The changing pattern of archaeological excavation in England; as reflected by the Excavation Index.

The changing pattern of archaeological excavation in England; as reflected by the Excavation Index. The Excavation Index, a national index of excavations compiled by theRoyal Commission, makes it possible to generate some statistics on thechanging pattern of English archaeology, as reflected in the number andperiods of sites dug.IntroductionIn a recent note in ANTIQUITY, Michael Morris Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin (1914–1999), usually known as Lord Killanin, was the former head of the International Olympic Committee. Michael Morris, 1st Baron Killanin (1826–1901), Irish lawyer and political figure, became the first Lord Killanin in (1992) examined thedevelopment of Bronze Age Bronze Age,period in the development of technology when metals were first used regularly in the manufacture of tools and weapons. Pure copper and bronze, a n alloy of copper and tin, were used indiscriminately at first; this early period is sometimes called the studies in England from 1840 to 1960. Hestates, 'It is a key assumption of this study that the broadchanges apparent in Bronze Age studies . . . are a microcosm of thelarger discipline', but goes on to lament that 'littlecomparable statistical data has been compiled for the rest ofprehistoric studies or indeed for archaeology as a whole' (Morris1992: 419). One source drawn on by Morris, the Excavation Indexmaintained by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments ofEngland The Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (RCHME) was the body formerly responsible for documenting the records of English Historical Monuments. It was merged with English Heritage on 1 April 1999.[1] Notes1. (RCHME RCHME Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (UK)), can provide a range of statistics on the history ofarchaeological excavation in England. This not e is intended to setMorris' findings for Bronze Age studies into the context of'archaeology as a whole', using data from the ExcavationIndex.The Excavation IndexSince 1978 the National Archaeological Record The archaeological record is a term used in archaeology to denote all archaeological evidence, including the physical remains of past human activities which archaeologists seek out and record in an attempt to analyze and reconstruct the past. (NAR NAR National Association of REALTORSNAR Nucleic Acids Research (journal)NAR National Association of RocketryNAR Nationale Arbeidsraad (Dutch: National Labor Council; Brussels, Belgium)) of RCHME has beencompiling an index of archaeological excavations carried out in England.The project has four main aims: to compile a list of all excavations inEngland; to locate the original records from those excavations; tolocate the finds from those excavations; to indicate those excavationsfor which a report has been published. The informati on noted for eachseparate excavation, recorded in retrievable fields on the computerizeddatabase, includes: locational details, period and type of remainsrecovered, name of the director of the excavation, dates of excavation,sponsoring and funding bodies, the location of finds, the location andcontent of the archive, any publications.At the time of writing the Index contains over 26,000 recordsnationally, and this figure increases annually through maintenance andenhancement. Its scope has recently been expanded to include surveysfunded by HBMC and its predecessors, watching briefs since 1960 andevaluations.As the compilation of the Index has progressed, the trends in anddistribution of excavations within individual counties have beenexamined: Norfolk (Beagrie & Gurney gurney/gur¡¤ney/ (gur¡äne) a wheeled cot used in hospitals. gur¡¤neyn. pl. gur¡¤neysA metal stretcher with wheeled legs, used for transporting patients. 1988), Greater London (Sargent1990), Surrey (Beagrie & Scott 1990), Suffolk (Carr 1991) andnortheast England (RCHME 1991). The following discussion is based onnational statistics. Future maintenance and enhancement of the Indexwill mean that these figures should be regarded as provisional.Bronze Age studies and national trends in excavationTABLE 1 records the number of all excavations and the numbers forselected periods for each decade from the 1790s to the 1970s. Thistime-scale was chosen to provide a background to the developmentsidentified by Morris. FIGURE 1 confirms that the pattern identified byMorris for Bronze Age studies in outline reflects the overall pattern: apeak in the 1840s-1860s is followed by a decline between 1870s-1910s,with a further sharp rise from 1920s, interrupted by the Second WorldWar, that continues again from the 1950s.decade Bronze Roman medieval total Age1790s 35 23 4 651800s 522 46 3 5991810s 63 37 10 15218 20s 95 66 10 1931830s 45 48 16 1161840s 397 117 35 6021850s 362 137 34 6521860s 419 136 40 6961870s 255 92 54 4591880s 222 133 74 5031890s 171 171 77 4891900s 129 200 119 5321910s 104 161 92 4691920s 177 475 220 10701930s 340 738 302 16721940s 170 443 206 9391950s 368 1276 752 27601960s 430 1678 1331 39201970s 475 2021 2119 5271TABLE 1. Number