I met with two archaeologists in Greece while I was on the Mapping expedition in May this year. Both of them lamenting there are more artifacts in museum storage than they can label in their lifetime. In their lifetime! But neither of them could imagine any kind of volunteer framework to help them sort and label the overwhelming collections. The amount of paperwork, security, certifications etc., seemed impossible from their perspective. And so some of these fascinating finds, from at least two temples I would love to learn more from, (they gave me a tour but I can’t photograph or write about what they showed me) will sit on shelves for decades without being published. It’s a devastating reality, not just in Greece, but everywhere.
It used to be Archaeology was a profession! When did it become science? I love ancient things! Why is the reporting of finds so pitiful bad? Few or terrible photos of digs! Why are there warehouses of artifacts and bones no one is allowed to see? I will not listen to woke children talk about anything ancient! Yup! Doesn’t pay well! Open up the classrooms to amateur practitioners! For a small fee, certify them. Local diggers can fund themselves! What do you need: gas to get there, a tent, some food, shovels and an iPhone! Oh yeah, YouTube channel. Yup excellent interpretation is necessary but that is small change compared to the cost to dig it up! Teach people how to excavate, then set them free!
Thanks so much for highlighting this. Academic colleagues have always given me grief for doing outreach work; I was severely told off by my supervisors for insisting on it. You’ve articulated here just why it’s needed more than ever. Thanks for what you do.
A good thought provoking post. I've a hunch that the reason that the general public won't hear about all of the information [and discoveries]" because many researchers can't write about what they've found without resorting to using technical jargon. It's hard. And very few grad students anywhere are taught to write for the general public. They're taught to write for each other, their contemporaries and seniors. And let's be blunt again - there's no value to be gained from explaining your research to the general public, in the higher education/university world as it doesn't help your career if you're a researcher (or you want to be one) in an institution of higher education. No-one/nothing pays a researcher to write about their work/research/discoveries for the general public.. You need academic publications to get ahead ..to "succeed". So, I'd go beyond saying that it's lack of resources, it's also lack of will, and necessity. Let's change the scenario slightly...if researchers thought that their changes of getting a well funded job (and strong access to funds for archaeological fieldwork) dramatically increased, they'd put more effort into writing for the general public. It's hard work doing this...it takes time so why bother writing for the general public if it doesn't increase your chances for the fewer jobs that exist. That type of writing takes time and means not resorting to professional jargon.
Yes yes YES! We have to get the public involved! I agree with your observation that academics struggle to speak the same language as the general public. In some scientific fields, “science communicators” have taken off on social media (examples being Forest Valkai or SciShow in YouTube). Yet archaeology has lagged behind. I can think of maybe two off the top of my head (Miniminuteman and maybe Flint Dibble, but Flint still gives off the more traditional academic vibes, with perhaps some Indiana jones mixed in). I think the next gen of “public intellectuals” have to shift to social media platforms and work on communicating their expertise to a wide audience. This is a skill in and of itself that they don't teach you in grad school!
“Would you want that cure to be out and in use before every part of that cure was fully and carefully studied and ensured to be safe for use?” This, rightly stated, jumped out of the page for me. This whole piece, although specific to archaeology, addresses exactly why the last few years of the absolutely terrible response to Cοvid happened; nobody thinks, nobody has patience, and countless lives & families were ruined in the process of “emergency authorizing” & mandating never-before-marketed genetic injections (that proved to be very ineffective or worse). Families permanently divided and careers terminated, because of ignorance, mass-media fear mongering, & instant gratification.
It's getting increasingly difficult to be a decent person… and, I'm sure, a decent archaeologist.
