Dear All,
Wendy Carruthers and I have been discussing, what appears to be, a significant gap between research and commercial environmental archaeology. The amount of archaeological data and museum archive material available for the UK is now very large, much of it generated by development-led archaeology. This is a huge resource, but opinions on its worth and how it could be used vary greatly.
It has become a theme much discussed amongst the archaeological profession generally, but we would like to present some views from the perspective of environmental archaeologists working in a freelance capacity or in commercial archaeology units. At the moment, the suggestion is to present and publish a paper, potentially through an AEA conference and the Environmental Archaeology journal. Would anyone working in commercial archaeology like to contribute their views? Do you have any examples of successful collaborations between research institutions and commercial archaeologists? Or, are there specific areas where you can see the potential for such work?
Although our focus is on UK archaeology, it would be interesting to have some international perspective. We'd welcome expressions of interest to form a group viewpoint on this.
Regards,
Liz Pearson
Senior Environmental Archaeologist
Worcestershire Archaeology
The Hive
Worcester WR1 3PB
|