Archaeology South-East and the CAA are hosting an archaeological open day on the 20th September 2009 at Whitehawk Enclosure, Brighton.

Click here to discover what they have planned to inform and entertain.

RECENT NEWS

The Council of Europe ‘Baseline monitoring of the Granada Convention for the projection of the architectural heritage of Europe (1985)’

Ratified by 39 European states, the CoE convention was one of the first international texts to highlight the social value of built heritage, its contribution to economic development and the importance of including it in town planning and development policies.

Sarah Wolferstan, who began collaborating with the CAA in May, will be compiling a questionnaire on the application of the convention in partnership with The Paul Drury Partnership. Its focus is on the multiple values of heritage places; the new skills required by managers when facilitating their identification; climate change and historic buildings; the role of public, community and private sector and other actors in sustaining heritage.

The end product will be an on-line monitoring tool to be used by representatives from government institutions in the CoE’s forty seven member states, with results available to the public.

This project builds on previous work undertaken by Sarah with the CoE in 2007-08 on monitoring the Valletta Convention (1992) for the protection of the archaeological heritage (see www.european-heritage.net/sdx/herein/).

Hadrian’s Wall WHS Management Plan

Hadrian’s Wall was the first UK World Heritage Site to develop and publish a Management Plan, in 1996: since then its Management Plans have been held up as models of best practice by ICOMOS and UNESCO. In 2008, the CAA was therefore honoured to be commissioned to edit and complete the third Management Plan when Paul Austen, its Coordinator, unfortunately fell ill. Kirsty Norman worked with Hadrian’s Wall Heritage Ltd over a period of six months, coordinating the writing, editing, and design of the Plan, which is now available at the Hadrian's Wall Heritage Ltd website.

Whitehawk Camp Community Archaeology Project
20th September 2009

Archaeology South-East (ASE) have initiated a community-based project to engage the public and partner groups in Prehistoric Heritage. The focus for this initiative is the Whitehawk causewayed enclosure, an early Neolithic Scheduled Monument situated on the urban fringe of the city of Brighton and Hove. The site has been targeted because of its importance, its proximity to diverse urban communities, for its research potential and for the immediate need to address management issues of the site, which is under threat.

The project is multi-themed, comprising outreach initiatives and the development of research and management strategies for the site. ASE is working closely on these themes with Brighton and Hove City Council (BHCC), East Sussex County Council (ESCC), English Heritage (EH) and Brighton and Hove Archaeological Society (BHAS) as strategic partners. Together we intend to deliver remedial field work, an effective management plan for the Scheduled Monument, focusing primarily on protecting the site and an enhanced level of interpretation to the wider public.

Through a grant from the Centre for Applied Archaeology (CAA), a topographical survey has been undertaken, to update the previous surveys and highlight areas of the site which have been impacted upon during recent years. This is seen as the crucial first step in developing remedial, management and research outcomes for the project. A further application has been made to the University College London Beacon Bursary for support towards a Prehistory Day to be held at the site. ASE is also working with the curator of Brighton and Hove Museum and a team of volunteers to catalogue and re-assess the archive from previous excavations on the site.

ASE is carrying out this work as part of its remit to engage with the community on local heritage issues and to promote research into local archaeological sites. Working with partner groups in this initiative, the key outcome is to involve the local residents with this significant monument at the heart of their community.

LEARNING & CAPACITY

The CAA now provides grants for staff and students of the Institute of Archaeology working on fieldwork and other projects involving the Institute’s Field Unit, Archaeology South-East. ... read more.

ARCHAEOLOGY SOUTH-EAST

OUR VALUES

The CAA is committed to ethical and sustainable approaches, which build on and enhance the capacity of local communities to benefit from the historic and archaeological interest of the places they inhabit. ... read more.

ARCHAEOLOGY IN CONFLICT
- to be published soon!

The CAA international conference Archaeology in Conflict, which took place from 10-12 November 2006 in London, is to be published by the expert journal Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites. It focuses on the underlying ethics of archaeological site management and its impact on local communities in Afghanistan, Palestine, Iraq and Lebanon. .. read more