The Ancient Monuments Laboratory joined Archaeology Division in July bringing it back into Conservation Group and into a closer association with colleagues with whom we routinely work. During the year we have examined the role of our university-based contractors and the contribution they make to the provision of archaeological science; the review has reinforced the importance of the expertise they contribute to archaeological projects, but has also identified a potential for the contractors to advise county archaeologists on environmental science and conservation aspects of development proposals. The review has also recommended that contractors should make a greater proportion of their time available to the developer-funded market. Current commitments are being reviewed to determine how much more time can be devoted to this activity as it is recognised that, with archaeological investigations being increasingly funded by developers, the skills of our contractors in archaeological science should be available to them.
Dissemination of information is essential and a Laboratory World Wide Web homepage has been established at http://www.eng-h.gov.uk/. In addition to the Geophysical Survey Database, this gives access to the Stonehenge dating, AML Report summaries, and Guidelines on archaeometallurgy and waterlogged leather. The site has been extremely successful with an average of 2450 visits a week over the year.
The Laboratory completed its audit of the EH collections this year, which has provided the first comprehensive view of the condition of over 500,000 items ranging from architectural fragments to Old Master paintings. Included in this are the archaeological collections from our Historic Properties. We also examined wallpaintings at our properties; we have some 60 sites where wallpaintings survive, some as fragments but some of international importance such as those at Kempley Abbey and Longthorpe Tower.
