21st November 2008, 08:16 PM
Speaking as a 'curator', i feel i should remind the forum that without us checking the planning lists etc and requiring archaeological work to be undertaken, most contracting archaeologists would be short of something to do. The fact that we get to have an almost exclusively regional focus in our work also has much to recommend it. This is the aspect that i find most satisfying as an archaeologist compared to my experience in the field which would find me in a trench here one week and (miles away) over there the next. As for the definitions, i have no real problems. However, in current practice, conservation of archaeological remains and their management is as much part of the game as their study (and for that matter dissemination). As Karl Marx wrote 'Practice without Theory is blind, Theory without practice is sterile'.