18th March 2011, 10:33 PM
the value of archaeolgogy can not be divorced from values of pubic science and education - thus there is a wider field of reference to contend with (why have knowledge? do we really need to know that? what's the point?)
Archaeolgoical reseach is part of trying to understand what we see around us, where what we stand on came from, how societies have changed, and what it is to be human...
As a shamanistic vehicle it is incompatible with commercial gain, but very potent for personal psychology and knowledge.
As a purely commercial enterprise it will struggle to be anything other than Temporal Waste Clean-up & Disposal, reliant on somebody else to define the value.
There is no other Sustainable way to present the profession, other than by its Results.
OK - its a long game, slow accumulation of evidence etc.. > but the value of this game needs to be articulated - this needs articulate people, able to speak. As has been said before, the place to start is by nourishing the younger part of the profession, and re-invigorating (possibly pruning) the mature parts.
(you gotta Cut wood, to Grow wood...)
A miserable and depressed workforce, in a Wage cold-war with its own clients and employers, will not achieve much now, nor in the long term future.
We could have had more unity in the past...but there it is...
Here we are...and if we want society to want us, then we had better sit up and take a good look at what's happening in the world...
1st things first
Archaeolgoical reseach is part of trying to understand what we see around us, where what we stand on came from, how societies have changed, and what it is to be human...
As a shamanistic vehicle it is incompatible with commercial gain, but very potent for personal psychology and knowledge.
As a purely commercial enterprise it will struggle to be anything other than Temporal Waste Clean-up & Disposal, reliant on somebody else to define the value.
There is no other Sustainable way to present the profession, other than by its Results.
OK - its a long game, slow accumulation of evidence etc.. > but the value of this game needs to be articulated - this needs articulate people, able to speak. As has been said before, the place to start is by nourishing the younger part of the profession, and re-invigorating (possibly pruning) the mature parts.
(you gotta Cut wood, to Grow wood...)
A miserable and depressed workforce, in a Wage cold-war with its own clients and employers, will not achieve much now, nor in the long term future.
We could have had more unity in the past...but there it is...
Here we are...and if we want society to want us, then we had better sit up and take a good look at what's happening in the world...
1st things first