22nd December 2008, 12:11 PM
quote "would you be happy with a project that was just adequate enough to pass by the Development Control requirements-that and no more...that added nothing 'extra' beyond that which was required"
Too many sites are done by the 'letter' of the brief without taking into account the potential sheer complexity that is often the reality of what is there in the ground. This means a lot of sites are NOT recorded to their fullest extent-and usually means anything before the bronze age is totally ignored.
I can never understand why so many archaeologists seem to not want to take the opportunity to do so; once the ground is opened up,if it's within the boundaries of the four sections then dig and record it-failure to do so means we don't tell the whole picture!!
quote "are we archaeologists working with a fragile and no renewable resource OR people think that OK deserves a pat on the head?"
This point seems to escape a lot of folks-that once you've left the site that unique opportunity is gone,either it's buried under fresh housing (so what we've left untouched is damaged by said building work) or it's literally gone for good through being quarried out.
As for patting ourselves on the head at the end of a site,I wonder how many people walk away knowing that there was so much more that we could HAVE done-but the chance was wasted
Too many sites are done by the 'letter' of the brief without taking into account the potential sheer complexity that is often the reality of what is there in the ground. This means a lot of sites are NOT recorded to their fullest extent-and usually means anything before the bronze age is totally ignored.
I can never understand why so many archaeologists seem to not want to take the opportunity to do so; once the ground is opened up,if it's within the boundaries of the four sections then dig and record it-failure to do so means we don't tell the whole picture!!
quote "are we archaeologists working with a fragile and no renewable resource OR people think that OK deserves a pat on the head?"
This point seems to escape a lot of folks-that once you've left the site that unique opportunity is gone,either it's buried under fresh housing (so what we've left untouched is damaged by said building work) or it's literally gone for good through being quarried out.
As for patting ourselves on the head at the end of a site,I wonder how many people walk away knowing that there was so much more that we could HAVE done-but the chance was wasted