Published
It’s perhaps no surprise given the development of the British landscape over the last 1,000 years but pretty much every time you start to excavate for any new large construction or infrastructure project, you are likely to unearth artefacts from the past. That might be an old burial ground, goodness me, there are plenty of those; or it could be part of our industrial past, such as the world’s oldest railway roundhouse; or something altogether different, such as evidence from the revolt lead by Queen Boudicca, all the way back in 60 AD,
One of the unintended statistics of projects like these is that they are the largest sources of archaeological finds in the UK and the good news is that they invest time and resources to capture and record our past so that whatever they find can be preserved for the future:
Archaeology and HS2
Archaeology and Thameslink
Archaeology and Crossrail
Archaeology and the London Olympics
Archaeology and Tideway
Whilst the extraordinary finds they make tell us a great deal about our past, this activity has a lot to tell us about who we are now and the work we do. Whilst we are very aware of the risks posed to major projects by shortages of skilled project managers, engineers, data analysts and others, all of the excavation associated with new development has lead to a shortage of archaeologists, something we may not have anticipated.
The importance that all of the major construction projects place on archaeology also reinforces the complex nature of these activities. They are far more than engineering marvels, they are social and cultural activities too.
The Major Projects Association Knowledge repository collates content from all four of the main project learning legacies: Olympics 2012, Crossrail, Thameslink and HS2. Of course, that includes far more than simply the archaeology of these sites so do take time to browse the repository and see what you can unearth.