The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca

Chapter One
British archaeology since the end
of the Second World War
Ian Ralston and John Hunter
INTRODUCTION
As with so many subjects, archaeology, and in particular British archaeology, has been the subject
of greater involvement and awareness than was the case in the years around 1950. University
departments teaching archaeology have grown from a mere handful to nearly thirty today, the
subject itself has developed from a traditionally historical or Classical base to include natural,
physical and computing sciences, and its scope has expanded to embrace, for example, standing
buildings, underwater remains and whole landscapes. By way of a measure, British Archaeological
Abstracts, first published in 1968, noted fewer than 300 articles that year, while its successor,
British Archaeological Bibliography, abstracted nearly five times as many in 1996. Furthermore, longestablished,
county-based archaeological societies—the mainstay of the amateur involvement in
which British archaeology has its roots—have been joined by an increasing range of specialinterest
groups; these are recorded in the annual reviews published by Current Archaeology. This
amateur involvement became radically ‘professionalized’ with the appearance of whole new sectors
of archaeological endeavour both in local authorities and, most notably, in archaeological units.
The latter bodies first conducted ‘rescue’ fieldwork on behalf of state agencies, but now, together
with archaeological companies and consultants, fulfil the needs of a wide range of developers.
This is a product of legislative and planning changes by which developers have been required by
government to conduct archaeological investigations within the framework of the ‘polluter pays’
principle.
The same awareness of ‘heritage’ has also seen archaeology’s remit widening in both scope
and detail; its chronological interests lap up against the present, with industrial archaeology (its
history is sketched in Chapter 16) now including redundant plant of all kinds reflecting the
quantum leaps of twentieth-century technology in methods of energy generation, transportation
and bulk processing. A new field of enquiry susceptible to archaeological approaches comprises,
for instance, the surviving concrete and other military defences of twentieth-century Britain (e.g.
Brown et al. 1995). Thus the remaining tank-traps and other defensive installations on the beaches
around which today’s mid-career archaeologists played as children are now a focus of attention
(Figure 1.1). Some are Scheduled Ancient Monuments. In sum, archaeology is defined more
broadly, and the archaeological community that researches, manages and monitors this resource
is substantially larger and more diverse than it was a generation ago. Even though many
archaeological jobs remain precarious, far more individuals earn their living from British
archaeology in one of its many guises than was the case in 1950.