ARCHAEOLOGY IN THE NEWS

ANTH 103, SUMMER 2021

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FUELING THE RECRUITMENT OF ARCHAEOLOGISTS AND SECURING UK’S HISTORY

1. FUELING THE RECRUITMENT OF ARCHAEOLOGISTS AND SECURING

UK’S HISTORY
2. Dalya Alberge
3. theguardian.com
4. Dalya published the article in "The Guardian" on May 30, 2021.
5. The news published on the recent archaeological issue of the UK can be found at:
(Alberge, Dalya 2021)
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/may/30/help-our-profession-or-uks-shared-
history-will-be-lost-say-archaeologists
6. The UK's present political scenario has impacted almost each and every sector of the
economy. Brexit has resulted in severe issues and a shortage of professional and
experienced archaeologists in the country. As a result, it is suspected that the
undiscovered events of the UK will be lost for a lifetime. Dalya has worked with
different archaeological enterprises and a number of archaeologists who have
described what they actually fear about the present situation of the country and how it
is affecting the profession of archaeology. One of the archaeologists from Dig
Ventures has commented on the loss of skilled workers from the country due to the
worldwide pandemic. She also added that the Britain government had been the
biggest threat to the shortage of archaeologists in the country, and thus development
and expansion of history is still lagging. The "Museum of London Archaeology'' or
MOLA is one of the biggest sufferers of the Brexit policies. According to the director
of the infrastructure of MOLA, such a decrease in the number of archaeologists will
have a widespread impact on the country's development, and the major projects will
also be stopped. In addition to this, the UK's one of finest archaeological universities,
Sheffield University, closed its archaeology department. It has been observed from
the publication that other archaeology departments of other universities in the UK are
under threat since the professors are facing colossal redundancy. In spite of being the
backbone of the tourism industry and earning extraordinary fame of the discipline, the
UK government policies are cruel enough to fuel the crisis of the archaeologists
(theguardian.com, 2021).
The government proposals that are focused on trimming the funds for the archaeology
departments of several universities have undoubtedly affected the situation, and it will
be getting worse in the near future. Due to the shutdown of different archaeology
departments of renowned universities, only a few archaeology graduates will be
found in future. Also, the loss of professional archaeologists will impact the further
findings on the UK's history. This has been considered an issue for the society since it
is the shared heritage of the country. The director of "British Archaeological Jobs and
Research" has commented on the need for archaeologists for the upcoming projects
such as HS2 and A303 and so on since the country lacks over 1000 archaeologists.
Due to the Brexit policies, a lot of people have left the country, and therefore, it is
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FUELING THE RECRUITMENT OF ARCHAEOLOGISTS AND SECURING UK’S HISTORY

also challenging to bring archaeologists from any other countries. Therefore, these are
the barriers that are mainly degrading the importance of the archaeologists for
cultivating undiscovered parts of the country. Most of the researchers have blamed
the public ignorance in archaeology. However, the government has accepted that the
archaeologists are an irreplaceable treasure, and the government is determined to
secure them for further cultivation of the history of the UK. The government is
dealing with the EU so that the archaeologists can make work trips to the UK.
Moreover, thousands of people have shown interest in excavations and thus several
online events are being organized. However, the government has not shown much
concern about the archaeological conservation. Due to such incidents, the
archaeological heritage of the country is not properly secured and also for the lack of
protection and maintenance of the discovered history, these are getting lost (Team,
Pehal News 2021)

7. This piece of information can be categorized as an emerging issue in archaeology,

and the publisher is writing to secure the archaeologists so that the UK's history can
also be protected. The author, in his publication, has listed notes of different
archaeologists from renowned archaeological enterprises.
Archaeology, being one of the most significant fields from ancient history, deals with
a number of challenges. Different news articles have also been released on the recent
issues faced in the field of archaeology and by the archaeologists. The news article
chosen for addressing an archaeological issue denotes the issue of securing the UK's
shared history since the Brexit and other educational cutbacks have resulted in
trimming the jobs of archaeologists. The article on the current archaeological issue
was published by the famous writer of the UK named Dalya Alberge. The name of
the publication is "Help our profession or UK's shared history will be lost, say
archaeologists".
8. Dalya Alberge, the author of the news article, has talked with the archaeologists and
directors of renowned archaeological enterprises such as MOLA, BAJR and also with
professors from universities to note down their thoughts on the issue.
9. I found this article very much interesting since archaeology is one of the most
extensive fields with lots of opportunities in the future. This story depicts issue on the
archaeology and the undiscovered history of the country. Therefore, I picked up this
incident.
10. This article depicts the real-life challenges of an archaeologist and the way to face
them. The importance of discovering new history is maintained by the archaeologists.
Therefore, the society is in need of skilled archaeologists. Thus, I found this article by
Dalya Alberge much more interesting since it covers all the significant areas of
archaeology (landward.eu, 2021).
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FUELING THE RECRUITMENT OF ARCHAEOLOGISTS AND SECURING UK’S HISTORY

11. I have found an academic paper that is almost similar to this article. In simple words,
that academic paper contains the consequences of the summarized article.
Archaeological heritage is one of the biggest concerns for the country’s government.
But the sequential incidents that are encountered in the article, have resulted in loss of
archaeological heritage of the country (Högberg et al., 2017 639-647). If the heritage
and the undiscovered history of a country are not protected, then the archaeological
aspect can be demolished. It has been seen in the article that the national government
is not concerned about the archaeological situation of the country. As a result, several
archaeologists are losing their jobs and some archaeological departments in the
universities are getting closed. Thus, the heritage cannot be protected for a long time.
Link for the academic paper-
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00438243.2017.1406398
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FUELING THE RECRUITMENT OF ARCHAEOLOGISTS AND SECURING UK’S HISTORY

References
o Högberg, Anders, Cornelius Holtorf, Sarah May, and Gustav Wollentz. "No
future in archaeological heritage management?" World archaeology 49, no. 5
(2017): 639-647.
o “Help Our Profession or UK's Shared History Will Be Lost, Say Archaeologists”.
The Guardian. Guardian News and Media.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/may/30/help-our-profession-or-uks-
shared-history-will-be-lost-say-archaeologists, accessed June 18, 2021

o “Help Our Profession or UK's Shared History Will Be Lost, Say Archaeologists”.
Pehal News. https://www.pehalnews.in/help-our-profession-or-uks-shared-
history-will-be-lost-say-archaeologists/807914/, accessed June 18, 2021