if rarely), whereas mine tends to be despair that it isn't being done anyway as a matter of course

[barkingdigger]

I've been convinced for years that most of them have never read a report (not a half-decent one, anyway) and hence have absolutely no idea what they're supposed to producing information towards - is there some problem producing neat, clear, and above all understandable site plans that can be used in a report? Have just had the 'joyous' experience of a site where some of the planning (mostly trench edges and land-drains) was done by GPS - for some reason this resulted in no one even attempting to produce acceptable pervitrace site drawings !

Classic! An infinite number of monkeys might knock out the odd script for Hamlet, but you also wind up with an aweful lot of broken typewriters! :o)


As for those A1 drawing boards, how much do you put aside to finance damaged-back lawsuits? With a little intelligence (I know, a dangerous assumption!) those little A3 sheets can be "stitched" together in CAD or Illustrator to make your nice big section for publication. All they need is consistent keys around the ends so they can be joined up.

[Dinosaur]

I've no problem with multi-sheet drawings - sadly thats not how it ever seems to work out, people just tend to restrict how much they record to what fits on the board. My main objections are section drawings that just don't record enough section (if you've got two features running under a trench edge next to each other why not draw both on one drawing using a common datum) and tunnel-vision plans where people just plan e.g. the little bit of ditch they've personally dug whilst completely ingnoring everything else around them (like maybe the undug bits of ditch to either side). A3 boards are fine for some things but inappropriate for others. On the cursus I've been playing withover the last few years the planning would have been comedic on A3s, they'd have spent longer walking to and from the hut for a new bit of pervi every 2 minutes than actually planning - plus of course the features were a bit big, a single line for one side of a ditch on a A3 sheet really isn't very satisfying if you've got to go looking for the matching sheet for the other side.

Can't recall many cases of back-injury due to A1 board, thats kinda down to common sense on the part of the user, having your teeth knocked out in a high wind seems to be commoner, but that's just a result of people always taking out ones that are too light (have never had that problem with 1/2" marine ply ones, plus they're stable enough to set up on a bucket to save some bending) - and A1s are handy cover in big hailstorms. The old Northants unit had one back in the 80s that had some small battons screwed to the back and doubled as a wheelbarrow-lid to keep the paperwork dry in wet weather and a planning board in dry....ok, maybe a disturbing attack of planning-board nostalgia there....

[Dinosaur]

And is there some problem with producing a drawing that just looks good?

[barkingdigger]

Hmmm. Your reasons for using A1 hide quite a few disciplinary offences! (Sloppy drawing standards can only exist if Management doesn't do its job robustly. Just like filling out the paper forms... Oh, I know there's always time/budget pressure, but sometimes ya gotta draw the line.) Perhaps one should be administering "six of the best" with that spare mattock handle that's always lurking unused in the toolshed. }

And what ever happened to A2? That handy yet unloved "middle child" of the paper pantheon? Small enough to be ergonomic on plywood, twice as roomy as A3? I've seen folk duff their backs bending over A1 boards (done mine no favours, too) and of course there's the wind...

[BAJR]

for me ... I like my A2 but to be honest the A3 is a beauty. light but big enough. ... speaking as an illustrator I hate people who hand me A1 drawings on drafting film. they are a nightmare to render down for reports. ,,, or get into a scanner or in fact anythings. on a big site I did recently - I did exactly as barking says... and I would - shock horror... be able to marking tape together to have a look at a plan... then store em away in teh folder again.

As for A2... actually a big seller. I can't make em fast enough... http://www.pasthorizonstools.com/A2_Draw...a2draw.htm

though nothing compared to the 100 plus of these that I had to make so far http://www.pasthorizonstools.com/A3_Draw...a3draw.htm

[video=youtube_share;Wud2g7tKdRo]http://youtu.be/Wud2g7tKdRo[/video]

[Dinosaur]

We worked out its actually cheaper to have big batches of A1s scanned commercially than paying someone to do it in the office, but each to their own

Have to admit I quite like A2 but no one round here seems to use it

When I worked for Exeter Museums AFU many moons ago everything was done on A4 (for filing purposes) - that really was c**p :0

[Unitof1]

sorry jack I lied I will post again .....in all your descriptions who is a chartered archaeologist....

[Jack]

sorry jack I lied I will post again .....in all your descriptions who is a chartered archaeologist....

Indeed, The School of Jack course 101 is intended to ready the practitioner for working in the commercial world of archaeology...which some would term unit-based archaeology. Though the IfA doesn't necessarily feature.....that would depend on the individual employer and whether they are a RO, and/or follow the IfA provided standards and guideline documents.

The course does not cover chartered archaeologists as none, as yet, exist.