In the field of Cognitive Psychology there is an acronym - ‘PIG’ - meaning the ‘Problem of Instant Gratification’. Our western, modern society is plagued by this problem and people are even encouraged to cheat, lie, use ‘life hacks’ and that everyone can be famous & a celebrity, as an end within itself and without any of the natural talent, which still required training and honing techniques over many years. Do football players start playing in the ‘A team’ of a hugely successful team? - no, they work their way up through the rank of various youth, ‘B teams’ etc whilst training almost every day with the aim of eventually becoming good enough to be picked for the top team at a top football club. It’s a similar story with knowledge and academia; years of learning from teachers, other more experienced and qualified academics, submitting course-work and papers for peer review even when they ARE qualified. It takes years of dedication and more often than not an individual aptitude for their chosen subject and field.
However modern society tells young people that they can “be famous”, as an “influencer” or whatever and that they don’t need to dedicate themselves to years of academic study and research in order to know what they are talking about regarding, for example, Archeology. All they need do is use “common sense” and buy and read/watch ‘Ancient Aliens’ and/or Graham Hancock’s books and tv shows, whom unfortunately is only one amongst a bloated field of dishonest grifters and narcissists who propose that *they* know the *truth* and use *common sense*, which is just another way of making the logical fallacy of the “argument from incredulity”, the “argument from ignorance” - “You can’t prove that Aliens DIDN’T give the Mayans Ancient Knowledge” & other challenges to prove a negative (which isn’t impossible, like it’s widely believed, in certain situations).
These are some of the issues behind people believing far fetched arguments Occam’s trusty razor blades should make short work of, rather than studying for years to gain knowledge.
Yes, i suppose Archeologists (& Historians) could make it easier for people to access the information. But that misses the point, which is that some people don’t WANT to do that and are influenced by ‘PIG’ into gravitating towards “short cuts” to gaining knowledge and there are unfortunately plenty of grifters waiting to take their hard earned money from them in exchange for “special knowledge” and tell them that “mAiNsTrEaM” academics are all lying.
Thank you for the great reply! Sadly, you will always have that subset or groups of people, for sure. Regardless of the topic. But starting somewhere, anywhere should help and not harm the field.
I met with two archaeologists in Greece while I was on the Mapping expedition in May this year. Both of them lamenting there are more artifacts in museum storage than they can label in their lifetime. In their lifetime! But neither of them could imagine any kind of volunteer framework to help them sort and label the overwhelming collections. The amount of paperwork, security, certifications etc., seemed impossible from their perspective. And so some of these fascinating finds, from at least two temples I would love to learn more from, (they gave me a tour but I can’t photograph or write about what they showed me) will sit on shelves for decades without being published. It’s a devastating reality, not just in Greece, but everywhere.
I have had similar personal experiences myself when being given access to museum collections not on display. So much will never see the light of day.
It used to be Archaeology was a profession! When did it become science? I love ancient things! Why is the reporting of finds so pitiful bad? Few or terrible photos of digs! Why are there warehouses of artifacts and bones no one is allowed to see? I will not listen to woke children talk about anything ancient! Yup! Doesn’t pay well! Open up the classrooms to amateur practitioners! For a small fee, certify them. Local diggers can fund themselves! What do you need: gas to get there, a tent, some food, shovels and an iPhone! Oh yeah, YouTube channel. Yup excellent interpretation is necessary but that is small change compared to the cost to dig it up! Teach people how to excavate, then set them free!
Thanks so much for highlighting this. Academic colleagues have always given me grief for doing outreach work; I was severely told off by my supervisors for insisting on it. You’ve articulated here just why it’s needed more than ever. Thanks for what you do.
Thank you! 🙏
A good thought provoking post. I've a hunch that the reason that the general public won't hear about all of the information [and discoveries]" because many researchers can't write about what they've found without resorting to using technical jargon. It's hard. And very few grad students anywhere are taught to write for the general public. They're taught to write for each other, their contemporaries and seniors. And let's be blunt again - there's no value to be gained from explaining your research to the general public, in the higher education/university world as it doesn't help your career if you're a researcher (or you want to be one) in an institution of higher education. No-one/nothing pays a researcher to write about their work/research/discoveries for the general public.. You need academic publications to get ahead ..to "succeed". So, I'd go beyond saying that it's lack of resources, it's also lack of will, and necessity. Let's change the scenario slightly...if researchers thought that their changes of getting a well funded job (and strong access to funds for archaeological fieldwork) dramatically increased, they'd put more effort into writing for the general public. It's hard work doing this...it takes time so why bother writing for the general public if it doesn't increase your chances for the fewer jobs that exist. That type of writing takes time and means not resorting to professional jargon.
