Wow, great post. I too have met some of these "purists" types (although not all of them are like that, though. btw).
A story like yours: There was a particular mission assistencia site near me. As assistencia is like a way-station or outpost, of one of the 21 California missions. It dated from the late 1700s, and had adobe walls still visible till the 1950s, melting away in the cow pastures of the footills near me. By the 1980s, it was nothing but a high spot on the ground, if you even knew what you were looking for. Some buddies of mine researched out the location, and hunted it in the 1980s. They got lots of reales and early US coins, buttons, etc..... Then in the 1990s, development was slated for the area. BUT WAIT, an E.I.R. mandated they have "cultural heritage impacts" monitored. So the developer had to have an archaeologist on site during the site prep. development. I think the first archaeologist was doing his job too good (kept finding things as the dozers passed back and forth). So a few days later, the developer had hired a different archaeological firm, from over an hour away, to finish the work. I watched this new archaeologist from a distance, through binnoculars. She just stood there, drank from her coffee cup, and occasionally walked over to glance down at a rock or object. She found nothing of interest, and signed off on everything they did.
Later on, I found out these type archaeologists are called "customer friendly" archaeologists, who ........... when you pay for their services, you can be assured they .... whadayaknow...... won't find anything of interest.
A story like yours: There was a particular mission assistencia site near me. As assistencia is like a way-station or outpost, of one of the 21 California missions. It dated from the late 1700s, and had adobe walls still visible till the 1950s, melting away in the cow pastures of the footills near me. By the 1980s, it was nothing but a high spot on the ground, if you even knew what you were looking for. Some buddies of mine researched out the location, and hunted it in the 1980s. They got lots of reales and early US coins, buttons, etc..... Then in the 1990s, development was slated for the area. BUT WAIT, an E.I.R. mandated they have "cultural heritage impacts" monitored. So the developer had to have an archaeologist on site during the site prep. development. I think the first archaeologist was doing his job too good (kept finding things as the dozers passed back and forth). So a few days later, the developer had hired a different archaeological firm, from over an hour away, to finish the work. I watched this new archaeologist from a distance, through binnoculars. She just stood there, drank from her coffee cup, and occasionally walked over to glance down at a rock or object. She found nothing of interest, and signed off on everything they did.
Later on, I found out these type archaeologists are called "customer friendly" archaeologists, who ........... when you pay for their services, you can be assured they .... whadayaknow...... won't find anything of interest.
