29th January 2012, 01:13 AM
I'm not sure curators have to become ROs, but they should a) be appropriately qualified, and b) undertake work in accordance with some form of standard.
I do feel, though, that it is hard to argue that every single act in the course of an excavation should be governed by brief, spec, method statement, contract and monitoring, because the archaeological resource is so precious and irreplaceable, while at the same time allowing curatorial decisions which decide whether any work takes place at all to be opaque and idiosyncratic. It seems to me that the arguments against applying explicit and quite demanding standards to curators sound exactly like the arguments of the rearguard of anti-standards for excavation.
I do feel, though, that it is hard to argue that every single act in the course of an excavation should be governed by brief, spec, method statement, contract and monitoring, because the archaeological resource is so precious and irreplaceable, while at the same time allowing curatorial decisions which decide whether any work takes place at all to be opaque and idiosyncratic. It seems to me that the arguments against applying explicit and quite demanding standards to curators sound exactly like the arguments of the rearguard of anti-standards for excavation.