13th February 2014, 01:31 PM
GnomeKing Wrote:nevermind that - planned excavtions are likley being trashed by muddy archaeologists under badly thought out briefs, desperate to meet an arbitary commercail deadline - county archaeologists are even more likley to give the most cursory of inspections, and a doubt any will have the guts call a halt to a project until it is workable (ie can not meet original brief > therefore conditions not met).
there are real issues here, espevcially for preshistoric and more empheral archaeology (esp on multiperiod sites with other more obvious features) >
(What does the InstituteOfFA have to say ?, or still a bit tipsy after the celebratory 'do'...)
Not always the case.
The we recently did a large job with the EA on the coast during the floods/ blizzards up here. There was no pressure from them to work in unsafe or too waterlogged conditions or to rush the job too much. They were understanding of the truly horrendous conditions.
The poor weather actually extended the job. Also the principle contractor site manager had to keep banning us from going onto site due to snow/fog/flooding.
Health and safety concerns can prevent the need/pressure to work on sensitive areas of archaeology that are so wet they end up stuck to your boots.
Save your boring long field system ditches for wet days!