2nd February 2005, 11:35 AM
I work in Ireland where the National Museum is meant to act as a central repository for all finds from all manner of archaeological investigations throughout the 26 counties. This includes not only full excavations, but also monitoring, testing, fieldwalking, assessments, and anything else that ever appears, be it prehistoric swords or twentieth century granny ware. This is a legal requirement for any director who applies for a licence for any of the above jobs.
In theory it's a fantastic idea, in practice it's just not working. The stores are tiny, a new store was opened about 5 years ago (not sure of the date) but, needless to say, thanks to the indiscriminatory policies which we operate under, it is full already. The Museum is planning to custom build a store the likes of which you're talking about, but it's not due to be built til the end of the decade. We have a slightly different situation here in that all archaeology is centrally controlled, and so we are required to have a central store. Also, Ireland is a little bit smaller than the UK, so in terms of transporting to and fro, it's a bit more workable.
How and ever, what really needs to be addressed here is finds retrieval. What is the point in keeping nineteenth century nails, blackware, grannyware, the list goes on, when it is not necessarily the most cost-effective thing to do? Of course, it must all be reported on, recorded, and all the rest, but is it honestly worth keeping when it means that the budget is going to spiral out of control trying to conserve and archive stuff that you can find in your granny's kitchen. There must be a way out of this mindset, it's a difficult issue, but once the stuff that's really worth archiving and holding on to is sorted out from the rest, then talking about national research centres becomes more profitable. You are going to make more of an impact by saying you need somewhere to store all the valuable (not monetary value, but research valued) finds rather than the stuff that you find in, again, your granny's kitchen when you're making your case for National Lottery funding, EU money, and all the rest...
Or do you agree?[:p]
In theory it's a fantastic idea, in practice it's just not working. The stores are tiny, a new store was opened about 5 years ago (not sure of the date) but, needless to say, thanks to the indiscriminatory policies which we operate under, it is full already. The Museum is planning to custom build a store the likes of which you're talking about, but it's not due to be built til the end of the decade. We have a slightly different situation here in that all archaeology is centrally controlled, and so we are required to have a central store. Also, Ireland is a little bit smaller than the UK, so in terms of transporting to and fro, it's a bit more workable.
How and ever, what really needs to be addressed here is finds retrieval. What is the point in keeping nineteenth century nails, blackware, grannyware, the list goes on, when it is not necessarily the most cost-effective thing to do? Of course, it must all be reported on, recorded, and all the rest, but is it honestly worth keeping when it means that the budget is going to spiral out of control trying to conserve and archive stuff that you can find in your granny's kitchen. There must be a way out of this mindset, it's a difficult issue, but once the stuff that's really worth archiving and holding on to is sorted out from the rest, then talking about national research centres becomes more profitable. You are going to make more of an impact by saying you need somewhere to store all the valuable (not monetary value, but research valued) finds rather than the stuff that you find in, again, your granny's kitchen when you're making your case for National Lottery funding, EU money, and all the rest...
Or do you agree?[:p]