British

Over the summer many archaeologists have been out in the field: what have they been doing? Much work is carried out by contracting units through commercial contracts: most have websites. What do they tell us?

One of the largest consultancies, Wessex Archaeology, provides an extensive and slick website (www.wessexarch.co.uk) allowing browsing through recent projects by area, period or theme. In addition to commercial information it covers finds, training and exhibition work. AOC Archaeology Group, in contrast, provides an understated, academic website (www.aocarchaeology.com) with less archaeological information and little detail of what it actually does. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Brigantia Archaeological Practice is a small unit which still packs much information into a straightforward site (www.brigantiaarchaeology.co.uk).

The Council for British Archaeology provides a comprehensive listing of "contracting units, trusts & consultancies" with web links (www.britarch.ac.uk/info/contract.asp). Googling "commercial archaeology uk" brings up mostly links to units. There is no space to summarise them all. Many are straight archaeological operations, such as Trent and Peak Archaeological Unit (www.nottingham.ac.uk/tpau). Some concentrate on a theme, eg Alan Vince Archaeological Consultancy: ceramics and digital services (www.postex.demon.co.uk). Others operate in interpretation and museums like the Blaise Vyner Consultancy (www.meander.demon.co.uk). Several CBA links do not work, suggesting that some units are not very diligent about updating their contacts (including such classics as the Oxford Archaeological Unit and Birmingham University Field Archaeology Unit).

With regard to the work, Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division provides a good example of the archaeological umbrella (www.guard.arts.gla.ac.uk), from straight-forward excavation and building surveys to forensic archaeology and police crime scene work – it is a rich mixture. guard also houses various thematic centres and websites as well as publications.

British Archaeological Jobs Resource provides another listing of organisations (www.bajr.org/WhoseWho/Contractor.asp) with search tools that include an interactive map and skills listings, as well as the need (or not) to specify that a body be registered with the Institute of Field Archaeologists. The IFA itself has a searchable section on registered units (www.archaeologists.net/modules/icontent/index.php?page=22).

Clearly there is huge variation between organisations. In contrast to big commercial units lie groups like the Stewartry Archaeological Trust (www.sat.org.uk) whose pages offer an intimate glimpse of a community dedicated to one or two local excavations. At the same time it is important not to forget those research archaeologists whose projects, while sometimes appearing on these pages (eg Wetland Archaeology and Environments Research Centre of the University of Hull, www.hull.ac.uk/wetlands), are often hidden within the web pages of academic departments. Look at the research pages of the University of York, for example (www.york.ac.uk/depts/arch/Research/Researchwelcome.htm).

With time and a quick internet connection, there is plenty of information to find about the world of commercial archaeology. You will not get details of every excavation or unit, not at first anyway, but you will find a good idea of what has been keeping people busy over the summer.

Keep up to date with fieldwork websites

Wessex Archaeology – www.wessexarch.co.uk
- Whether you want to read about archaeology, or get into it yourself, you will find something of interest here.
Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division – www.guard.arts.gla.ac.uk
- A good overview of the work of the commercial side of archaeology, with some useful links.
Brigantia Archaeological Practice – www.brigantiaarchaeology.co.uk
- A good example of how a smaller unit can still be very effective.
York Archaeological Trust – www.yorkarchaeology.co.uk
- It is hard not to give all the credit to the big boys but once again this site offers a lot more than straight archaeological information.
Scottish Urban Archaeological Trust – www.suat.co.uk
- A straightforward website with added value such as the education section and a section on "interesting finds" (where are the pages for boring finds?).

Orkney's web saga

Sigurd Towrie lives on Orkney, works on Orkney and traces his ancestry back far, on Orkney. His gift to the islands is a very professional website.

Orkneyjar (www.orkneyjar.com) began in 1997, on a very small scale and simply as a quick experiment to see how easy it would be to use some of the free web space I had acquired from my internet provider.

After a few weeks' trial and error, I had a rudimentary, but hideously designed website that I began to use as a platform to "publish" articles on Orcadian heritage I had written over earlier years.

Since childhood, the history of Orkney has always fascinated me. Primarily, I suppose, because evidence of the islands' colourful past still surrounds us. As a boy I was able to visit prehistoric cairns, ruined castles, standing stones or even stand by the shore where, according to the Orkneyinga Saga at least, a daring Viking raid came to a conclusion. To a young boy this fired the imagination immensely. Orkney was ablaze with stories of mystery, treachery, blood and miracles.

But with this came a desperate frustration.

Although things appear to be changing now, in my younger years Orkney's heritage, in particular history, was taken for granted. Rather than looking at the richness of their homeland, young Orcadians were yearning for the day they could head off elsewhere – after all, "nothing ever happened in Orkney!"

The years passed and with the advent of the internet, it soon became painfully clear that there were school-children in America who had been taught more about Skara Brae than many people in Orkney.

So the crusade began – admittedly as much for my own benefit as that of the site visitors. Collating the various articles served as a valuable research tool, very often highlighting avenues I had never contemplated before. The more I wrote, the more I found to write about – from the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site to Norse hogback tombstones, and a wide variety of things between.

Orkneyjar grew steadily, and, in addition to Orkney's history and archaeology, expanded to cover the islands' dialect, placenames, vanishing traditions and folklore.

While some might see these elements as being exclusive, I believe they are all inextricably linked. A folktale about disappearing cattle, for example, led to the discovery and – 50 years later – the excavation of Minehowe, the iron age underground chamber in the Orkney Mainland parish of St Andrews.

Since Orkneyjar's inception I have become the father to two boys – Audun (5) and Einar (6 months). Despite the continued support of my wife, Fiona, family duties inevitably mean I do not work on the site as often as I would like. The exception to this is the archaeology news section.

As a trustee of the Orkney Archaeological Trust, I have a good relationship with the local archaeologists who keep me up to date on the county's projects. The nature of archaeology means this is at its busiest during the summer excavation season.

This, together with my day job as a journalist allows me to highlight breaking archaeological news on the site as and when it happens. Needless to say this can make the few months in summer fairly hectic, but I hope usually results in some interesting reading.

Last year, for example, we had the iron age "murder-mystery" at Minehowe with the discovery of a second skeleton on site. 2006 has already seen the chance find of a perfectly preserved bronze age socketed axe in a peat bank.

Orkneyjar is currently recording around 6,000 page views a day and has grown far beyond my initial plans for the site. Although there are days it feels like the proverbial albatross, it will, I hope, continue to develop over the years. I have plans to expand on the information already online as well as cover the many aspects of Orkney's heritage I've barely touched yet.

One thing is for sure, there is certainly no shortage of subject material.

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Issue 90

September/October 2006

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