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Date: | Mon, 1 Sep 1997 19:17:24 +1000 |
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Mail*Link(r) SMTP How CRM hurts archaeology
Before this turns into a Sopa/Roha debate I thought I would get in my $A0.10
worth ($US0.073) on the topic.
While it is good to have volunteers and the spirit of volunteerism is still
alive in Australia the difficulty is that the good old days of rushing out to
stop the bulldozers didnt really work. Sites got preserved or excavated based
on emotional appeal such as the First Government House in Sydney around which
a political action could be based. Other possibly more important sites were
neglected because they didnt have that appeal. At least with a core of
professional archaeologists working in the field sites do get assessed in a
much more systematic way. I have even recommended that some sites are not
worth excavating!
The evils of crm are all well documented and depress me as well, but several
events have cheered me up. One is visiting the US and seening the researched
orientated work that the Praetzelis's were doing. This proved to me that
archaeological work in the crm context need not be mere laundry lists of
artefacts found and stuck in some warehouse somewhere but could actually say
something about the past. A similar project, on Cumberland St in the Rocks,
Sydney, which is in its final stages also demonstrates this point.
In July I attended a seminar on whaling in S-E Australia run by Susan Lawrence
(La Trobe Uni) and Mark Staniforth (Flinders Uni). Having run a similar
seminar about five years ago I was interested to see that much of the basic
identification work of whaling sites had been completed by consultant
archaeologists. Excavation of a whaling station in Tasmania is planned to be
done by Susan and Mark as a University research excavation which will no doubt
provide much insight into whaling and whalers as the development presure is
not there allowing time for in depth research. Results of the excavations will
generate new questions for both crm and university archaeologists to
investigate.
So I feel there are cases where crm makes a real contribution to
archaeological knowladge and do not feel nostalgic for ther good old days
where one worked for nothing but love of the discipline and we had to pay for
our beers (or wine) out of our student allowance or dole cheque.
Iain Stuart
University of Sydney
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