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Although a large number of archaeological projects of different sorts (desk-based assessments, field evaluations, watching briefs, open-area excavations, estate management surveys, work undertaken as part of Environmental Assessments etc), are undertaken annually in England, it is often difficult to access the results of these projects quickly. This can be attributed partly to the fact that many pieces of work are short-term and reported in detail only through 'client reports' which rarely attain wide circulation, and partly to the time-lag between work being undertaken and information being incorporated in county or district sites and monuments records, or the RCHME's National Monuments Record.
To help overcome this problem, the Archaeological Investigations Project 1990-94, which follows directly on from the Assessment of Assessments 1982-91, was set up to create a consolidated digest of archaeological fieldwork projects in England completed between January 1990 and December 1994. A second important objective has been to collect statistics to help monitor the operation of archaeology within the planning system. This has involved the compilation of information from many sources including local authority sites and monuments records, archaeological contractors, consultants, university departments, and local archaeological groups and societies. In total, the project has collected information regarding approximately 10,000 investigations which were completed within the period 1990-94.
The results of the project, which has now been completed, will be published before the end of 1997 as a series of supplementary volumes to the British Archaeological Bibliography, with a separate entry for each investigation providing details of where, when, and by whom work was undertaken, a short summary of its results, and any bibliographic details. The volumes will also include a technical paper presenting statistical information, which will include the numbers of different kinds of investigation undertaken, the range of methodologies employed, the distribution of archaeological work, and the information about the planning and developmental context for archaeology during this period. These statistics will be particularly informative, illustrating that although PPG-16 has resulted in a change in emphasis on the kinds of archaeological investigations undertaken, it has also resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of investigations being carried out.
Work has now commenced on the Archaeological Investigations Project 1995-96, which aims to update the two earlier projects by producing a gazetteer of investigations completed between January 1995 and December 1996, which will be issued in Autumn 1998. Organisations and individuals are invited to assist in the compilation of this gazetteer by completion of recording sheet available from the Archaeological Investigations Project, School of Conservation Sciences, Bournemouth University, Talbot Campus, Fern Barrow, Poole, Dorset BH12 5BB. Further details of the Archaeological Investigations Project can be found on the World Wide Web at http://csweb.bournemouth.ac.uk/consci/text_aip/aipintro.htm