30th March 2014, 08:26 AM
Tool Wrote:I'm actually more than a little concerned how little an archaeology degree does prepare people for commercial fieldwork. I'm not sure that academia has caught up with the harsh reality that if you want to dig, you'll most likely have to take the construction industry shilling. But that's also one of my complaints about the IfA... But I would grant you that studying at that level will certainly help you to be able to write clearly, concisely, logically without going off into flights of fancy. Although I have read reports from Masters graduates that, to be blunt, leave a lot to be desired. But any degree that requires the sorting, organising and writing up of information should serve the purpose.
No argument there, when I went to uni I had to 18 weeks minimum for the degree, now it's 2. One of my colleagues who just started and who has two degrees, had never compared soil colour ect by placing wee bits of soil in their hand. Digging has to be learnt on the job but as I've said I think the best diggers will have an academic context for what they dig. Archaeology should not simply become a technical exercise, mind you I suspect that's why wages are so low, because it's increasingly has become so!