Environmental archaeology – a laissez-faire approach
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 2016-06-03

Every year I teach an undergraduate module called ‘Environmental Archaeology’. Every year I open my first lecture with a rant about how dreadful the module is, that it has no place on the curriculum and that I will never teach it again. I have said that every year for the last decade. 
As a concept Environmental Archaeology is surely both problematic and useful but, beyond the first lecture of my undergraduate module, it is something I think very little about. I have never picked up, let alone read, Albarella (2001) Environmental archaeology: meaning and purpose (sounds tedious!). But having agreed to speak in this session, I probably ought to. Indeed, I am curious to take the time to consider whether I – as someone who started in commercial ‘Environmental Archaeology’ and now, scarily, trains others to do likewise – am part of the problem.  Who knows? It’ll be fun to find out…

Naomi SYKES (University of Nottingham)