of excavations on the Excavation Index bydecade, 1790s-1970s.Many differences in detail are, however, apparent. While Bronze Agestudies decline in the late 19th century the total number of excavationsstabilizes at a reduced level, and while they echo the general patternfrom the 1920s onwards they never regain the domi nance they enjoyedbefore the 1870s.General discussionTrends in excavation generally will now be considered. The longerperspective of FIGURE 2 highlights the suddenness of the increase inexcavation in the 1840s. Prior to that date, archaeology was thepreserve of a few men of leisure, although a gradual upward trend in thenumber of excavations per decade can be seen. The sharp peak of activityin the 1800s was due entirely to the work of Sir Richard Colt Hoare andWilliam Cunnington William Cunnington (1754–31 December, 1810) was a pioneering English antiquarian and archaeologist of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. His work centred on excavating the barrows of Salisbury Plain. , who opened 465 mounds between 1803 and 1810 (Marsden1974: 17): the number of excavations on Roman and medieval sites duringthe decade is as expected.The 1840s saw archaeology emerge as a fashionable pursuit forgentlemen and the rising middle classes (Morris 1992). This wasexemplifi ed by the foundation and rising membership of theArchaeological Association AssociationAssociation in archaeology has more than one meaning and is confusing to the layman. Archaeology has been critiqued as a soft science with a somewhat poor standardization of terms. in 1843, which claimed 1200 (male) members inits first year (Marsden 1984: 25), and of the Archaeological Institutein 1845. The county societies quickly followed over the next twodecades: e.g. Norfolk 1846, Sussex 1846, Bedfordshire 1847,Buckinghamshire 1847, Suffolk 1848, Somerset 1849 (Levine 1986: AppendixIV).As archaeology gained in popularity, the rate of excavation increaseddramatically, reaching a peak in the 1860s that was not surpassed for 60years. These were the decades of the great barrow openers, particularlyThomas Bateman (1821-61), William Greenwell Canon William Greenwell (23 March, 1820 – 27 January, 1918) was an English archaeologist. External linksThe Greenwell Project Homepage (Durham Un iversity) (1820-1918), and JohnMortimer This article is about the writer. For the leader of the Kent rebellion, see Jack Cade.Sir John Clifford Mortimer CBE QC (born 21 April 1923) is an English barrister turned prolific writer and dramatist. (1825-1911): Greenwell and Mortimer were both at their mostactive during the 1860s. Barrow opening became the fashion; M.A. Lower,a schoolmaster SCHOOLMASTER. One employed in teaching a school. 2. A schoolmaster stands in loco parentis in relation to the pupils committed to his charge, while they are under his care, so far as to enforce obedience to his, commands, lawfully given in his capacity of in Lewes, wrote in 1852, 'I have to-day beenteaching the "young idea |i.e. youth~ how to dig" barrows.Armed with pickaxes and shovels my pupils and I have partially excavateda barrow near the race-course' (quoted in Salzman 1946: 13).During these decades the number of excavations on Roman sites alsoincreased, though the figure was nowhere nea r as high as that for BronzeAge sites and barrow openings, probably reflecting the greater amount oftime required to excavate a non-barrow site. There were, perhapssurprisingly, very few excavations on medieval sites at this time,despite the fact that many county societies combined interests inarchaeology and ecclesiastical architecture.The decades following the peak of activity in the 1860s saw a loss ofenthusiasm for excavation, the number declining by about one-third to arate which was then maintained until the 1920s. However, archaeology inthe broader sense remained popular, and membership of the countysocieties continued to rise. Although the societies themselves believedthat membership declined from the 1880s, blaming this in part upon thegrowth of new leisure pursuits, Levine (1986: 65-6) found that theaverage rise in membership at this time was about double the averagedecline; the membership of the Sussex Archaeological Society The Sussex Archaeological Society, foun ded in 1846, is the largest county-based archaeological society in the UK. Its headquarters are in Lewes, Sussex. The current chief executive of the society is John Manley. rose almostcontinuously towards the close of the 19th century (see annual reportsin Sussex Archaeological Collections This is the title of the official journal published by the (Lewes based) Sussex Archaeological Society (SAS). It has been published almost annually since 1848 and is distributed to its members, subscribers and exchanged with other linked societies. ). One of the mainstays of thesocieties in the later 19th century was the excursion, and Hudson (1981:43) argues that the role of the new railway system in allowing people toattend meetings and to go on excursions should not be underestimated.Another measure of the vigour of archaeology is publication. Onehundred and one members contributed articles to the first 25 