Archaeology... it's the future!

[RedEarth]

As one who had added to the debate on academic v commercial archaeology I was not intending to attack all academics, rather respond to what appeared to amount to a general attack on the standards of commercial archaeologists (the BA article, Richard Bradley's article and probably others). Things may well be different in academic circles now, but it's a bit difficult to criticise someone for taking 20 years to publish if they've only just finished on site. When they have taken that long how many people will even remember that the work was even done? The same situation faces commercial archaeologists - they might once have been able to take as long as they liked to publish, but it's unlikely they'd get away with it now, although there are cases where circumstances might take it out of their control (developer going bust, local authority not enforcing publication requirement etc). As was said, it is a case of having some sense of doing a decent job, which includes everyone. And as Mr Host says, universities, like commercial units, have very varying ideas of what is considered suitable practical experience and that can vary massively in type. Commercial units might be being prudently cautious in not accepting university experience very seriously some times.

Anyway, what was this topic about?

Also - how does one find the Scribd article mentioned by Trowelmonkey?