Yes yes YES! We have to get the public involved! I agree with your observation that academics struggle to speak the same language as the general public. In some scientific fields, “science communicators” have taken off on social media (examples being Forest Valkai or SciShow in YouTube). Yet archaeology has lagged behind. I can think of maybe two off the top of my head (Miniminuteman and maybe Flint Dibble, but Flint still gives off the more traditional academic vibes, with perhaps some Indiana jones mixed in). I think the next gen of “public intellectuals” have to shift to social media platforms and work on communicating their expertise to a wide audience. This is a skill in and of itself that they don't teach you in grad school!
“Would you want that cure to be out and in use before every part of that cure was fully and carefully studied and ensured to be safe for use?” This, rightly stated, jumped out of the page for me. This whole piece, although specific to archaeology, addresses exactly why the last few years of the absolutely terrible response to Cοvid happened; nobody thinks, nobody has patience, and countless lives & families were ruined in the process of “emergency authorizing” & mandating never-before-marketed genetic injections (that proved to be very ineffective or worse). Families permanently divided and careers terminated, because of ignorance, mass-media fear mongering, & instant gratification.
It's getting increasingly difficult to be a decent person… and, I'm sure, a decent archaeologist.
In the field of Cognitive Psychology there is an acronym - ‘PIG’ - meaning the ‘Problem of Instant Gratification’. Our western, modern society is plagued by this problem and people are even encouraged to cheat, lie, use ‘life hacks’ and that everyone can be famous & a celebrity, as an end within itself and without any of the natural talent, which still required training and honing techniques over many years. Do football players start playing in the ‘A team’ of a hugely successful team? - no, they work their way up through the rank of various youth, ‘B teams’ etc whilst training almost every day with the aim of eventually becoming good enough to be picked for the top team at a top football club. It’s a similar story with knowledge and academia; years of learning from teachers, other more experienced and qualified academics, submitting course-work and papers for peer review even when they ARE qualified. It takes years of dedication and more often than not an individual aptitude for their chosen subject and field.
However modern society tells young people that they can “be famous”, as an “influencer” or whatever and that they don’t need to dedicate themselves to years of academic study and research in order to know what they are talking about regarding, for example, Archeology. All they need do is use “common sense” and buy and read/watch ‘Ancient Aliens’ and/or Graham Hancock’s books and tv shows, whom unfortunately is only one amongst a bloated field of dishonest grifters and narcissists who propose that *they* know the *truth* and use *common sense*, which is just another way of making the logical fallacy of the “argument from incredulity”, the “argument from ignorance” - “You can’t prove that Aliens DIDN’T give the Mayans Ancient Knowledge” & other challenges to prove a negative (which isn’t impossible, like it’s widely believed, in certain situations).
These are some of the issues behind people believing far fetched arguments Occam’s trusty razor blades should make short work of, rather than studying for years to gain knowledge.
Yes, i suppose Archeologists (& Historians) could make it easier for people to access the information. But that misses the point, which is that some people don’t WANT to do that and are influenced by ‘PIG’ into gravitating towards “short cuts” to gaining knowledge and there are unfortunately plenty of grifters waiting to take their hard earned money from them in exchange for “special knowledge” and tell them that “mAiNsTrEaM” academics are all lying.
Thank you for the great reply! Sadly, you will always have that subset or groups of people, for sure. Regardless of the topic. But starting somewhere, anywhere should help and not harm the field.
Yeah mate, exactly.