AL 16/8/11

Started the day by investigating the process involved in becoming a commercial diver. This was for my benefit as well as to produce the wording for a poster on exactly that subject. A useful exercise for both reasons but if the threads in the forums relating to that particular career move are to be believed then the following applies. 1) Make sure you have a relevant skill set out of water before you endulge. 2) Be aware that there is years of 'donkey' work before getting onto the bigger better paid jobs. Given I want to do archaeology masters and PhD part time possibly funded by diving then the full course is not going to benefit me. Lesson learnt.

Had fun trying to recreate stratigraphical archaeological deposits in minature as an exercise for kids to practice archaeological skills and recognise stratigraphic changes. It's safe to say it needs some refinement both in the ingredients of the sand and methods of construction but it wouldn't be summer without playing in the sand. An idea with potential and an interesting educational resource idea.

Finished day off by researching data relating to wrecks of the south coast to aid the database. Important work in terms of understanding which are most likely to provide useful archaeological data, from my limited knowledge this is an area that that is sadly lacking across UK waters. It's interesting to see just how little or how much data is available for different sites and the variation in survival rates of different materials in different stretches of water. Good for exercising the old investigative brain muscles before returning for dissertaion study, if not a little frustrating at times.