Making Archaeology Happen: Design versus Dogma [Paperback]

‘Archaeology is for people’ is the theme of this book. Split between the academic and commercial sectors, archaeological investigation is also deeply embedded in the needs of local communities, making it simultaneously an art, science and social science. Such a multi-disciplinary discipline needs special methods and creative freedom, not repetitive responses. Carver argues that commercial procedures and academic theory are both suffocating creativity in fieldwork. He’d like to see us bring much more diversity and technical ingenuity to every opportunity, and maintains this is more a matter of getting ourselves free of dogma than needing more time and money. This has many implications for the way archaeology is designed and procured – moving archaeologists up the professional ladder from builder to architect, with contracts based on quality of design, not the price.

Who wants archaeology? Who should pay for it? Who should do it? And how? Making Archaeology Happen is an attempt to answer these questions – campaigning for a more liberated, imaginative and productive field profession.

Martin Carver is Emeritus Professor of Archaeology at the University of York, Editor of the journal Antiquity and the author of Archaeological Investigation (Routledge, 2009). He has undertaken or advised on field projects in England, Scotland, Sweden, France, Italy and Algeria, including numerous commercial projects and major research campaigns at Sutton Hoo.

PrefaceChapter 1: Consulting the ancestorsChapter 2: The Wonderful World of Willie the WormChapter 3: On the streetChapter 4: A Road MapChapter 5: Design on tourChapter 6: Scotland: a parable for our timeReferencesIndexAbout the author