The Business of Heritage

Throughout the world, consultant archaeologists are at work on heritage assessments covering a broad range of fields, subjects, techniques, locations and connections. Due to government legislations to protect heritage, an industry has developed where archaeology is inextricably linked to business. The result is the production of a vast amount of material not widely seen, with the result of the heritage work often remaining unpublished. This collection of papers examines how heritage is undertaken as a business, and what this means for the ongoing protection of the past and development of archaeological knowledge. The international connections of a global business structure present an opportunity to approach heritage and archaeological studies with a global ‘one world’ view, parallel with the corporate approach practiced by an international company. This volume collects papers by archaeologists and heritage specialists from around the globe, providing insights into the intentions, processes and outcomes of an international heritage consultancy in operation. From managing heritage structures associated with space exploration at the NASA Ames Research Center, to protecting Roman archaeology in North Yorkshire, and from an industrial landscape in Cornwall to a palimpsest of Aboriginal artefacts in Australia, this book contextualises international consultancy within a broader milieu of archaeological study and documents the way in which an international business contributes to the development of academic knowledge on a world scale.