16th February 2013, 08:44 PM
Many museums require that depositors sort through the material prior to deposition so that the unimportant stuff is removed (museums have historically been reluctant to dispose of material once it is in their stores, although that has changed a bit recently). To pick up on Dino's and Unit's points, the archive here is finds and records, so even if no finds were kept there's still the records to go somewhere, and in fact managing the digital archives created by current excavations is a lot more labour intensive (and expensive) than keeping boxes of pottery on a shelf.
It would be good if the IfA, say, were to initiate a discussion about what the ethical approach should be for archaeologists left, through no fault of their own, with an undepositable archive. In Wales, the National Museum has accepted the role of being a 'museum of last resort' to take material that cannot be placed with a LA museum.
It would be good if the IfA, say, were to initiate a discussion about what the ethical approach should be for archaeologists left, through no fault of their own, with an undepositable archive. In Wales, the National Museum has accepted the role of being a 'museum of last resort' to take material that cannot be placed with a LA museum.