Professionals and Amateurs

When it gets down to the nitty-gritty of archaeology and excavations the difference between having experience/professionalism and having none at all (aka destroying a site) can be very problematic. I’ve been on a ranch where the owner of the ranch gave some children a pick and said "happy hunting." With huge grins on their faces these kids immediately began to hack away at the dirt with gusto. On a ranch so well known for their fossils it wasn’t long before they’d found something. Grown-ups crowded around and cheered as the kids began to uncover bones. All were enthusiastic, not one paused to think about what was actually happening as the kids hacked the bones to pieces in their eagerness . . . When it was through all that remained were small pieces of bones. It had once been a frill of a triceratops (not archaeology but rather paleontology, however . . . similar principles apply here). Do you see a problem with this picture?

It wasn’t so much the fact that the kids were doing the excavation, as it was the whole experience and lack of instruction. I mean I’m all for hands on experience and for kids being involved in the excavation process . . . Growing up I would definitely be one of those kids -- excavations and buried treasure were completely fascinating to me. But seriously there are some things that need to be kept in mind. And there is a difference between good excavation experiences and bad ones. No matter your level of education in archaeology or paleontology, there is one thing that should be universal, and that is education. In order to be a "professional archaeologist" you go to school and are taught proper techniques. But that shouldn’t limit or exclude others from being involved in the learning and in the fun. What should matter IS the supervision during the excavation and the use of that time to teach proper field techniques and ethics. There are some excavations where yes primarily professional archaeologists should probably be the only ones in charge (due to the sensitivity of the excavation or the technical difficulties for inexperienced) . . . but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t opportunities to teach people interested in archaeology the necessary techniques of proper excavation. After all that’s how professional archaeologists learn, they are taught by others who had more experience and who were "experts."

But just because people have experience doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ve been properly trained. There are people who have a lot of experience doing something but who use antiquated methods or don’t take into account important aspects of excavation (including the perspectives of the locals who live near or sometimes even on or in the site of interest and whose livelihoods could be affected by the excavation process). Some different terms are connected loosely with these different types of people (and depending on the term used can have a positive or a negative connotation): professional archaeologist, amateur archaeologist, artifact collector, and antiquities dealer. All of these people are involved in archaeology to some extent and find the concept to be a fascinating one either from the knowledge they gain, the experience they have or the profit they get through the sale of antiquities.

Anyway what I guess I’m trying to get at, is there are all different kinds of people involved in the field of archaeology, and just because it says professional doesn’t mean you conduct excavations ethically and just because it says amateur does it make you any less qualified in the field . . . what really matters is the education, the true attention to detail, and respect (for the site, the documentation and people). The article that got me thinking: (http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.usc.edu/stable/25670987?seq=1)