The 1999 CIA Conference Demystifying Field Archaeology11th-12th September, University of SheffieldNeil Faulkner writes: It is now widely believed that Archaeology has become so technical that it is beyond the scope of the independent archaeologist or local society. That is the myth. With care and planning, DIY is possible for many aspects of archaeology and the Congress of Independent Archaeologists, to be held at Sheffield on September 11th - 12th 1999 will demonstrate how this can be done. The year 1999 is the tenth year of the existence of the Council for Independent Archaeology. The group was set up to tackle the decline of independent fieldwork since the development of professional rescue units. The aim was to focus attention on the issue, and to encourage independents to take up fieldwork again by generalising the experience of the most successful groups. It is time to take another step. The case for strong, locally-rooted, volunteer-based fieldwork groups has been well made. But the independent fieldworker still faces a host of obstacles - the scheduling of sites, the opposition of county authorities, and lack of support from funding bodies. This can become a self-fulfilling prophecy: if independents do not undertake projects, they will not develop a pool of skilled and experienced fieldworkers, and the opposition of 'official' archaeology to 'amateur' investigation of sites will seem justified. In the final analysis, the strongest argument against the bureaucrats is to get out into the field and do the work. A rather different congress is being organised this year to celebrate the CIA's first decade. We want to pull together the best experience - both of organising projects as a whole, and of equipping and carrying out particular types of fieldwork and post-excavation analysis - and to generalise this across the CIA as a whole. We want a pooling of skills and experiences which we hope will benefit all. Active fieldwork groups will learn from one another by comparing different approaches, and less active groups will have the opportunity to learn some of the basics of different methods. So the theme of the conference will be 'Demystifying field archaeology' - counteracting the idea that it is something hopelessly expensive, scientific and esoteric which must be left to the 'experts'. Or, as it has been expressed, 'do-it-yourself archaeology' - a demonstration that the great majority of fieldwork and post-excavation can be done by any group of local activists with the necessary commitment and enthusiasm. Manuals The aim beyond the conference is to use the various contributions to begin producing a series of fieldwork manuals, which we hope will build eventually into a comprehensive manual of 'how-do' methods and techniques of use to all actual or would-be independent fieldworkers. No such thing is currently available on the market, and it is badly needed. The CIA aims to produce one. Programme
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