22nd March 2010, 03:20 PM
Just looked at the poll results. Commenting on those who voted that they would do the job for free; I spent my first 2 yrs or so in archaeology working for nothing or even paying to go on excavs in order to gain experience. I suspect that many of us have had to do this due to the catch 22 riddle of "no experience- no job;no job- no experience". In most cases, many of us do this not just for the love of archaeology, but also in the hope (ha!!!) that somewhere down the line, our passion and commitment will be rewarded with a stable (ish) job and a decent wage. Dream on!!!!!! The saddest thing about this situation is the loss to archaeology of many excellent, dedicated excavators who have become tired of the whole "circus" and have thrown-in the towel (or should that be "trowel"). Nuff' said.