A view from the Old School.

A view from the Old School. The archaeological profession is indebted to Geoff Wainwright (GW)for his masterly essay on the political history of British archaeologysince the war. He has often been seen as representing whatever stateagency supported archaeology. GW has taken us in a long tour of the 50years I have been in archaeology, through the changes of name -- Officeof Works The Office of Works was established in the English Royal household in 1378 to oversee the building of the royal castles and residences. In 1832 it became the Works Department within the Office of Woods, Forests, Land Revenues, Works and Buildings. , Ministry of Works The Ministry of Works was a department of the UK Government formed in 1943, during World War II, to organise the requisitioning of property for wartime use. After the war, the Ministry retained responsibility for Government building projects. , Ministry of Public Building and Works,Department of the Environment and English Heritage English Heritage is a non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom government (Department for Culture, Media and Sport) with a broad remit of managing the historic environment of England. It was set up under the terms of the National Heritage Act 1983. . These agencies ofthe State were looked to as the major source for funding for fieldarchaeology; we who were involved were grateful for such support, evenif the money was sometimes slow to come (hence the 1950s joke about `theSpectre (or expectorate ex��pec��to��ratev.1. To eject saliva, mucus, or other body fluid from the mouth; spit.2. To clear out the chest and lungs by coughing up and spitting out matter. ) of Ancient Emoluments'). The odd thing isthat archaeology-as-excavation was not the business of these Statebodies, which was properly to conserve and display `AncientMonuments'. It was Bryan O'Neil, then Chief Inspector This article or section deals primarily with the United Kingdom and does not represent a worldwide view of the subject.Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. , who changed this inthe post-war years. He diverted resources to rescue excavation (and afew to `safe' sites) using both inspectors and free-lancers such asmyself, the latter being paid two guineas a day and whatever subsistencethey could wangle. One of the `villains' in GW's piece,Richard Atkinson, was caught embarrassingly living in a caravan, whiledrawing hotel subsistence, on a professorial rate, and while in receiptof a salary from his university. GW has been in a unique position to trace the complex changes inState support, as an `insider'; I believe that this is the firsttime the story has been set out in detail, and must be a fundamentaltext for all students of the history of archaeology The history of archaeology has been one of increasing professionalisation, and the use of an increasing range of techniques, to obtain as much data on the site being examined as possible. OriginsThe exact origins of archaeology as a discipline are uncertain. of Britain, with aninvaluable bibliography. GW emphasizes the scale of work that was done in the 1960s, inmajor projects, by the inspectors, and other senior archaeologists suchas Cunliffe, Alcock, Biddle, Barker and Coles. He entered the fray in1963, with a dedicated team who `toured the country on a semi-permanentbasis, bringing prosperity to pubs and local economies wherever theysettled'. Indeed, one could observe their lives in `apres-dig'evenings pouring beer over each other. One's subscription to theDecember ANTIQUITY was worth it just for the jolly photographs of GW andhis merry persons in 1968 and 1973, the former with two guitars, twoukuleles and even a Welsh harp Welsh Harp may refer to: the triple harp, a traditional musical instrument also known as the Welsh harp The Welsh Harp, the name of several pubs in England the popular name of the Brent Reservoir Welsh Harp railway station now disused ! (Who are all these people? -- there arefamiliar faces -- where are they now?) In 1965 they were the first touse JCBs to strip soil off chalk on a large scale, culminating in thegreat henge hengeNouna circular monument, often containing a circle of stones, dating from the Neolithic and Bronze Ages [from Stonehenge] digs (at Durrington Walls Durrington Walls is a prehistoric henge enclosure monument situated close to Woodhenge on Salisbury Plain. It is a Class II henge and measures around 500m in diameter. Along with the other giant examples at Avebury, Marden and Mount Pleasant in Dorset it is one of the 'super-henge' ) also with 40 workmen and a fleetof JCBs. This brought down the wrath of the Wessex establishment, led byRichard Atkinson, who tried to get GW sacked; in spite of his ownearlier questionable tunnelling operation at Silbury Hill. Although I was on various committees during these decades, bothlocal and national, there is much in this piece that was news to me;there was, it seems, a sub-text that was not apparent to`outsiders'. Although there was useful debate on these occasions,representatives of the `Ministry' were silent or evasive. RESCUE was born in 1970, at a memorable think-tank at Barford, ledby Philip Barker. We set up what we suggested was needed: 10 regionalheadquarters, with local mobile units to cope with rescue, costing amillion pounds in total. Research priorities would be determinedlocally, and centrally masterminded under a director. Martin Biddlesuggested that this person might be called `Queen'sAntiquary'. (Kenneth Barton was heard to remark, `why not just callhim Martin Biddle?') The following massive increases in funding were, we in RESCUEbelieved, the result of our pressure. At the time it was strenuouslydenied, but now GW confirms that it was true. From 18,000 [poundssterling] in 1953-4 (part of this coming to me in the Chew Valley),funding had grown to 813,000 [pounds sterling] in 1973-4, to 2,100,000[pounds sterling] in 1976-7 and 4,800,000 [pounds sterling] in 1982-3. 1974 saw the heady days of the 13 Archaeology Advisory Committees,`to advise DoE on local priorities', and the national `committee ofthe Ancient Monuments Board'. For a while we believed that ourdreams had come true. GW analyses succinctly what went wrong. Mostregional committees were axed or collapsed; the Welsh units survived,and some urban ones, such as London, directed by Brian Hobley (`thefirst unit director to wear a suit' -- the beginning of themanagers. GW sees RESCUE as having become by this time irrelevant -- `anageing pugilist': but it survives still, as the only totallyindependent body in British archaeology. By 1977, we can see the DoE-inspired origins of what we have today-- `project-orientated fieldwork within a research framework' --`what we needed to know'. But who decides what we need to know? One looks in vain in hisessay for any more than a passing mention to universities or theiracademically inspired research. Nor is there any mention of theory, fromthe `new' to the post-processual; how theory has been (or is)influential in determining priorities, or the most effective methods topursue them. GW's story culminates in the drafting of PPG-16; this haspushed up the sums expended in British archaeology (not from the State)to 30 [pounds sterling]-40,000,000 p.a. but with some cost to theprofession and the quality of work done on a contract basis. We now, in the 3rd millennium, have come full circle, with thesetting-up of regional headquarters, with research agendas and Forums,only partly controlled from London. However we view current trends, wecan now see how they came about, in the decades since 1952 in GW'scarefully researched history. We finally see him in his recentestablishment role in further excellent photographs as a neatly beardedpatriarch. Autobiography, please, Geoff. PHILIP RANTZ, Department of Archaeology, University of York This article is about the British university. For the Canadian university, see York University. The University of York is a campus university in York, England. ,King's Manor, York YO1 2EP, England.