The purpose of this annual review of archaeological activities within English Heritage is to integrate the work of a number of separate functional groups within the organisation, all of whom deal with archaeological issues, and to focus attention on the development of policies and issues over the 12-month period in question. These policies are reflected in the work of our statutory Ancient Monuments Advisory Committee (AMAC), whose advice is sought on all matters of substance relating to archaeological policy.
External reviews of the Ancient Monuments Laboratory and of the Central Archaeology Service were undertaken during 1997 in recognition of the fact that archaeology in England is at a time of change following the successful implementation of PPG-16 Archaeology and planning. The report concluded that English Heritage needed to retain a central archaeological division capable of establishing policy and operating on a national basis. In addition to its role of providing a focus of archaeological expertise for the Government, English Heritage, and Local Authorities, the Division was set the task of devising a strategy for understanding, conserving, and using the archaeological heritage in England and promoting a wider appreciation of what it offers. In the course of the year, Commissioners took the decision to relocate the Laboratory to join the Central Archaeology Service at Fort Cumberland and to restructure the University contract posts into three regional centres to provide advice to the English Heritage regional teams as well as to local authorities, developers, and archaeologists. It is intended that these moves will be complete by July 1999.
England's archaeology is rich and varied. It includes earthworks, buildings, structures, and buried deposits variously created anything from half a million years ago through to recent times. These archaeological sites are the raw material from which much of the country's history and all its prehistory is created. Inevitably, the remains of our past are under pressure from the legitimate demands of the present and this led English Heritage to fund the Monuments at Risk survey or MARS the first general census of the archaeological resource in England.
MARS has two aims: to provide a general picture of the condition of England's archaeological resource and the risks it faces, and to set benchmarks against which future changes can be monitored. The purpose of the work was to provide essential information for archaeological resource management at local, regional, and national levels; to establish a factual basis to set alongside the results of assessments of other environmental resources; and to guide the development and evaluation of conservation and management policies and initiatives. MARS provides clear insights into the nature and state of the archaeological resource in England and illustrates three general needs. First, the need for a strategic policy that is integrated with other allied interests; second, practical implementation of initiatives at appropriate levels within the range of local, regional, and national archaeological organisations; and third, the increasing application of approaches with robust theoretical underpinning for the definition, modelling, and monitoring of the archaeological resource in England. MARS is the first study of its kind and will provide a benchmark by which future generations will chart the condition of the nation's archaeological heritage.
 |
The last decade has been a period of major change for archaeology in England. For archaeological services in local authorities, many of the recent changes have been brought about by Local Government Reorganisation as new unitary councils have had their boundaries reduced. National Park authorities have also been given independent status, with a new statutory duty to protect the cultural heritage. As a positive response to these changes, the Association of Local Government Archaeological Officers was formed in May 1996. It was apparent that an update on the current state of archaeological services in local government was required so that emerging trends in levels of service provision could be monitored. As a first step, English Heritage commissioned a rapid overview of the situation, which was published in January 1998 as Protecting our heritage. This document showed that local authorities employed a total of 588 archaeological staff, of which 232 were employed to provide advice on archaeology and development. Overall staffing levels remained largely stable during 1997 but the impact of the Local Government Review was variable and it will take time before its full impact can be clarified.
The effectiveness of Planning Policy Guidance Note 16 (Archaeology and planning) was reviewed in 1992 and 1995. These reviews confirmed the success of PPG-16 in achieving its primary objectives but the 1995 review pointed out that PPG-16 was not sufficiently explicit about the responsibility for funding the long-term storage of finds. The review recommended that Government should give consideration to the issue of funding the long-term storage of finds resulting from the implementation of PPG-16. A research project, jointly funded and managed by the Museums and Galleries Commission and English Heritage, was launched to quantify the archaeological archives currently in store against the availability of space, and to estimate the extent of the archives currently held by archaeological contractors. The report is the first study of its kind and provides a factual basis on which to base future policies. The volume of holdings of archaeological archives held by museums appears to be around 40,000 cubic metres. Of this, 35% is held by five museums and the Museum of London alone holds 18% of the total. The combined statistics from museums and contractors suggest that a relatively small number of large museum services have acute storage problems which are likely to deteriorate in the future. Discussions will therefore take place with Government during 1999 to agree measures to improve this situation.
In 1991, English Heritage published its agenda for archaeology as Exploring our past, which set out the framework within which strategies for English Heritage funding of archaeological projects could be formulated. In the intervening period, there have been major changes to the structure and organisation of archaeological activity in England, and to the pattern of archaeological funding. Some of the most vital elements of archaeological activity continue to lie within our remit, and English Heritage has a pivotal role to play in the development of England's archaeology. It is essential that English Heritage has a clear view of its strategic objectives and a detailed agenda for archaeology that serves its purposes, and we are now in the process of revising and updating our agenda. In 1997 a consultation document, Agenda for the future, was circulated widely and subjected to external debate. Extensive comments were received during the summer and autumn, and a revised agenda and implementation plan was agreed by the Ancient Monuments Advisory Committee in March 1998. The implementation plan is now being updated and will be issued early in 1999.