so-soFeeling a little weird about this one...
At first you've got the 'archaeology is nifty, here's some nifty archaeology!' Like a 'series of articles interviewing different archaeologists' feel, kind of chatty pop science narration vibes.
Then: uh oh, but it's really hard to get a decent paying job, or funding, or legal protection for sites, often at the mercy of private developers, and then there's identifying human remains from historical wars 1/?
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If the idea was to ease the reader in with the adventurous bits and move into harder hitting topics, I don't think the progression landed, because the writing tone continues to feel fairly light. 3h
Of particular interest to me was the contrast in funding between active digging and preservation of archives - the idea that what was previously discovered could still be lost to time because there's not enough money to either catalogue what has been found or keep the storage space necessary to house it, and yet there isn't enough funds to employ all archaeologists in 3h
I can appreciate that various professional archaeologists are softening on amateur efforts that are not just well-intentioned but conscientious, but similar to all the appreciable volunteer efforts, and the using salvage law because conservation law hasn't caught up, these work-arounds point out that 3h
One final point on funding that was not addressed by Johnson: one of the chapters in this book felt awfully close to military propaganda, especially in relation to talking up the amount of money the American Department of Defence spends on archaeology, in harsh contrast to the earlier discussions about all the ways archaeologists and archaeology groups have lost or depleted funding, 3h
Some additional positives?
3h
In a similar vein, there is frequent acknowledgement of the strides women have taken in the profession, always in opposition to patriarchal bastions, the old ideas about allowing women into the schools or 3h
It's obvious that Johnson admires archaeologists' devotion in the face of so many obstacles, it does invite investigation, to know what provokes such stubborn perseverance, but it's clear in her conclusion that it's not a particular site or hypothesis that draws them in, as much as it is the passion for the field in general, looking into the history of humans. 3h
⚠️ Description of butchering an animal, mention of SA, misogyny 3h