24th August 2005, 10:25 PM
Most of your examples are the stock in trade of supervisors, but most diggers with the skills do them all quite regularly too. This is acceptable in the short term, but in the long term your employer is clearly taking the piss and you should tackle the issue or move on. If you are taking this responsibility then you are clearly valuable to your employer. You probably have a lot of bargaining power, but witholding your skills because you feel you are not being properly remunerated is probably not the way forward. Also, if you are doing these things already you are probably not working for a top heavy company which I reckon is the biggest limit to advancement for digging staff.
One of the things I love about archaeology is the communal effort that it can be with the best Units. By this I mean people alternating roles and gaining a similar set of skills until everyone can do most jobs. I've supervised vastly more experienced staff and likewise been supervised by less experienced staff. The level of responsibility changes from project to project. As a sometime project officer, sometime digger I like this balance the most. I've realized that getting hung up on my position in a heirarchy is a very sure route to dissatisfaction. Yeah, taking more responsibilty is initially more stressful, and may seem to warrant much more money, but supervisors don't actually make much more (?10 a week usually). The real value to the individual is the whole new interesting dimension it adds to the archaeological process.
One of the things I love about archaeology is the communal effort that it can be with the best Units. By this I mean people alternating roles and gaining a similar set of skills until everyone can do most jobs. I've supervised vastly more experienced staff and likewise been supervised by less experienced staff. The level of responsibility changes from project to project. As a sometime project officer, sometime digger I like this balance the most. I've realized that getting hung up on my position in a heirarchy is a very sure route to dissatisfaction. Yeah, taking more responsibilty is initially more stressful, and may seem to warrant much more money, but supervisors don't actually make much more (?10 a week usually). The real value to the individual is the whole new interesting dimension it adds to the archaeological process.