Making Archaeology Happen: Design versus Dogma

by Carver,Martin Oswald Hugh

• ISBN13: 9781611320244
• ISBN10: 1611320240
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-09-30
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

‘Archaeology is for people' is the theme of this book. Split between the academic and commercial sectors, archaeological investigation is also deeply embedded in the needs of local communities, making it simultaneously an art, science and social science. Such a multi-disciplinary discipline needs special methods and creative freedom, not repetitive responses. Carver argues that commercial procedures and academic theory are both suffocating creativity in fieldwork. He'd like to see us bring much more diversity and technical ingenuity to every opportunity, and maintains this is more a matter of getting ourselves free of dogma than needing more time and money. This has many implications for the way archaeology is designed and procured - moving archaeologists up the professional ladder from builder to architect, with contracts based on quality of design, not the price.

Author Biography

Martin Carver is Emeritus Professor of Archaeology at the University of York, Editor of the journal Antiquity and the author of Archaeological Investigation (Routledge, 2009). He has undertaken or advised on field projects in England, Scotland, Sweden, France, Italy and Algeria, including numerous commercial projects and major research campaigns at Sutton Hoo.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations and Tables	p. 7
Preface	p. 9
A Visit to the Ancestors	p. 11
Method and Sentiment in Mesopotamia
Boxes and Pits
Rise of the Single
Minded
Theory, in Practice
Confessions of a Free
lance
The Path of Design
Mega, Macro, Micro, Nano: Dialogues with Terrain	p. 37
Mega
Macro
Micro
Nano
Proteomics
Remote Excavation
On the Streets: Archaeologists and Society	p. 59
Three Windows: Viking Dublin, African Broadway, Golden Village
What Kind of a State are You In?
The Good, The Bad, and The Grumpy
Money
Raising our Game
Good Signs on the Horizon
Is the Argument Won?
Design on Tour	p. 89
In the Desert
Inside Caves
Cold as Ice
Inside Tombs
Hot, Wet and Leafy
Eastern Asia
Flat Europe
Wet Europe
Urban Europe
Monumental Europe
From Procurement to Product: A Road Map	p. 119
Field Research Procedure (FRP)
Project Design
Implementation
Some Theoretical Aspects of This Framework
The Research Itinerary
The CRM Itinerary
Integrated Procurement
Making Archaeology Happen	p. 147
Scottish Prelude
Defining the Product
Ways of Working
A Tentative Scheme
Envoi
References	p. 165
Index	p. 179
About the Author	p. 184
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