IfA to be abolished and replaced by......

[Sikelgaita]

this comment has puzzled me and i must say my immediate reaction was that academic ability is part and parcel to being a good archaeologist. elitism here sounds like a dirty word but it is no different to graduates being paid more or holding better positions than non-graduates - one of the fundamental reasons for going to uni after all.

Maybe we should fast track some graduates directly into Project Officer positions so that they don't actually ever have to get their hands dirty. After all an understanding of how a site record has been produced is not important and in no way affects the interpretation.:face-stir:

Many of the very best archaeologists I have met do not have degrees and have no desire to write reports. This in no way lessens their qualities as archaeologists and I would trust their judgements every time over those of a career minded 'academic'. I believe that until archaeology values technical fieldwork skills as highly as academic ones the CIfA will never be representative of the industry. I may be wrong on this but my understanding of your previous posts on this subject is that you don't really want it to be representative.

My word, trying to distance yourself from lowly MIFAs already? }

frankly - yes

I think I am one of those MIfA's you would rather see the back of. }

.....elitism in this sense is exactly what chartered status would confer and if gaining means giving up some free time - welll you make that choice just as in any other profession.

Up at 5.30am, get to office by 7am, get in site vehicle, 1.5 hours travel to site, 8 hours digging in the rain, 1.5 hours travel back to office. Get home 6.30pm. Now which would I prefer, spending the evening revising diligently like a good professional archaeologist or maybe forgetting about archaeology for a few hours and have a few beers with friends or sit down to read a book that is....sacrilege....not about archaeology, before the whole cycle starts again! Archaeology is not a 'lifestyle' choice for everyone and I think this is a point that is sometimes forgotten.