23rd September 2010, 10:10 AM
you fell neatly into my trap... It is easy to name one or two... and even then... for example... Flag Fen... and their tracks... what happens when the money dries up (pardon the pun)
To return to the Sweet track... here is the assessment
Quote:...Excavation showed that the trackway timbers still retain the same visual appearance which they had during their initial exposure by the Somerset Levels Project in the 1970s and 1980s. The upper components of the structure were soft and had very poor surface detail while the lower elements appeared to be in better condition and retained good surface detail such as toolmarks. Detailed analysis of the wood samples, however, showed that all parts of the structure were very badly degraded, with exceedingly high moisture contents and very low specific gravities. This, together with the evidence of previous studies suggests that the present condition of the timbers is a result of rapid decay during and immediately after the active use of the structure combined with very slow degradation over thousands of years by bacteria operating in micro-aerobic or anaerobic conditions....So even with constant and careful monitoring and attempts to preserve in situ.... the analysis of the structure showed that all parts of the structure were very badly degraded - though it is thought this happened in the past . Is that a success.. and if that is the case... then how long can we maintain it? the pumping... of water... will that last 20 years? 50? 100? 200? do we try to hold back nature like Cnut? I also note that only 500m of the original 2km has been preserved... is the other 1.5km lost forever to decay?
..... In 1983 a grant was obtained from the National Heritage Memorial Fund to purchase an area of land on Shapwick Heath as a Nature Reserve and to install a water pumping and distribution system along a 500m stretch of the trackway to ensure its preservation.......
http://www.eng-h.gov.uk/ArchRev/rev96_7/strack.htm
The debate seems to have moved over to Preservation in situ... which quite clearly fails... more often that it wins (and these wins are often only temporary respites in slow inexorable decay).
To return to the Helmet debate, and indeed Uo1s classic rant...
The Helmet question.... better lost? or found?
Better out ? or in an enviroment where one day it will (no ifs or buts) will be destroyed totaly?
The main issue (imho) is ensuring that the information that was with the helmet is recovered too... the helmet is nice, and will look lovely on a mantlepiece or museum... but how it got there? what evidence do we have fopr its final moments... now thats real treasure.
It is baffling that in the UK we can have a two tier system where the c. 4000 arcaheologists that find even a 1930s bottle cap, must ensure reporting, conservation, archive, research and storage... while the 99.9999999999999999999999999999% of the population can just a) throw it in the bin.... or b) flog it to the highest bidder. Do we clothe ourselves in the mantle of moral superiority on purpose? or because we like to think we are better than that... after all arcaheology does not need the money does it? we are all independently wealthy and have no need for filthy lucre...
We are the miners of the past... but we are more like indentured slaves to the past!