3rd September 2012, 11:23 AM
Hello. I for one would hate to see students pay yet more money for totrain to get a foot into commercial archaeology. Haven’t they already accruedenough debt by simply going to university and getting the degree which is now demandedof them? I would be very sad to see thegoal posts moved even further by the profession. Ok yes, you don’t leave university with all the excavationsskills required to be a well-oiled site assistant on day one. No one does, andno one ever did for that matter. We all learnt stuff on the job, mainly by gettingit wrong at first. ‘Green and keen’ is how most of us started. With a littlehelp and encouragement - which doesn’t break the budget – new folk come up toscratch in no time? If anything, it’s those who’ve been on site for 2 to 3years + and haven’t seen ‘promotion’ who get disgruntled, and sometimes don’tpull their weight. They’re the ones who let the side down. Degree coursesshould certainly not narrow their focus by giving more time to fieldwork skills– why should they?