22nd February 2011, 11:46 AM
I would suggest that the currency and indeed product of commercial archaeology/developer funded/temporal contamination whatever you wnat to call it is not 'knowledge' at all but 'information', which are not the same thing. Of course the information is generated in a system using archaeological knowledge, which would include a wide range of things including understanding of dating, techniques of excavation, comparable sites/finds etc etc. Of course, sites that are of enough interest to be fully published are going to include far more knowledge/understanding than another watching brief that finds sod all. Archaeological 'knowledge' is more likely the currency of academics, who have the opportunity to sit down and ponder the big questions. Speaking of questions, what does knowledge even mean anyway?
The comparisons with engineers and so forth still stands. An egineer provides information that shows how and why the bridge will stay up, again using the knowledge available to their profession (accumulated over several millennia). They don't provide a lengthy report on the nature of physics. Those looking to protect endangered species on a site provide information about what might be present and how this can be achieved, not a 10,000 word dissertation on the breeding cycle of bats. Martin Carver's way of thinking simply adds to any sense that a division between academia and commercial work is a terrible thing.
The comparisons with engineers and so forth still stands. An egineer provides information that shows how and why the bridge will stay up, again using the knowledge available to their profession (accumulated over several millennia). They don't provide a lengthy report on the nature of physics. Those looking to protect endangered species on a site provide information about what might be present and how this can be achieved, not a 10,000 word dissertation on the breeding cycle of bats. Martin Carver's way of thinking simply adds to any sense that a division between academia and commercial work is a terrible thing.