15th April 2011, 08:46 AM
I attended an interesting lecture last night hosted by a well established (1970s) Archaeological Association. Before the main speaker was invited to the stage, the chairman presented the usual society `admin` address. The savage cuts to Local Government Curatorial staff has meant that the organised excavations of this group have been curtailed and have ceased altogether as a direct result. So...not only are these cuts responsible for unemployment in the archaeology profession (at a rate around three times the national average) but they are effectively denying community and amateur groups the opportunity to take part. Of course for me- my overriding concern is the potential for the "big society" to change the face of planning requirements as we know them and result in unprecedented carnage for the finite resource. That said, archaeology and heritage in the community has always had an important place in the greater scheme of things-and so it should. Any `campaign` that we collectively envisage and in whatever form that may take-should consider the already established and long-running community groups who clearly are falling victim too.