Northeast Historical Archaeology requires metric equivalents as does the
Maryland State Highway Administration, one of my clients.

I have no problem providing metric equivalents for significant
measurements. Disregarding the units of measure of the people I am
studying, however, seems short-sighted and ethnocentric. English
colonists in North America, e.g., seemed particularly fond of certain
increments in architecture (8, 16, and 20 ft) and surveying (the 16.5 ft
perch or rod). Providing equivalent measurements for Mayan, Chaldean, or
Roman sites seems appropriate when reporting such sites, although the
principal measurements should be reported in metric since the readers
are likely to be most familiar with metric and the users of the other
systems dead and, by definition, no longer using any system.

As to audiences, I don't have ready access to reports prepared in
Pennsylvania, a neighboring state. Given the number of requests from
European and Southwest Asian colleagues that I have received for copies
of published papers, I suspect they are similarly hard-pressed in
acquiring these reports. Appealing to an international audience seems a
weak argument at best.

I think it is in the best interest of our professional and public
audiences in the US and abroad to use the most appropriate system for
the kind of research that we are doing and, where a non-US audience
seems at all likely, to provide metric equivalents. For anyone who has
difficulty converting English standard and engineering feet to metric, a
few seconds with an electronic spreadsheet will provide a conversion
table. I keep one taped to the cowling of my tower unit.

I hope that we all use common sense, consider our audiences, and not let
a list contributor's comment about alternative photographic scales turn
into nasty, snide diatribes. I bet we have more important issues to
discuss; e.g., rescuing the large mass of unreported excavations from
oblivion, collections care, preserving archaeological sites, and--my
favorite--adequate pay, benefits, and job security for archaeologists.

Jim Gibb
Annapolis, MD