23rd October 2008, 05:18 PM
Points taken, Mr Hosty,
I like being the exception to the rule! Having worked in commercial archaeology before, I guess I had a different attitude when I finally did go on digs overseas.
I agree that how archaeology is done and what you find can be very different, but the skills shouldn't - as you say.
And yes, there are very few universities that can now offer a comprehensive field program as part of an undergraduate degree. This is a massive problem (that also extends to other areas - such as the basics of artefact handling and analysis).
Partly this has to do with funding, but it's also a problem of government rules. Everything now has to be assessed somehow and how do you assess a fieldwork component? Its being done, but it is far from straightforward.
Another problem is: not everyone that does a degree in archaeology wants to work on excavation or do fieldwork. Either they don't want to do archaeology full stop, or they are more interested in lab work. That's always been the case. You can't exclude this sizeable proportion of people (simple because if you would half the uni departments would shut down).
Has anyone set out in a guideline the basic fieldwork skills a graduate should have by the time they're finished at university? And by that I mean a list that could be put forward as a nation wide curriculum standard: leveling, surveying, recording, excavating, photography etc.? If there was such a field skills curriculum guideline, can that be pushed to be adopted as a binding standard? Then one could ask via Quality Control why graduates from X university do not fill that standard...
I like being the exception to the rule! Having worked in commercial archaeology before, I guess I had a different attitude when I finally did go on digs overseas.
I agree that how archaeology is done and what you find can be very different, but the skills shouldn't - as you say.
And yes, there are very few universities that can now offer a comprehensive field program as part of an undergraduate degree. This is a massive problem (that also extends to other areas - such as the basics of artefact handling and analysis).
Partly this has to do with funding, but it's also a problem of government rules. Everything now has to be assessed somehow and how do you assess a fieldwork component? Its being done, but it is far from straightforward.
Another problem is: not everyone that does a degree in archaeology wants to work on excavation or do fieldwork. Either they don't want to do archaeology full stop, or they are more interested in lab work. That's always been the case. You can't exclude this sizeable proportion of people (simple because if you would half the uni departments would shut down).
Has anyone set out in a guideline the basic fieldwork skills a graduate should have by the time they're finished at university? And by that I mean a list that could be put forward as a nation wide curriculum standard: leveling, surveying, recording, excavating, photography etc.? If there was such a field skills curriculum guideline, can that be pushed to be adopted as a binding standard? Then one could ask via Quality Control why graduates from X university do not fill that standard...