7th March 2006, 06:23 PM
I am not sure that archaeologists aim for 'neutral recording', nor indeed should they. However the modern system of stratigraphic recording emerged in the 1970s as a response to (ultimately flawed) attempts to develop a 'rational' and 'scientific' approach to archaeology and is part and parcel of all that. It works because it does enable 'raw' data to be isolated to some extent and assessed using different theoretical criteria than those employed on the original project.
The real issue is the subjective experience of the staff filling in the forms - two people excavating the same layer on different days can produce quite different context sheets, resulting in potentially different interpretations of the site.
I am not however sure that commercial archaeology actually makes the decisions about where, what, when to excavate any different. Even Pitt-Rivers had time limits and a funding limit. I agree though that these constraints are now a bit more sharply felt. Arguably commercial archaeology has refined things like the notion of representative sampling.
I too would be interested to hear from anyone who worked on the frameworks project. I have my own views but they are not informed by direct experience of that project, only by previous encounters with those responsible for designing it.
http://ironbridge.blogspot.com
The real issue is the subjective experience of the staff filling in the forms - two people excavating the same layer on different days can produce quite different context sheets, resulting in potentially different interpretations of the site.
I am not however sure that commercial archaeology actually makes the decisions about where, what, when to excavate any different. Even Pitt-Rivers had time limits and a funding limit. I agree though that these constraints are now a bit more sharply felt. Arguably commercial archaeology has refined things like the notion of representative sampling.
I too would be interested to hear from anyone who worked on the frameworks project. I have my own views but they are not informed by direct experience of that project, only by previous encounters with those responsible for designing it.
http://ironbridge.blogspot.com