volumes (to1873) of the Sussex Archaeological Collections, while a further 89memb ers contributed to the next 25 volumes (Salzman 1946: 67-8).Architecture was also a valid area of study; the first 20 years of theProceedings of the Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society,founded in 1885, were dominated by studies of standing buildings(Whinney 1985).It was during the closing decade of the 19th century that the numberof excavations on sites of the Roman period overtook those of the BronzeAge, which never regained dominance. Marsden (1992: 423) suggested thatthis may have been due to the depletion of the stock of unexcavatedupstanding barrows. It could alternatively be a consequence of theemergence of archaeology as a more rounded discipline, as demonstratedby the broader concern (in principle) of the Ancient MonumentsProtection Act of 1882.The number of excavations rose rapidly once again in the 1920s and1930s, as a handful of professional posts in museums, universities andother institutions provided support for 'a new and self-consciously"profession al" elite network' of archaeologists (Morris1992: 423). Amateurs and the societies continued, however, to make amajor contribution. Excavations on sites of the Roman period weredominant, while those on Bronze Age sites once more increased innumbers. It was not until the 1920s that medieval sites began to attractsignificant attention from excavators, perhaps reflecting an increase inurban archaeology.This sharp growth in excavation was interrupted by the Second WorldWar, but continued subsequently with urban renewal and the developmentof professional units. Multi-period urban sites have been the focus ofmuch excavation over the last 50 years, helping to confirm the dominanceof the Roman and medieval periods over prehistory prehistory,period of human evolution before writing was invented and records kept. The term was coined by Daniel Wilson in 1851. It is followed by protohistory, the period for which we have some records but must still rely largely on archaeological evidence to .ConclusionsExcavation is only one among many indicators of the state ofarchaeology nationally, albeit a significant one. Morris used theevidence of publication to trace the academic development of thediscipline, while a study of local society membership would fill out thepicture further. However, data from the Excavation Index has confirmedthat the pattern of Bronze Age studies identified by Morris does reflectthe pattern of archaeology in England as a whole, despite thedifferences in detail discussed above.Using the IndexThe database created by the Index, a national archaeologicalresource, is available in the standard format for the whole of England.It is computerized, allowing information to be retrieved from anycombination of fields. The NAR also houses a large and expandingcollection of excavation and other archaeological records on microfilmwhich is available for public consultation.Enquiries may be made by personal visit, telephone or letter asdetailed below. On-l ine searching of the Index is possible via acomputer terminal in the NAR library in Fortress House. Catalogues canbe generated in answer to specific enquiries. This service is free, witha small charge for the cost of printout.Contact addressNational Archaeological Record RCHME Fortress House Savile Row LondonW1X 2JQTelephone: 071-973-3148Acknowledgements. I would like to thank my colleagues for theiradvice and assistance in preparing this note.ReferencesBEAGRIE, N. & E. SCOTT. 1990. The Surrey Excavations Index,Surrey Archaeological Collections 80: 179-85.BEAGRIE, N. & D. GURNEY. 1988. The Norfolk Excavations Index,Norfolk Archaeology 40(2): 185-93.CARR, J. 1991. The Suffolk Excavation Index, Proceedings of theSuffolk Institute of Archaeology The Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History is the County Archaeological Society for the County of Suffolk, UK. It was established as the Bury and West Suffolk Institute of Archaeology, at Bury St Edmunds (in the former cou nty of West Suffolk) in 1848, but acquired a function 37: 179-85.HUDSON, K. 1981. A social history of archaeology The history of archaeology has been one of increasing professionalisation, and the use of an increasing range of techniques, to obtain as much data on the site being examined as possible. OriginsThe exact origins of archaeology as a discipline are uncertain. : the Britishexperience. London: Macmillan.LEVINE, P. 1986. The amateur and the professional: antiquarians,historians and archaeologists in Victorian England, 1838-1886.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press (known colloquially as CUP) is a publisher given a Royal Charter by Henry VIII in 1534, and one of the two privileged presses (the other being Oxford University Press). .MARSDEN, B.M. 1974. The early barrow diggers Diggers,members of a small English religio-economic movement (fl. 1649–50), so called because they attempted to dig (i.e., cultivate) the wastelands. They were a n offshoot of the more important group of Puritan extremists known as the Levelers. . 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