Price: To Be Established

Publication Date: March 2008

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Summary:

Since the increasing reliance on developers to fund archaeological work through the 1980s, and the implementation of Planning Policy Guidance Note 16 (PPG16) in 1990, British ‘commercial’ archaeologists have become increasingly distanced from their academic colleagues. This monograph examines the situation within contemporary ‘commercial’ archaeology and considers the challenges faced by those employed within that sector, including the impact of commercial working practices on pay and conditions of employment and the process of excavation and knowledge production. This monograph provides a fascinating insight into the working environment of commercial archaeologists and demonstrates how camaraderie and love of their job is often just enough to outweigh the adversity they face in the form of low wages, poor employment conditions and career prospects.

Author

Paul Everill holds a doctorate from the University of Southampton. He has been actively involved in archaeological fieldwork since 1989 and studied for his undergraduate degree at Saint David’s University College, Lampeter, Wales between 1991 and 1994. Following the completion of his Masters degree at the University of Southampton he worked full-time in commercial archaeology for a number of years, before returning to university to study for his PhD. He has worked for eight archaeological units across the UK and the Republic of Ireland and in October 2004 he became a founding member and secretary of the “Diggers’ Forum”, which was set up as a special interest group within the Institute of Field Archaeologists to help improve the working lives of professional archaeologists in the UK. Since completing his PhD in 2006 he has been employed by the Southampton City Council Archaeology Unit, and by the Institute of Field Archaeologists as an external advisor for the forthcoming “Labour Market Intelligence 2007/8: Profiling the Profession 3”. He is also co-director of an independent research excavation in the former Soviet republic of Georgia.