Mail*Link(r) SMTP               Skilled or Unskilled
 
I too have heard the arguement that it is difficult enough to justify doing
archaeology without actually expecting someone to pay for it and to some
degree I can sympathise with the view. But on the other hand the alternative
seems to be to devalue my professional skills learnt through my education and
experience over 15 years.
 
Nobody seems to expect engineers or architects to cost virtually nothing. The
problem is that everyone seems to think that they can do archaeology (ie dig
up old bottles or read old books) without understanding the skills all of us
have.
 
The best response I heard to this issue was from a colleuge who told an
interfering engineer that she "was going to strat designing reinforced
concrete  rail tunnels as the archaeology field was getting too crowded with
him in it!
 
Iain Stuart
University of Sydney