Why and How to Improve Archaeology's Business Work

Abstract

The businesslike tasks associated with archaeological research continue to grow in complexity, in volume, and in the requirement of special skills. Good business work is increasingly necessary to facilitate funding and maximum scientific achievement. Some investigative centers, successful by any measure, demonstrate that improving the business work is practicable and profitable. Others have dubious prospects because they seem not to recognize (1) that archaeology generally must provide for business work at the investigative level, (2) that such work is far more demanding than it used to be, and (3) that the means of doing that work well are not hard to provide. This paper aims to illuminate these and two ancillary points and to encourage archaeologists to make needed improvements to benefit themselves and the profession.