28th May 2010, 11:30 AM
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[SIZE=3]I had a BBC historian helping on the research (handy for 15th and 16th century records...) an eminant ceramic specialist, a local group who could carry out geophysics,, etc etc... I had friends who were willing to give time, in order to have... wait for it... an enjoyable time with people who wanted you there, who were always raring to go and welcomed you... I enjoy and enyed it... never said I make a living out of it..
I very sorry that you feel that this has got personal. It was never my intention (I have tried to single out any of the CBA examples)but it is a personal aspect of archaeology that I am trying to get at or if you like being a member of a professional association (if only it was for field workers). I believe that archaeology should be undertaken by professional people and that amateurs and voulleneterrs undermine professional credibility and to put it crudely what we get paid and what we can charge. To my mind the most vulnerable aspect of archaeology is field archaeology which can easily be demeaned as the physical retrieval of information and something that can be undertaken by labourers (maybe it can but may be only under professional direction in exceptional circumstances). Possibly I would not be so against ?community archaeology? if as it seems in your above justifications it had been made clear that it was the bajr excavation and that your name was put as the author and authority on quality rather than a lottery logo and the impression given that the community had spontaneously got together to generate a love in based around archaeology
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