Rescue archaeology, sometimes called commercial archaeology, preventive archaeology, salvage archaeology, contract archaeology, developer-funded archaeology or compliance archaeology, is state-sanctioned, archaeological survey and excavation carried out in advance of

construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form Physical object, objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Pr ...

or other land development. Other causes for salvage digs can be looting and illegal construction. One effect of rescue archaeology is that it diverts resources and impacts pre-planned archaeological work. Conditions leading to rescue archaeology could include, but are not limited to,

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-acces ...

projects, major construction, the flood plain of a proposed

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...

, or even before the onset of

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

. Unlike traditional survey and excavation, rescue archaeology must be undertaken at speed. Rescue archaeology is included in the broader categories that are

cultural resource management In the broadest sense, cultural resource management (CRM) is the vocation and practice of managing heritage assets, and other cultural resources such as contemporary art. It incorporates Cultural Heritage Management which is concerned with traditio ...

(CRM) and cultural heritage management (CHM).

Background

Rescue archaeology occurs on sites about to be destroyed but, on occasion, may include

in situ ''In situ'' (; often not italicized in English) is a Latin phrase that translates literally to "on site" or "in position." It can mean "locally", "on site", "on the premises", or "in place" to describe where an event takes place and is used in ...

preservation of any finds or protective measures taken to preserve an unexcavated site beneath a building. Urban areas with many overlaid years of habitation are often candidates for rescue archaeology. The focus of early work was to set up organisations to undertake rescue excavations shortly before an area was disturbed by

construction equipment Heavy equipment or heavy machinery refers to heavy-duty vehicles specially designed to execute construction tasks, most frequently involving earthwork operations or other large construction tasks. ''Heavy equipment'' usually comprises five e ...

. Archaeologists relied on the goodwill of the developer to provide the opportunity to record remains. In more recent use, an archaeological survey may be required by planning process or building law, as with the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and NPPG5 in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. Common conditions required by planning authorities are archaeological field survey, watching briefs,

shovel test pit A shovel test pit (STP) is a standard method for Phase I of an archaeological survey. It is usually a part of the Cultural Resources Management (CRM) methodology and a popular form of rapid archaeological survey in the United States of America a ...

s, trial trenching, and excavation. Guidance and standards of practice in the UK are largely monitored through the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA). Contract or commercial archaeology services have sprung up to meet the needs of developers and to comply with local laws and planning regulations. In the United Kingdom, over 3000 archaeologists are employed in commercial archaeology. For many years, the emphasis was on archaeological evidence in the ground. However, with increased interest in

industrial archaeology Industrial archaeology (IA) is the systematic study of material evidence associated with the industrial past. This evidence, collectively referred to as industrial heritage, includes buildings, machinery, artifacts, sites, infrastructure, docu ...

, rescue archaeology needs to commence by recording extant remains of buildings i.e. prior to demolition.

Regionality and terminology

The term, and indeed the practice of, is largely restricted to North America,

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

, and

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both Geography, geographical and culture, ethno-cultural terms. The modern State (polity), states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. ...

, especially the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, the

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

, and Japan. Many European countries, such as, e.g.,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, practice virtually no rescue excavation (though there is extensive research archaeology). The many rescue archaeology projects in the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

are generally termed salvage archaeology. In North America, commercial archaeology sometimes refers to the study of structures and artifacts created in connection with popular commercial activity, such as diners,

motel A motel, also known as a motor hotel, motor inn or motor lodge, is a hotel designed for motorists, usually having each room entered directly from the parking area for motor vehicles rather than through a central lobby. Entering dictionarie ...

gasoline station A filling station, also known as a gas station () or petrol station (), is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Gasoline ...

s, and signs. Special focus is given to commerce and transportation, the effects of market economy and the use of space, and the development of roadside businesses. Two terms used in the context of rescue archaeology are rescue excavation and rescue dig. Salvage excavation is a term used in North America. Another related term is salvage dig.

