25th September 2008, 12:13 PM
Quote:quote:Originally posted by Paul Belford
Quote:quote:How would anyone know if someone from a university, especially from outside of the area, was doing work apart from word of mouth, which is not very reliable. Similarly, if some commercial work was being done it could be quite difficult to find out unless the papers picked up on it, or, again by word of mouth.
In theory [u]all</u> work should be reported to the local HER or SMR. Certainly a Member of the IFA would be required to do so having signed up to the Codes of Conduct. In practice only the commercial work is likely to be reported promptly, since academic archaeologists are rarely Members of the IFA. Another argument in favour of a stronger and compulsory IFA.
Indeed, although I suspect that the problem is deeper rooted than that. How many archaeology students, undergraduate or post-graduate, have any concept of what the SMR/HER even is? Never mind their tutors. I think a compulsory period of work placement or at least a decent visit should be required for all, or how about modules where a project is based around information held with the SMR. There is so much information in some of them (including unpublished stuff) that a more pro-active approach would be very helpful. Perhaps the councils could team up with the local unis (where there is one). Any examples where this is already taking place? Someone is missing a trick here...