"The number of
archaeological interventions undertaken each year runs into many hundreds
and no complete and consolidated record is kept of them. This is a situation
that archaeology as a mature discipline should no longer be prepared to
accept." |
| (Carver, M.O.H.,
et al 1992. Archaeological Promotions, Archives and Collections: Towards
a National Policy. London. Society of Antiquaries and the Museum Association.) |
|
| Figure 1. Excavations in England. |
|
Why was there
a need for AIP? |
A large number of
archaeological projects of different sorts are undertaken annually in England. |
|
| Figure 2. Recent numbers of planning applications and archaeological investigations. |
|
|
It used to be that exactly how many and what proportions related to the
different investigative event types was not known. |
|
|
| Figure 3. An Example of Proportion of Investigation Types. |
|
|
Nor was there any easy
means for archaeologists or other interested parties to find out what had
happened in different parts of the country in recent years. This problem
was compounded by two factors. |
|
| Figure 4. The number of PPG16 archaeological investigations. |
Firstly, the fact
that many pieces of work were reported in detail only through 'client reports'
which rarely attained wide circulation for reasons of economy, and, initially
at least, confidentiality. British Archaeological Bibliography covered
only published papers in the range of sources searched, whilst the Council
for British Archaeology's annual volume Archaeology in Britain,
made no claims to be comprehensive or definitive, and has now been discontinued. |
Secondly, the time
lag between work being carried out and information being accessed to county
Sites
and Monuments Records (SMRs)/Historic Environment Recods (HERs) , or English Heritage's National Monuments
Record EH NMR (formerly the RCHME NMR) was considerable - often more
than three years. This lack of dissemination hampered both research and
informed strategic decision making. |
|
| Figure 5. Planning Applications by Region - an Example of Differences |
Over the past few
years, a series of projects have been undertaken within the School of Conservation
Sciences at Bournemouth University, on behalf of English Heritage, to help
improve the process of disseminating the results of archaeological investigations
through the production of gazetteers and analytical reports documenting
overall trends in the nature and extent of archaeological work. The most recent example of this can be found in Figure 4.
These graphs are updated from Archaeology After PPG16.
|
