12th June 2009, 05:09 PM
Not quite what I meant. Rather that its not always acceptable to process finds on site because the client won't stand for being charged for us standing round while pot dries. Its more economical for the pot to dry while we're getting on with other things in a centralised finds room.
Please understand, I'm not disagreeing with you. As a pot specialist I'd love to be able to be on a site where the pot was washed, recorded by me so information could then be fed directly back to the excavators POs as the site progressed, with statistical analysis and the final report being finished when the site concluded and all the pot had been processed. Unfortunately I've only ever seen this work on training/research digs, never in a commercial environment. I've seen it tried commercially but without sustained success. Its ok on big digs with good facilities but just isn't practical on anything smaller or with limited resources (money or equipment).
Please understand, I'm not disagreeing with you. As a pot specialist I'd love to be able to be on a site where the pot was washed, recorded by me so information could then be fed directly back to the excavators POs as the site progressed, with statistical analysis and the final report being finished when the site concluded and all the pot had been processed. Unfortunately I've only ever seen this work on training/research digs, never in a commercial environment. I've seen it tried commercially but without sustained success. Its ok on big digs with good facilities but just isn't practical on anything smaller or with limited resources (money or equipment).