7th July 2009, 09:44 PM
I think primarily, if we are to consider universities as a source of field archaeologists, I do not beleive it is the universities job to teach them how to do archaeology, they focus on trying to get srtudents to find loopholes of archaeological thought. its the same every time, they leave out a few bits of thinking cheese and find out if anyone bites.
Also the principle direction of a student is not necessarily to become an archaeologist, unless we wish to develop community archaeology further down the line.
We must also remeber that field archaeology and heritage works are changing and the professional commercial workforce will equally have to be willing to retrain and refocus ourselves to whatever skill lie ahead.
A training excavation is a chance to see a bit of what it is like, the fun, the games, the camradere (i can't beleive i wrote that) and the kind of stuff that they are studying, to give them a hands on perspective to develop their studies.
as for the oft dicussed professional recognition we so surely want at times, we have made comparisons with the architectural industry where, to become a commercial partisipant, in a given area, or field you pursue a masters in that subject.
this is where volunteering comes in. You volunteer in the industry before financially commiting yourself to whatever end.
also the further education system has had in place for some time masters qualifications, which many people have scoffed at as being valid and appropriate, but given that we now find ourselves needing to think about the diversity of the material we work with these qualifications in professional archaeology are becoming heirs apparent, as real professional qualifications for the future of the industry. these in conjunction with experience leave options for diversifying the industry into long untouched areas.
lets face it, the universites have been supplying the demand, but you can't make horses drink! and on top of that we are not the be all as an industry, or the world.
as for training excavations, i think i would be too subjective on such matters to provide clear ideas, but we do have different types of univerity and different types of qualification and the field experience requirements of coursework could probably taken as a starting point, someway away from moving cabients, to appropriate mind and body activites.
anyways
txt is
Mike