Milestones of the Archaeological Landscape
To help mark the milestone of Current Archaeology 400, editor Carly asked me to delve into the archives for a bumper edition of my column, in order to tell the story of archaeology in the UK across the lifespan of the magazine – both where it’s been and where it’s going. This was a challenge that I accepted with glee: the history, of the history, of archaeology!
I will begin with some context: what was the landscape like when issue 1 was published in March 1967? There were laws: the Historic Buildings and Ancient Monuments Act (1882; updated by this point in 1953, and again in 1979) for scheduled monuments; and the Town and Country Planning Act (1947) for listed buildings. There were branches of government, too, especially the Ministry of Public Building and Works (1940 and 1962), the forerunner of Historic England/English Heritage/Historic Environment Scotland/Cadw; as well as the three national Royal Commissions (1908; see CA 228, March 2009). There was also a thriving network of national and local societies, notably the Societies of Antiquaries of London and Scotland, alongside dozens of county-based archaeological organisations. And there were university departments, including in Edinburgh (1927), London (1937), Oxford (1962), and Southampton (1966). Archaeology had a place in the public mind, too, thanks to the success of television shows like Animal, Vegetable, Mineral (1952-1959).
But for all this, it was a modest landscape – a small and close-knit community with limited structure and funding, and a view as often as not to fieldwork abroad as at home. There were, however, the first stirrings of what became the ‘commercial’ fieldwork community. The Winchester Research Unit was founded in 1962; and from its early days; the Council for British Archaeology (1944) was highlighting the threat that redevelopment posed to archaeological sites and landscapes. The scene was set for a rapid growth across the following decades.