As a profession

Whereas the organizations that take on rescue archaeology contracts are stable entities, the archaeologists who perform the actual field work are, in the main, an army of mobile workers. They work in all types of weather and terrain covering tasks such as conservation, excavation, artifact curation,

field survey Field research, field studies, or fieldwork is the collection of raw data outside a laboratory, library, or workplace setting. The approaches and methods used in field research vary across disciplines. For example, biologists who conduct fi ...

often in difficult conditions (such as dense woodland), and typically working to tight deadlines. Given that the outputs of much of the work that is undertaken in advance of development work is not published in peer reviewed journals, the people that perform the actual research are often anonymous and unrecognized. " Shovelbum" is a play on one of the more polite names which professional archaeologists call each other when they enter the field of rescue archaeology and move from excavation to excavation. As much archaeology is now developer-led, the fieldworkers must move to where the work is when one contract is complete, much like ski-bums following the good snow fall. For professional field archaeologists the Shovelbum phase of a career is considered by some a rite of passage.

References

*American Cultural Resources Association. 2013. The Cultural Resources Management Industry: Providing Critical Support for Building Our Nation’s Infrastructure through Expertise in Historic Preservation. Electronic document

*Everill, Paul. 2009. ''The Invisible Diggers: A Study of British Commercial Archaeology''. Oxbow Books

*Hutchings, Rich. 2014. "The Miner’s Canary"—What the Maritime Heritage Crisis Says About Archaeology, Cultural Resource Management, and Global Ecological Breakdown. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Interdisciplinary Studies, University of British Columbia

*Hutchings, Rich and Marina La Salle. 2012. Five Thoughts on Commercial Archaeology. Electronic document

*Hutchings, Rich and Marina La Salle. 2015. Archaeology as Disaster Capitalism. International Journal of Historical Archaeology orthcoming

*King, Thomas F. 2012. ''Cultural Resource Laws and Practice: An Introductory Guide'' (4th Edition). Altamira Press

*King, Thomas F. 2009. ''Our Unprotected Heritage: Whitewashing the Destruction of Our Cultural and Natural Environment''. Left Coast Press

*King, Thomas F. 2005. ''Doing Archaeology: A Cultural Resource Management Perspective''. Left Coast Press

*La Salle, Marina and Rich Hutchings. 2012. Commercial Archaeology in British Columbia. ''The Midden'' 44(2): 8-16

*Neumann, Thomas W. and Robert M. Sanford. 2010. ''Cultural Resources Archaeology: An Introduction'' (2nd Edition). Rowman and Littlefield

*Lavachery, P., MacEachern, S., Bouimon, T. & Mbida Mindzie, C. 2010
Komé-Kribi. Rescue Archaeology along the Chad-Cameroon Oil Pipeline, 1999-2004
Africa Magna, Frankfurt a. M. () *Neumann, Thomas W. and Robert M. Sanford. 2010. ''Practicing Archaeology: A Training Manual for Cultural Resources Archaeology'' (2nd Edition). Rowman and Littlefield

*Nissley, Claudia and Thomas F. King. 2014. ''Consultation and Cultural Heritage: Let Us Reason Together''. Left Coast Press

* Laurajane Smith, Smith, Laurajane. 2004. ''Archaeological Theory and Politics of Cultural Heritage''. Routledge

*Smith, Laurajane. 2001. Archaeology and the Governance of Material Culture: A Case Study from South-Eastern Australia. ''Norwegian Archaeological Review'' 34(2): 97-105

*Smith, Laurajane. 2000. A History of Aboriginal Heritage Legislation in South-Eastern Australia. ''Australian Archaeology'' 50: 109-118

*Stapp, Darby and Julia J. Longenecker. 2009. ''Avoiding Archaeological Disasters: A Risk Management Approach''. Left Coast Press

*White, Gregory G. and Thomas F. King. 2007. ''The Archaeological Survey Manual''. Left Coast Press

*Zorzin, Nicolas. 2014. Heritage Management and Aboriginal Australians: Relations in a Global, Neoliberal Economy—A Contemporary Case Study from Victoria. ''Archaeologies: The Journal of the World Archaeological Congress'' 10(2): 132-167

*Zorzin, Nicolas. 2011. Contextualising Contract Archaeology in Quebec: Political Economy and Economic Dependencies. ''Archaeological Review from Cambridge'' 26(1): 119-135

*Zorzin, Nicolas. 2010. The Political Economy of a Commercial Archaeology: A Quebec Case-Study. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Faculty of Humanities (Archaeology), University of Southampton

* Parga Dans, Eva and Pablo Alonso Gonzalez. 2020. The Unethical Enterprise of the Past: Lessons from the Collapse of Archaeological Heritage Management in Spain ''Journal of Business Ethics''

{{Authority control Cultural heritage Methods in archaeology

Background

Regionality and terminology

As a profession

See also

References

Further reading