The Role of Local Societies in PPG 16

Guidelines for

Societies

Curators

Contractors

Proposals by the Council for Independent Archaeology

These guidelines emerged from the fifth Congress of Independent Archaeologists, held at Nottingham University in April 1993. We are grateful to all those local societies and individuals from whose experiences these guidelines have been distilled.

The advent of Planning Policy Guidance note 16 has solved many of the problems of rescue archaeology, but new problems are opening up. In particular, PPG 16 provides an administrative rather than an intellectual framework for archaeology, and it ignores the existence of the independent sector of archaeology. These guidelines seek to examine the role of the independent sector and to set out some guidelines as to what its role in rescue archaeology should be and how the different sectors can join together in partnership.

What is PPG 16?

Planning Policy Guidance note 16: Archaeology and Planning was published by The Department of the Environment in November 1990: similar guidance is offered by PPG 16 (Wales) and NPPG5 in Scotland.

The note gives guidance to planning authorities as to the Secretary of State's policy on archaeological remains. After describing the importance of archaeology, the note states that the key to the future of archaeological sites lies with local authorities.

All shire counties (Trusts in Wales and Regional archaeologists in Scotland) now maintain a Sites and Monuments Record, and the note states that planning authorities should make full use of the expertise of their Archaeological Officers. The note describes three, or possibly four stages.

Firstly there is an initial appraisal by the county archaeological officer, using the SMR. If the site is sensitive "the developers may with to commission their own 'assessment' " - normally desk-top based. This may be followed by field evaluation involving small scale trial-trenching. Finally where it is not feasible to preserve remains, there should be provision for excavation and recording before development commences.

Why local societies should participate.

The democratic dimension.

PPG 16, as it stands, suffer from a democratic deficit. The study of the past can only be validated, ultimately, by the existence of those who think that archaeology is important, and are willing to devote their time and energy to it. If archaeology is to survive and flourish, it is vital it should flourish at the grassroots, and that there should be local groups of independent archaeologists who are prepared to put their time and effort into studying their past.

Monitors

PPG 16 needs to be monitored, and the local society should help to ensure that rescue work is carried out to a satisfactory standard, and that competitive tendering does not mean that our past is destroyed without proper record.

Scholarship.

The local society should be the guardians of the archaeology of its area. They are the people who study the archaeology of the area, and pull it all together, and the society should therefore be kept fully informed of the work. They also have invaluable local knowledge.

Who is involved.

There should be three sets of people involved in local rescue archaeology:

These notes set out to provide guidelines for each of these groups.

Guidelines: local societies

Local societies come in all shapes and sizes, but many wish to participate in the archaeology of their area. Amateur participation can be considered under five headings:

1) The initial appraisal

Some societies have long scrutinised planning applications in their area. If a society wishes to do this, they should approach the county archaeologist to make suitable arrangements. Bona fide and established local societies should expect to receive planning lists from the county archaeologist free of charge. Similarly they should be supplied with a copy of the SMR for their area which they should continuously be amending and updating. Some societies have already received a copy of the SMR which they are updating in this way.

Societies can be of particular use in providing a back-up to the appraisal. Some county archaeologists have already made arrangements with local societies whereby the society will send out one of its members to view a site and provide an on-the-spot report.

2) Assessment and Evaluation.

Some societies may wish to undertake assessments and evaluations in their area. In this case they should ask the county archaeologist to add them to their list of approved contractors for suitable sites.

Others, perhaps the majority, may prefer to leave the routine rescue excavations to the professionals and undertake only certain types of work themselves.

Rescue sites that they might consider include:

• Digs in area of own research

• Small scale digs, on sites such as patios or garage extensions done for charities or private householders, who cannot be reasonably be expected to pay the professionals' fees. A good rule of thumb is only to dig those sites which can be dug at weekends

• Emergencies, when societies should be prepared to help on professional excavations.

3) Semi-rescue projects.

Local societies are particularly useful in carrying out semi-rescue projects. These include:

Medium term projects: areas ripe for redevelopment, where finance is not yet available, but sufficient notice can be given to enable a research excavation to be carried out.

Sites undergoing long-term erosion, e.g. by ploughing, where the society can plan a research project and carry out selective rescue excavations within a research framework.

The adjacent site: interesting sites adjacent to sites dug by professionals

Training excavations. Semi-rescue, or long-term rescue sites are ideal for training purposes, since the site is going to be destroyed anyway at some future date. Local societies need to maintain a steady stream of excavations in order to maintain their skills.

4) Monitors

As the local archaeologists, the local society has a major responsibility to see that rescue archaeology is carried out to proper standards, and to try to mitigate the problems of competitive tendering. Above all the local society should be the major support to the County Archaeologist in counter-acting the pressures exerted by developers and others.

In order to support the County Archaeologist in this way, the local society should expect to be notified of all the assessments taking place in its area, and wherever feasible should be invited to visit them.

