16th May 2010, 05:54 PM
I've only worked with one commercial unit so far, but it couldn't wait to shift finds and associated paper archives back to its county of origin as soon as possible. Storage costs money. Once the unit had fulfilled its contractual obligations with regard to analysis and reporting, it was desperate to send the material back to the community from whence it originated as that's when the funding stopped. That unit don't seem keen to keep archives to themselves and away from the local community - quite the opposite. The problem was in finding a community that actually wanted it back. That process can take years. There are museums and archive services which won't accept any more archives from units, due to lack of space and funding.
In the example quoted, I highly doubt that Oxford Archaeology will want to hold onto the Dorset finds (assume that's the Dorchester Relief Road work?) just for the sake of it, especially as there won't be a budget to pay for this beyond anything specified in their contract. That will be heading back to Dorchester at some point (if they can accept it), to do with as they see fit and involve the community if they choose to. And that'll be nothing to do with the unit that excavated/documented the material.
If a commercial contract doesn't include a provision for involvement of the local community, who should be expected to fund this? Should this be something else included as standard in developer contracts?
In the example quoted, I highly doubt that Oxford Archaeology will want to hold onto the Dorset finds (assume that's the Dorchester Relief Road work?) just for the sake of it, especially as there won't be a budget to pay for this beyond anything specified in their contract. That will be heading back to Dorchester at some point (if they can accept it), to do with as they see fit and involve the community if they choose to. And that'll be nothing to do with the unit that excavated/documented the material.
If a commercial contract doesn't include a provision for involvement of the local community, who should be expected to fund this? Should this be something else included as standard in developer contracts?