Help BAJR and the PAS at Thornborough

[Paul Barford]

quote:Originally posted by vulpes

"The purpose of this policy is

"...the policy is also recommended as an appropriate model for archaeological projects [...] undertaken by other agencies". So is this going to be an archaeological project, is archaeologiocal information being systematically sought here, or just entertainment? And if the latter, is this a justifiable use of a piece of the Thornborough landscape over which there was such a struggle? I have just been told that the rally area will most probably go right up to the edge of the scheduled area of the middle henge.

Wherever it is, does giving this escapade an air of legitimacy by archaeologists turning out in whatever numbers to salvage what they can actually give the message that we should be sending about the way we "manage" the heritage?

An archaeologist hears a group of foresters planning to go to the jungle to knock the heads off little statues of Buddha on a Cambodian temple to sell to San Francisco art dealers. So it would be OK for them to go along with them, because on the fresh breaks they can see what kind of stone they are made from? Since that would produce lots of new information (stone trade patterns, technology), would that too be a "very positive" move? Personally I cannot see it that way ... and from an archaeological point of view, I really do not see the difference here.

quote: The "you can't" attitude won't go anywhere..

and neither will the "anything goes", where do we draw a line? The Thornbourough landscape becomes fair game at the edge of the scheduled area? So what was all the fuss about at Ladybridge which is outside the scheduled area? The tekkies can have their eBay goodies, but Mr Tarmac can't have his pebbles and those quarrymen's jobs are under threat...

quote: I am happy to work with (for) the PAS - who are often accused
of mot having enough people for the task..

Excuse me, but is this not exactly analagous to those archaeologists who - so that archaeological information is not lost - work for crap wages which keeps the wages down? If the UK government has decided (as it has) it will encourage this kind of use of the archaeological record by artefact hunters and collectors, then let it back up that policy by properly meeting its real cost. If the PAS is understaffed to do the job, its not going to make the politicians exactly jump to put the required resources into it if anyway it "muddles through" by asking people to help out for free and all the archaeologists assess this ad hoc situation as "very positive" is it? More realistically, seeing this, they are more likely to shave a few percent off the PAS budget as a result and see how much they can get away with.

I really do think that from an archaeological and ARM point of view, the whole matter of these rallies is far more complex than people try to make out; its not JUST a matter of whether we get to see some or even all the goodies is it?

Paul Barford