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Contract archaeology in Scotland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Stephen Carter*
Affiliation:
Headland Archaeology Ltd, 13 Jane Street, Edinburgh EH6 5HE, Scotland

Extract

Introduction

The subject matter for this article is a large one and could be approached in a number of different ways. I have chosen to focus on some of the more distinctive characteristics of contract archaeology as it is currently practised in Scotland. This may encourage comparison with the situation elsewhere but it is not my intention to ‘compare and contrast’. I will leave it up to the reader, if they wish, to set their own experiences against the Scottish situation.

I define contract archaeology as all types of archaeological work undertaken through a commercial contract. Scotland is a small country with a small economy and it has a commercial archaeological sector to scale. The nuniber of commercial archaeological organizations working regularly in Scotland is somewhere between 10 and 20 depending on your point of view. Only five of these organizations have permanent staff numbers in double figures; some of the others are effectively sole traders who may take on staff with project-specific contracts.

Type
Special section: Scotland 2002
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2002

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References

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