28th August 2012, 12:42 PM
P Prentice Wrote:i would say that martin has it down pat. volunteers are not outlawed on commercial sites and there is often room for people to gain experience if project managers can be bothered to organise it. the main problem is that sites are excavated miles away from base and the winning tender has no knowledge of local interest and even less in providing opportunity. its about time the nppf was properly exlpoited by planning archaeologists - it would also generate new income streams
That's fine, but my point was that there should perhaps be a difference between volunteers on a community project ('volunteers' doing something valuable in the community) and volunteers on commercial projects ('trainees' learning the skills of the 'profession'), and even volunteers on a research site/university training dig ('volunteers' learning skills useful to their study/research or for future employment). Lumping them all together and acting as if they are the same is a hindrance and potentially damaging.