8th April 2008, 11:44 AM
Both sides have always had a tendancy to compartmentalise the other,sadly and a lot of it is based on hearsay and stereotyping. The term "amateur" actually covers a rather wide spectrum of people within the discipline and seems to equal "not very good" in a lot of peoples minds, which, as I'm sure most of us here would admit, is rather unfair.
From a personal point of view, I've found one of the trickiest things to get over to non professionals is the way we work in the commercial environment and that the whole structure of the profession, from curatorial side right down to the way sites are managed, can be rather convoluted at times (try explaning the role of a consultant archaeologist, especially when you're by no means entirely sure what they do yourself[:o)])
Having said that, I'd say the majority of people probably do grasp the concept, but a lot of it you can really only get a handle on if you do it, which most people from that side of archaeology don't have the oppertunity or inclination to do.
From a personal point of view, I've found one of the trickiest things to get over to non professionals is the way we work in the commercial environment and that the whole structure of the profession, from curatorial side right down to the way sites are managed, can be rather convoluted at times (try explaning the role of a consultant archaeologist, especially when you're by no means entirely sure what they do yourself[:o)])
Having said that, I'd say the majority of people probably do grasp the concept, but a lot of it you can really only get a handle on if you do it, which most people from that side of archaeology don't have the oppertunity or inclination to do.