Archaeology and the global crisis

[BAJR Host]

I would also ask this - in the ye olden days, pre PPGs, when people were given the occassional opportunity to dive in front of a bulldozer to save nationally important remains, did they always have the opportunity to present the results to the public at the time it happened?

From what I remember...yes...indeed it was often the public that did it... before you had to have a piece of paper that somehow gave an air of mystery to a job that when push comes to shove is about observation, discovery, interest and a desire to share. The fact that many of the public, with some training and a bit of help can actually do a pretty good job at excavating, surveying, field walking AND publish reports shows that what we do as a job can just as easily be done as a hobby.

The question keeps coming back though... and over the years the answers are talked about plenty... but where be the action? And I don't mean setting up sub committees to look at the viability of producing a report to understand the profile in a standard table format within a framework of stakeholder led issue driven concepts. I mean, the real nitty gritty of what it physically takes to challenge the current methods of archaeology, the current issues in archaeology and the current presentation of archaeology.

Look for example at the recent Guardian Article... on how to get involved in archaeology....

No commercial Sites there.. but of course, the article was for people who wanted to get involved in archaeology... see what I mean.

and add to that this anon quote from the same article

"Perhaps I expect too much; management acting in an ethical manner to their staff or developers not reaching for the minimum costs because there is work of archaeological significance under their proposed new development," he says sadly."

Then we see where archaeology in the commercial world is heading.... Cut the tenders....shave off the costs.... and er... the future? Perhaps we do live in the past.

Rather than restructuring, and taking the opportunity, we do seem to be heads down and driving on... with the odd chat about it to help us on our way?