8th September 2005, 01:31 PM
Quote:quote:Err! actually it's people like you lot that are delibretly holding wages at an artificially low level just to keep costs down!
If you want people who just dig the hole and sift through the mud for finds then go and recruit brain dead morons off the dole, you don't of course want anyone with any brains because it might take the spotlight off you, and your ilk!
Destroyer
You don't deserve archaeologists mate, in fact i think you may have picked the right user name as you are destroying British archaeology for the sake of your own selfish career!
My extensive volunteering experience took place in the late 1970s-early 80s. My attitude now is, that volunteering should (nowadays) be completely banned from all commercially-tendered fieldwork, except on a small scale where it is used as part of an 'outreach' excersise on a dig that would still be fully-resourced with pros if there were no volunteers.
However, volunteering on research/training excavations is still an entirely valid part of an archaeologist's education.
As far as degrees are concerned, it doesn't prove either intelligence or competence, and for people working at the same level of responsibility it should make no difference to pay. I would pay an experienced but unqualified digger who had demonstrated his competence and intelligence to me more than I would pay an inexperienced digger whith a degree.
I do whatever I can to influence wages for archaeological site staff upwards. I can't tell units what to pay, but I can and do leave units off tender lists if I know that they pay below the IFA recommended minimum. Anything more than that is outside my limited powers as a consultant.
1man1desk