18th November 2005, 09:24 PM
Quote:quote:By the time a field team make it on to site, the consultant/engineer/agent (suit) just wants an efficient job to be done and feldwork to go smoothly to satisfy the relevant parties. He/she does regard the archaeologists on site as specialists....they just don't feel the need to hand out medals on site. They just want to get the fieldwork out of the way with the minimum of fuss. Why should field archaeologists be treated like royalty or with any difference to other contractors on site (chippies, brickies, electricians, builders, geotech people). Those are all jobs with varying amounts of skill which take years to become good at. Their skills are just more at a premium because of demand, hence their better wages.
I know this is true of the more clued up developers, but there still exist the types that expect the archs to roll up in a camper van and go about the job in a relaxed dilletante fashion costing the developer far more than he bargained for.
To our shame we occasionally oblige.