Martin Carver. Archaeological investigation.
Fokkens, Harry
MARTIN CARVER. Archaeological investigation. xxxviii+424 pages, 268
illustrations, 16 colour plates, tables. 2009. Abingdon & New York:
Routledge; 978-0-415-48918-8 hardback 85 [pounds sterling];
978-415-48919-5 paperback 26.99 [pounds sterling].
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
'Archaeological investigation intends to be a companion for a
newcomer to professional archaeology ...' says the introduction:
'This no plodding manual, but an inspiring, provocative,
informative and entertaining book.' And that is indeed what it is.
Carver's mission is clear from the outset: he wants to write a book
that demonstrates good practices in the entire field of archaeological
investigation: from research design to written report. Thirty years of
experience in different fields of research, both in university-based and
in commercial archaeology are condensed in this well-written book.
The book has a clear structure: it starts with
'Principles' (part 1), followed by 'In the Field'
(part 2), 'Writing Up' (part 3) and 'Design' (part
4). In the text references are left out, but at the end of each chapter
there is a section entitled 'Briefing' where literature
relevant to the different subjects treated is listed. A Glossary and an
Index conclude the book while a list of illustrations and picture
credits takes up 23 pages at the beginning.
In part 1, Carver explains how fieldwork relates to 'theory
and the society in which it is practiced' (p. vii). In order to
achieve interaction between the two, Carver proposes an evaluative
approach. This basically respects all other (theoretical) approaches as
complementary but adds an initial evaluation stage as essential for the
planning of archaeological investigation. This means that we have to
find out who the stakeholders are, decide what we want to keep and what
we can disturb. In other words, we need to be aware not only of
scientific interests, but also of the social interests at stake. As an
(excellent) example in chapter 3 the author's Sutton Hoo project is
followed through all its stages.
Special attention is given to publication of the project design and
comments on it by different stakeholders. From an ideological point of
view this certainly might be desired, but I wonder how many projects
have ever been through this stage. In any case, in the practice of
commercial archaeology outside Britain, this is virtually impossible.
In part 2 fieldwork is discussed, from landscape survey and site
survey to excavation. Carver takes care to present examples and
practices from all over the world, including excavation under water,
urban archaeology and tell excavation in Syria. Though the examples show
a good distribution over subsoil, period and type of excavation, I
sometimes missed a discussion of why certain methods were employed in
these situations, and what advantages or disadvantages they presented;
in that respect the examples act as illustration rather than as
inspiration.
Part 3, writing up, is an important component of the book. It takes
the reader through the stages of post-excavation analysis, from setting
up the analytical programme (chapter 8), the analysis of assemblages
(chapter 9), the analysis of spatial relations and of chronology
(chapters 10 and 11) and finally synthesis and publication (chapters 12
and 13). Useful checklists are presented in several figures and tables,
for instance fig. 9.9 showing what to expect when analysing different
types of materials. How many students are actually aware of the fact
that metal corrosion mineralises organic material? In such chapters the
expertise gained from life-long fieldwork becomes really inspiring.
Finally design is introduced in part 4. This may seem odd, because
most people would place design first, and so in fact does Carver. But he
leaves the discussion of that process to the end, because it is really
hard to discuss evaluation and project design without knowing how
fieldwork, post-excavation analysis and publication are organised. This
part is--at least for me--one of the most inspiring parts of the book.
It shows how modern archaeology ought to be interacting with
stakeholders other than just fellow archaeologists. In developer-funded
and very often local community archaeology that is indeed of the utmost
importance. Carver therefore distinguishes between the
'traditional' research design and the resource management
programme, which is the part that deals with the social context of the
work.
All in all I can recommend the book as what it intends to be: a
companion to the newcomer. It is indeed not a plodding manual: it
presents archaeology in its totality, as a practice but also as a field
of study that needs to interact with the society whose roots it is
exploring. That does not mean that there are no points of criticism. For
instance, though generally well chosen, the images are often too small,
and many photographs have been printed too dark, thus failing to fully
achieve their intended purpose. A minor problem for non-British readers
may be that, even though examples from all over the world are used, the
approach of how fieldwork is conducted is still predominantly
British-oriented. Having said this, the final chapter (15) about our
profession and its context does acknowledge the differences between
states and countries, as well as the dialectic between academia and
commercial archaeology. It is very difficult to operate on the borders
of these 'territories' and I think that with Archaeological
investigation Carver has succeeded well.
HARRY FOKKENS
Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, The Netherlands
(Email: h.fokkens@arch.leidenuniv.nl)
