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February 1, 2006
Lowering Standards
Today the KLS TV out of Salt Lake City Utah had a rather frightening segment on a bill (House Bill 139), introduced into the Utah state legislature by Rep. Brad Johnson, (R) from Aurora that would, among other things, lower the standards to do field work at archeological sites in Utah.
Currently, field supervisors conducting fieldwork need a masters or Ph.D. The bill weakens that requirement and archaeologists say that'll have the effect of weakening protection for archaeological sites.
The principle goal of the bill is to take decisions concerning archaeological sites out of the hands of archaeologists and put them in the hands of developers. Oops, I mean, put them into the hands of the Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office. Such decisions now rest in the Division of State History. Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office was created last year to provide "a unified voice for the state on public lands policy."
The only reason that I can think of for lowering the standards for field supervisors is to make it easier and cheaper for a businesses to do salvage excavations on public land. Remember, to excavate is to destroy. This inevitable destruction must always be done using the highest standards of field practice. It is not a job for the untrained. And while a project director still must have an advanced degree or comparable experience, having only one well-trained archeologist on the site puts many eggs in one basket. The interaction between professionals on site, in real time, is invaluable in many situations.
Via Archaeology
Posted by Duane Smith at February 1, 2006 7:22 PM | Read more on Archaeology |
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