20th August 2011, 08:26 PM
Jack Wrote:That one is difficult to gain - unless you show people round the site on an open day - as most sites don't reach the public domain till years later.
However, most/some sites appear as a note in a local authority archaeology magazine, and some make it to local archaeology days. But neither directly feed back to the diggers.
You could read regional resource assessments if a site is old enough to be included......these state how important sites are. But other than that its just a case of waiting years until sites are published, later still for the site to be mentioned in contrast to others and even later still for it to appear in a regional or national period synthesis.
But am guessing thats not what you mean?
Not exactly, I mean more like turning up on site (this is entirely from the point of view of commercial, developer funded work) and feeling that you have as much reason to be there as everyone else on site and that your contribution is worthwhile.
Getting the information out to the public or into regional syntheses or publication is something that should happen as part of the process, to whatever level is suitable (depending on what is found). The people on site doing the work should understand enough of the process to know that this happening and shouldn't need members of the public looking on in appreciative wonderment at their fabulous work, as it happens, to feel it is worthwhile. It is surely the job of their employers to emphasis the value of what they do to the archaeological and wider community. If they don't they are guilty if using their staff as cattle and seriously demotivating them.
Local authority archaeology magazine - never heard of that before. Which utopian county are you dealing with?