It should be possible today to "build" a "cyber" imitation site for student
use. There certainly are some excellent reconstructions of sites on the
web. But a sandbox is still a sandbox, even if it is a cyber sandbox.
 
Archaeology is still a hands-on trade, at all levels from shovel-pusher to
PI, and I personally believe that we do not have a coherent career ladder
that leads from drip-nosed kid up through August-Personage.
 
Amateur and local professional projects offer (a diminishng number of)
opportunities for teenagers to get their feet wet, which I feel is a
necessary but underrated part of the training process. At least two
competent professionals got their start as teenage volunteers on my own
sites, and I am proud of it.
 
I'm always ready to hire a kid to do the donkey work, if it looks like he
or she has interest and intelligence. Unfortunately, the CRM process
doesn't offer as many opporturnities for such contacts as were formerly
available when most archaeology was done by people who worked within a
restricted geographical scope.
 
A lot can be said for a life-long training program that begins with a
season (or two) as a common laborer, shifting spoil piles at age 18,
followed by field school, then itinerant service under a variety of
supevisors in a variety of situations.
 
But I think we put too little emphasis on breadth of experience. Too often,
I meet mid-level people who have worked under only one master, and know
only the techniques and approaches of that single school. Teachers ought to
kick the little b*****ds out into the world, to work in a variety of
situations, in different regions, under different masters, and on different
types of site, before they are seasoned enough to develop their own
routines.
 
Narrowness is our enemy. Routine is death. Death is the ultimate routine.
Comfort is discomfort. Bad is good.
 
If everything makes sense, you aren't thinking.
 
 
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. | _ |  | --]   Ned Heite,                <DARWIN><
. =(O)-----(O)=  Camden, DE 19934          / \  / \
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