23rd September 2005, 02:57 PM
Quote:quote:Originally posted by 1man1desk
[quote]I didn't say the sample was right, just that the contractor shouldn't be blamed for it.
On the "additional help from students and volunteers" - should archaeologists be giving a freebie to a developer on a PPG16 site by exploiting unpaid help? Back to the bad old days indeed!
1man1desk
to let, fully furnished
Exactly! There is perhaps a case for limited voluntary assistance when the professional element is adequate. The report states that the composition of the workforce was 'a full professional team assisted by members of the public and archaeology students'. On the same page it also states 'at the close of the field project there was some disappointment that it had not been possible to map the entire plan of the enclosure circuit...'. The enclosure was 0.9ha. The whole project done in 4 weeks. I don't know about 'bad old days' - the IA/RB enclosures I have excavated took considerably more time than that. Often it took several weeks for features to weather out. In addition we learnt that often much more archaeology was found outside enclosures and have since made sure that the external areas were at least sampled.
Treat this a report critique, not defamatory rants.