Back with a whine

Yes, it has been a while since I blogged.

In brief - I've been out of the province, out of the country, sick and once again figuring out finances and the administrative riddles of my department.  And so I got out of the habit of writing about anything beyond what was needed to get through class and homework assignments.

But I have been thinking about archaeology and how it is practiced in Ontario. It's what I'm trying to study after all and I had to think really hard when I was writing two particular essays last semester. Both papers related to the ramifications of how half-baked policy affects the daily practice of how archaeology is actually done in the province.

Don't yawn.  I know its policy and that policy is not nearly as "cool" as digging, but it's in the provincial legislation and policies that the daily practice of archaeology  is organized. These decisions mount up day after day, month after month and year after year, until say... we have boxes of artifacts in dubious storage for 15 years and the notes are starting to fade.  

This is a problem, this is an example of a policy that needs to be revisited pronto, and does it seem boring now, when hundreds, thousands of artifacts are at risk? No. 

Is it being discussed at a level where this will actually be addressed? Not at the moment.  But knowing when it was last discussed, who was involved, who wasn't and what was decided would help anybody trying to make sense of what is going on now and what needs to be done. And knowing that the discussion of artifact storage is tied into a larger policy argument that is indefinitely on ice is VERY important.

But back to my essays - one was on how archaeological sites are managed in Ontario from a resource perspective, and another was an examination of heritage and archaeological management from an intergovernmental perspective - i.e. the Province sets the rules, and the municipalities are required to shoulder a great many of the responsibilities with few decision making powers - especially regarding archaeological materials.

 

So yeah, in the next couple of blogs I wanna talk about my papers and how when you don't pay attention to policy, it can screw up the best intentions.