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I cannot make up my mind if commercialisation was the best or worst thing that happened to British Archaeology.
On one hand we had the amatuer archaeologist/treasure hunter with the occasional academic research project or rescue by a county council set up (no over arching policy but open house). On the other the cut throat commercial unit (charitable Trust?) driven by planning requirements with the academic and the amatuer side lined to picking up the crumbs with a cabal of unit directors setting a standard they hope to make obligatory to drive out any who won't join (or cannot) their club:face-stir:
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You missed out all the MoW/DoE/HBMC funded sites that preceded PPG16 etc, many of the best (and biggest) sites I ever worked on fell under that category - some central planning to archaeological excavation did have its merits, large multi-season research excavations seem to have become pretty much a thing of rose-tinted memory
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Crocodile Wrote:Never understood this mentality. If any job requires that you be there fifteen minutes before you are getting paid to be there, then this should be your start time and this is time you should be paid for. Most working people already dedicate a substantial amount of unpaid time toward their job and their working day, breaks, travel time, washing work clothes and cleaning equipment etc, if you think low paid workers need to dedicate another 58.25 hours for free, then knock yourself out. It's as if the eightees never ended.
My background is in construction. Even if I am 15 minutes away from site I now feel compelled to have a slurp before the day on site starts. Therefor, I get there at least 15 minutes early, even as a volunteer. You start work at
x o'clock, not got there, stretch, have a cuppa, a fag, think about what you're doing, then eventually start at
x.45.... Or am I wrong? I dunno. New to all this.
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You start work at the time stated, tea drinking fags etc happen before then so if you need to do that get there early. Chances are the client is monitoring the teams start times to make sure they are getting what they paid for. I have had to keep day logs showing when work started and when breaks were taken. Some sites are more flexible than others.
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Quote:your philosophy would give us a uselessly poor record of a slightly bigger slice of the tiny fraction of deposits we eget to know about before they get destroyed - seems to me that's a poor trade.
I know it gets in the way of earning a bigger paycheck on more sites, but then anyone in this game "for the money" is playing a mug's game.
does not sound like you understand the concept of trade-so what kind of company do you work in?
Tool archaeology has nothing to do with the construction industry.
Reason: your past is my past
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Unitof1, I've followed your posts with interest. Apart from the construction industry funding the majority of archaeology, and excavating something is constructing it in reverse (ignoring all the other aspects that cross between the two), of course you are right. Thank you for your insight.
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Tool Wrote:My background is in construction. Even if I am 15 minutes away from site I now feel compelled to have a slurp before the day on site starts. Therefor, I get there at least 15 minutes early, even as a volunteer.
Correct approach for a long career in archaeology - best time of day to actually get to meet people (if you've got a car, don't sit in it, get out there!)...actually since I've already
had a long career in archaeology, I've moved on to Stage 2 which is taking the chance to have some banter with the plant guys etc who're doing the same thing, amazing how it can smooth a job along, making use of neutral time. Bit b***ered for common ground now though, what with the demise of Time Team and the limit on how long you can string out a discussion on how much more reliable hydraulic hoses are these days....
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Unitof1 Wrote:archaeology has nothing to do with the construction industry.
Almost all of our clients would be greatly surprised to hear this!
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Hey, i'm not saying there is any brain function before about 10:30, but yes, much can be gained from those few early minutes of waffle. And when the clock strikes 7.30/8.00 or whatever, you're ready for action. OK, that's crap. You're ready for a few more hours sleep followed by much strong coffee, but you get my drift...
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If you ever wind up working for me, save the questions till after 10am and I'm onto the second flask of coffee anyway
