10th August 2006, 08:42 PM
I agree with the invisible one, that volunteers have no place in the commercial sector. The key reason is that it depends on commerce, and people deserve to be paid for commercial activities. The question of skills/abilities of professionals and volunteers is really a non-issue. There are highly skilled volunteers and barely skilled paid folk. Indeed, surely the WSI should preclude the use of volunteers (except perhaps in post-ex) by asking for 'professional archaeologists'.
There are surely also ways of cutting your teeth on the archaeological ladder after university without working for free. Some units are so desperate that they'll hire anyone who applies. Just spam all the units till you get some with a lot of work on. And in my experience, some units will hire you if you don't know how to plan or write sheets.
Reserach excavations by local societies and others are of course fine, and some good reserach is produced like this. Fair play to local societies and anyone willing to give their time for free.
There are surely also ways of cutting your teeth on the archaeological ladder after university without working for free. Some units are so desperate that they'll hire anyone who applies. Just spam all the units till you get some with a lot of work on. And in my experience, some units will hire you if you don't know how to plan or write sheets.
Reserach excavations by local societies and others are of course fine, and some good reserach is produced like this. Fair play to local societies and anyone willing to give their time for free.