Poachers and gamekeepers: Palaeolithic archaeology as a niche market in the commercial sector
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 2016-04-11

Palaeolithic archaeology is rarely encountered during commercial archaeological projects but when it appears is often problematic.  This is because the contracting organisations usually lack the expertise to undertake project planning, fieldwork and interpretation and, with some notable exceptions, curatorial staff within planning departments are also ill prepared to advise on such matters.  Consequently when Palaeolithic archaeological concerns arise during development both the units and curatorial staff usually turn to a small pool of archaeologists and Quaternary scientists that exist in the UK who are able to provide the expertise to find, excavate and interpret the archaeology. These specialists are often to be found in university departments or national museums and they are commonly the same workers who might be providing inputs to academic research agendas.  Consequently the academic versus professional debate is meaningless as we are both poacher and gamekeeper in the system.  Such a situation both advances and impedes the discipline and this talk aims to highlight the way in which these practices are undertaken in S E England. Two major projects are considered.  Firstly the large scale, multi-phase works associated with the construction of High Speed 1 will be described in order to articulate the procedures and problems associated with complex landscapes, multiple time periods and different organisations working in parallel with each other.  The second project is a small scale project undertaken at Harnham in Wiltshire developed as part of a road evaluation scheme that was ultimately abandoned.  

Martin R. BATES (University of Wales Trinity Saint David)