Ron May schrieb:
> Geoff,
>
> I see no need to apologize, as spirited debate regarding the role of academic
> versus contract archaeology has haunted American archaeology for the past
> fifty years.

i was apologising for the political brouhaha i seem to have stirred up -

 In fact, we are now at an odd juxtaposition in which pure
> research excavation is declared in some academic quarters to be "unethical"
> and that the only "ethical" excavation should be conducted at threatened
> sites. I see this as a very poor just of talented minds and a very sad state
> of affairs....esepeically for historic archaeology.

i disagree - and could send you a copy of an article i wrote for the poles last
year (german translation is "in press") - i don't know the specifics of the
relevent american legislation, but most of the international treaties (a lot
available from www.icomos.org) equate cultural heritage with such non-renewable
resources as fresh water, clean air, forests, etc. - once gone, it's gone
forever - and we're just caretakers for future generations - meaning our
short-term academic/research goals are less important than the need for
long-term preservation -
        there are also some brits out there (i think it's in the RESCUE
manifesto) arguing that all these "talented minds" could perhaps occupy
themselves with the post-ex analysis and regional synthesis which tends to be
sorely lacking in most rescue frameworks -
        i know that here in some parts of germany you couldn't get a permit to
dig something which wasn't under threat, even for research or training
excavations - it might be someone was doing some long-term planning, realised
that such-and-such a site was likely to be built over within the next 5 or 10
years or so, then you could arrange to do a research dig - but otherwise,
intellectual curiosity doesn't justify paying undo attention to something which
is not under threat, when resources do not allow proper consideration for all
those sites which are being destroyed every day -
        i also argued that rescue is a bit more random in its sampling
proceedure than rescue (everybody wants to find a type-site and dig up nice
palaces, etc.), but... not one of the more convincing arguments -


geoff carver
http://home.t-online.de/home/gcarver/
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