Ron May schrieb:
> In a message dated 12/18/00 12:35:19 PM Pacific Standard Time,
> [log in to unmask] writes:
>
> <<  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 -
>   >>
>
> Back in the 1960s and 70s, salvage archaeology in the path of highways or
> housing projects meant a meaningful sample and in some cases most of the
> sites. However, today everyone wants to receive professional rates for their
> services. This means that the recovered sample on a professional dig is
> reduced to offset the costs. Also, the lack of conservation space to care for
> salvaged artifacts has caused people to accept smaller samples as adequate
> mitigation for site destruction. This is the sad state to which I referred.
>

seems like the word "mitigate" is being misused...

> Academic research on a site for pure research purposes could be stretched
> over many years to allow for methodical excavation, reconsideration of the
> results, change in strategies and thorough recovery. Salvage or "data
> recovery mitigation" on the other hand, is like surgical strike force in
> which they rush in and take out anywhere from 0.0025% to 5% and call it a
> contribution to research (and then the site is bulldozed). Again, this seems
> a sad state of affairs.
>

definitely - no question about it -
        question being: what can we do about it? i figure people laughed at the
handful of anti-pollution eco-friendly nuts about 30 or 40 years ago, but
they've managed to get their cause on the public conscience and agenda -
        but i might also argue that sampling is still basically a research
strategy - a full conservation paradigm would lead more towards the ideal which
the british call "preservation by record" and which i liken to documenting to
such a standard as to allow the construction of a virtual model of the site
after it's been plowed away - the site exists still in archives - not ideal:
there's a dodo out in oxford, but we don't know anything about its behaviour,
but...


geoff carver
http://home.t-online.de/home/gcarver/
[log in to unmask]