10th November 2009, 09:35 AM
Maybe here a comment from Germany: we have got lots of excavations where none of the undergraduates gets payed. Well, they have to do it anyway and therefore are willing to work without any money. But as soon as you have reached a certain degree of education I find it quite hard to not get payed at least a little. Prices are in any case very very low in archaeology, so I go at least partly with Kevin - if payment is cut, why not start with the managers... in any case one has to be able to earn a living at a certain point in his or her life. Maybe the hardest thing is always to convince whoever is paying for the whole job (building company, state, whoever) that archaeology is not just funny messing around with trowels and brushes but a job and a quite hard one if done properly, worth paying an adequate amount of money. Other way round: there are lots of archaeologists who mess around for ages not working properly and taking more time than required. I therefore can understand that people get mad on them... so coming back to the topic... it's in my opinion always worth looking on both side of the coin (don't know if you use this saying in English, it's very German... 
) but in the end I am absolutely for not cutting payments, especially if the job is done really good and in an adequate amount of time! Quality has its price.
) but in the end I am absolutely for not cutting payments, especially if the job is done really good and in an adequate amount of time! Quality has its price.