Response to the APPAG review

The All-Party Parliamentary Archaeology Group was formed in order to influence the future direction of archaeology in Britain. In 2002 it invited contributions from organisations and individuals interested and involved in archaeology. The YALHS responded with the following statement:

'The current state of Archaeology in the United Kingdom'

PPG16
UK archaeology is underachieving. Technical capability has never been greater and funding is at a high level but history will judge our output to be disappointing, even poor. The operation of PPG16 is at the heart of the problem. Developer funding provides significant resources but they are spread too thinly to be effective. The investigation of archaeological sites selected on the basis of commercial land development achieves very little. Worse still, it generates archives of mostly low-key material which use up scarce curatorial and storage resources, without additional funding.

The solution is to capitalise on developer funding as a resource for archaeology but break the link with a specific site. In other words, impose a modest levy on all development, to provided funds to be administered by an independent body, for all aspects of archaeology.

Amateur Groups
Amateur groups have much to offer in terms of local knowledge and expertise. The current climate of formal developer-funding prevents the involvement of amateur groups. Some, limited, fieldwork is possible but a lack of engagement with 'real' archaeology is a serious threat to the viability of local groups and a potential resource is being lost. Most poignantly, commercial units, operating from a distance, lack the local knowledge possessed by local amateurs. The archaeology is the poorer for it.

Non-intervention
The Current practice of minimum intervention is in many cases valid. However, there is a lack of recognition of the damage caused on building and landscaping sites by construction vehicles and service trenches. Thus material left undisturbed for its own protection, is frequently destroyed.

Published in Chronicle Vol. 8 No. 4 (2002)