21st January 2005, 12:58 PM
A national centre would have to be unfeasibly vast, and would be too inaccessible for most of the country. They have to be used by the general public, extra-mural students, schools. societies etc as well as academics and professionals, and act as a base for FLO's and the "communty archaeologists". A major advantage of them would be that local (well regional) knowledge and expertise would be accumulated, something that may have been diminished with he advent of commercial archaeology.
Annual collections even if regional would need a train or two, rather than a van! And where would the stuff be kept in the meantime? I think you may be under-estimating the amount of material and archives being generated, Pete.
The LAARC does have teaching collections that are sent out to schools, obviously only comprising the two-a-penny stuff. They also do all sorts of day-schools and hands-on sessions for all "levels" of interest, which surely can only be a good thing.
Annual collections even if regional would need a train or two, rather than a van! And where would the stuff be kept in the meantime? I think you may be under-estimating the amount of material and archives being generated, Pete.
The LAARC does have teaching collections that are sent out to schools, obviously only comprising the two-a-penny stuff. They also do all sorts of day-schools and hands-on sessions for all "levels" of interest, which surely can only be a good thing.