18th April 2011, 10:21 AM
P Prentice Wrote:.... the proposals may well allow some amateur groups to work on development control sites which might otherwise not go ahead due to the high cost of professional mitigation - but so what? better that somebody digs it than somebody else accidentally looses it - which appens!! the writing is on the wall - and we should all read it, adapt to it and make sure it works for us - and yes i am a professional contracting archaeological manager mifa
My long experience with commercial archaeology tells me that money is a secondary consideration with most developers (at least in terms of the miserly amount they pay for archaeology) compared to time lost on development projects delayed through archaeological intervention. What really pisses developers off (and did in the old days before they were even made to pay for archaeology) is when archaeologists delay projects through taking longer than necessary on site. I can't imagine that non-professional archaeologists would be able to work faster than the current batch of heritage professionals and therefore forsee difficulties in implementing more amateur involvement on commercial development projects. We would have to say 'Yes we might be marginally cheaper, but we will take considerably longer' - not words I can imagine any developer wanting to hear!!
Vis a vis non-commercial archaeological projects - most of those that I know about already have a non-professional input and I would imagine that would continue.
With peace and consolation hath dismist, And calm of mind all passion spent...