Archaeological Resource Management: An International Perspective

The management of the archaeological resource – that is, the globally-applicable practices of recording, evaluating, preserving for future research, and presenting to the public the material remains of the past – currently employs more professional archaeologists than any other branch of the field worldwide. It is particularly a field of increasing importance in archaeological education: specialist courses in archaeological resource management (ARM), archaeological heritage management (AHM), cultural resource management (CRM), cultural heritage management (CHM) and public archaeology (all synonyms for the same sub-field of archaeology) proliferate in universities across the globe at both the undergraduate and (especially) postgraduate level. Almost all countries have a system in place for the preservation and professional management of archaeological remains, usually grounded in a body of legislation. The principles upon which the management of the archaeological resource is conducted are held to be universally valid; accordingly the basic practices of its management are also similar the world over, although specific local circumstances make for differences in approach to these common functions. Using this fact as a basis on which to start, this book offers a critical approach to the specific professional practices deriving from those agreed principles to assess how archaeological resource management is done under different conditions in different parts of the world and what these may mean. A particular focus is on how the most basic of ARM practices are implicated in politics.