I came to Winchester, first as a summer volunteer digger, working for 2 a week and my keep, so I think I'm quite well paid now. I was already getting frustrated with anthropology, where so much depends on interpretation. With archaeology the artefacts are already there in the ground.
Most excavation is now rescue archaeology, with the developer compelled to pay for the work.
However the contracts are awarded by competitive tender. The history of Winchester emerges from a patchwork of different sites, but the excavation of those sites may be by archaeology units from all over the country. The pressures on local authority archaeology are now enormous. We are terribly lucky that we have a local authority, and a council leader in particular, who actually volunteer to speak of the importance of local archaeology. There is a terrible fragmentation and loss of knowledge under the present system.