One of my pet peeves in academic archaeology is that faculty let green
students loose on real archaeology sites. The range of beginner field notes,
sloppiness in defining natural stratigraphy, and poor habits in transport of dirt and
artifacts to the screen, bag and lab occur many times more on field schools
than on professional sites. No matter how hard a pit boss pushes some students,
the quality of notes, eye to trowel work, and ability to see what they are
defining varies greatly. The CRM crews are generally comprised of the cream of
the crop from the field schools. Some of the really outstanding CRM crew have
extraordinary stamina and can continually perform at the end of the day at the
same level as the beginning of the day. My issue, though, is the errors and
omissions made by the students destroys the archaeology.

Ron May
Legacy 106, Inc.