9th November 2011, 07:02 PM
P Prentice Wrote:now that's cleared up i might as well add the recent Current Archaeology editorial to the debate. the editor in chief, a long time champion of the amateur and reactionary new archaeology philistine, sports his assertion that 'house sized' developments with an archaeological condition should be the preserve of amatuer groups and not professionals!
They'd get a nasty surprise with the house-sized job I and others have been doing on and off for the last year (and nearly continuously for the last 4-5 months, been going on so long I've forgotten when it started, June I think) - 3m of stratified deposits mostly only recordable in lethally deep footing and drainage trenches in the middle of a busy and very cramped building site where you stay alive by having an intimate understanding of the whole construction process (there's often one/none safe place to stand and it's a good idea to get there while you can) - luckily the builders are a really sound and helpful bunch of guys, it'd be a nightmare otherwise....not sure that's a good environment for amateurs?
Sorry, not checked out the spin-off thread yet, apologies if this belonged on there