5) Scholarship - the overall view

The success of PPG 16 has led to a major problem for scholarship. A huge amount of material is being produced but this is undigested, and there is no mechanism whereby it can all be drawn together, published and evaluated.

County Societies, local societies and regional groups have a major role in the analysis of this material, and should join with the local universities and other educational bodies in providing the overall view of archaeology.

National societies, regional groups, county societies and local societies need to be brought together to ensure that 'publication' is achieved at the right level.

Local societies have a tremendous role to play in area-based studies which combine field survey, analysis of aerial photographs, historical records and maps and excavation - all of which together can achieve more than any single technique.

Guidelines for curators

The National Curators.

The National Curators, that is English Heritage, Historic Scotland, CADW and the DoE (NI) should recognise that they have a responsibility for the strength of archaeology at the grassroots. Archaeology will only flourish if there are independent bodies willing and able not only to support archaeology, but also to do it.

There should be concern at the weakness of the independent sector, and in particular at the weakness of local societies. The pendulum has swung too far between rescue and research. Before RESCUE was founded in the 1970s, too little attention was paid to rescue archaeology. Now the advent of PPG 16 has provided a proper framework for rescue archaeology, but the decline of research archaeology, and particular research excavation, is causing considerable anxiety.

A target is needed for local research by the independent sector (that is the non-government funded sector). A figure of three scheduled monument consents per county per year might be a suitable initial target. In the case of English Heritage, since there are 40 English counties, this would mean 120 SMCs a year for independent research archaeology.

Local authority curators

It is essential that the curator should be unbiassed, and should be seen to be unbiassed. It is therefore particularly worrying that in a number of cases local authorities are running curators and contractors side by side in the same building, often under the same director. This often results in local societies feeling that there is discrimination in favour of the contractor against the local society. All concerned should put pressure on local authorities to ensure that the organisational structure be reviewed.

Curators should ensure that they have a strong network of local societies to cover their area and should build up a register of societies and their strengths. Where suitable societies exist, they should be put on any list of approved contractors.

They should use the local society:

• For site watching, that is giving preliminary advice on sites in their area

• They should specify in contracts that local societies should be informed of all assessments in their area, and receive all assessments

• Where a local society has a special research area they should be given first option on it.

• Paper-work should also be simplified for local societies, as many of the procedures are inappropriate for non-commercial work.

Generally, the curator should regard himself like the trainer of a football team, eager to take pride in the success of his teams, that is the local societies in the area. This means both seeing that they are not overwhelmed by sites that are beyond them; equally, societies will fade away and die if they are not properly fed. The curator must be a good dietician, and feed them properly!

Guidelines for Contractors

There should be a close and friendly association between the contractors and the local societies. The CIA recognises that the "contractors" have their living to earn, and local societies should do everything in their power to bring long-term stability into what is at present a dangerously unsteady market. The local societies are often best placed to bring pressure to bear to see that contractors earn a reasonable return and are able to carry out proper and adequate archaeology.

Things a contractor should do

• Inform the local society before coming into their area.

• Send them copies of the final assessment

• If site is fruitful, invite them to view the site, and especially the finds: the local society may have invaluable local knowledge

In particular

Where a site is in a society's special research area, think hard about how to collaborate, and fit in with the Society's research.

Where things go wrong (unhelpful developer, or the planning department is not listening to curator): invite the local society in as monitor and ask them to put pressure on the council.

Emergencies.

Where the unexpected is discovered, invite the local society to drop everything and come in and help

Training.

On a long term site e.g. a quarry, consider setting aside an area for the local society. In any case, the normal 2% sample is often inadequate and the local society should be invited to increase the sample.

Adjacent sites.

Where the threatened area is part of a site, try to negotiate access to the unthreatened area for the local society so you can make sense of the site.

In general

The relationship between contractors and local societies may not always be an easy one. Contractors should respect and recognise that local societies have a role to play, and in some cases may be the appropriate contractor to undertake work. However many societies need the help and support of professional archaeologists: there is a narrow path to tread between ignoring local societies, and going to the other extreme, and patronising them, and reducing them to 'trowel-fodder'. Strong societies need to have a constant diet of suitable projects which they should carry out by themselves - and they should write them up and publish them. The professional archaeologist should be prepared to stay in the background, let the societies make mistakes (occasionally), help and guide when needed. We are all archaeologists together.

In conclusion.

The pendulum has swung too far. For long, archaeology lacked a professional basis and relied too much on the amateur. Now that professional archaeology has expanded it is the grassroots that are in danger of withering away. There are tremendous advantages for archaeology in the middle position.

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The Council for Independent Archaeology is the co-ordinating body for amateur archaeologists and local and county archaeological societies, and acts as a think-tank to promote new ideas and independent thinking in archaeology. All archaeologists, whether amateur or professional, and all archaeological societies, are invited to join.

Further details, and copies of this booklet, can be obtained from the Secretary:

A.M. L. Rumbold,

Horse Shoes,
Main Street,
Upper Stowe,
Northampton,
NN7 4SH

Tel: 01327 340855

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