Breaking New Ground: how archaeology works (BOOK)

[kevin wooldridge]

For the UK I think the trajectory is something like:
1960s major government projects (eg motorways) trigger state archaeological response with additional funding from the Dept Transport etc

mid 1970s govt funding goes to external units to undertake rescue work, some major private developments pay towards archaeology

early 1980s shift towards developers funding major arch costs (post-consent)

1989 PPG16 (England) introduces polluter pays principle to planning, pre-determination evaluation

I think you have missed out one funding option. During the 60s and 70s there were Section 53 orders (latterly renamed section 106 orders) where basically developers could fund archaeology as local authority 'planning gain' from their developments. I think this is what happened at the Brooks in Winchester c 1972 plus of course some of the county and town units recieved funding from local authorities that was derived from section 53 orders (the Southwark and Lambeth Unit c 1977) . The first developer funded excavation in the City of London was circa 1976 slightly ahead I think of similarly funded projects in York and Southampton....biut of course private individuals were paying for excavations long before this....various excavations in the Middle East were 'sponsored' in this way. I know for a fact that the Danish Milk Board were funding archaeological work in Qatar from the early 1950s....even further back St Helena was funding excavations in Jeruslaem (320AD) and then building churches on sites identified with Christian associations ...so 'developer' funding is as old as archaeology itself!!