(02-06-2024, 09:50 AM)quintessentone Wrote: I was assuming the Japanese government is co-funding this dig and I was referring to what will the Japanese government get out of it. Of course, archeologists would be excited, but the government? Why not spend dollars right at home digging to find their own cultural artifacts? See what I mean?
No, governments don't fund digs. If a site is small, it can be cleared in a few months. For a big site, you're talking about decades of work (like Gobekli Tepi.)
Archaeologists are generally professors, who are getting funds for the dig from the university.
Governments occasionally fund digs (Texas state government will fund an archaeologist to determine if a site is of archaeological interest...but won't fund a full dig there. Just an exploration to see if it's a notable site) but most are funded through public grants from universities... and, if involving students, are partly funded by the diggers themselves and the course fees that they pay for the course. Diggers ("shovelbums") and students also pay for their own food and housing.
The current https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministry_o...es_(Egypt) is being run by a businessman - previously it had been run by Egyptologists. I don't know what rules changes there are in place now.
