Nice to see the list is still active!  I guess it must be the topic's
association with money and funding.  Dan's summary of the US origins correctly
pushes the time frame back to the 1930's.
    Supposedly, when Robert Heizer realized that federal regs were going to
start mandating archaeological investigations on many more development
projects in the 1960's, he immediately saw the commercial potential and told
his grad students "Stick with me boys, and I'll have you fartin' through the
silk."  Can't exactly give you the exact citation for this, sorry.  Also a
good example of  having to be careful what you wish for...
                    Larry McKee