The silky haar that is typical of the Forth during spring and autumn draped like mortuary cloth over the Firth. Skies, dark and dank, crowded in and from the surrounding night came strange unknown noises, bringing fear prickles to the lower back. The cohort closed in tighter, weary eyes staring out into the dark glens.
Two thousand years on the cold clamminess of southern Scotland in April, so different to the climate of many of the Roman archaeologists’ homelands soaked cloth, skin and eventually bones remains. Mediterranean mouths still droop at Scottish weather, Dacian eyebrows raise at single digit temperatures in April and southern tongues propagandise about uncouth barbarians north of the wall. But the white heat of research burnt off the mist surrounding the joint Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference and Roman Archaeology Conference, which came to Edinburgh for three days, bringing together researchers from universities, commercial units, museums and heritage organisations. And travelling considerably less far than some two WA staff from the Edinburgh office attended the event, which had talks ranging from the contextualisation of coin hoards to network modelling of wine consumption in the Mediterranean to the position of woodworkers in Roman London.
I have always found these conferences a bit overwhelming in number of talks, some of the discussion poorly directed and still feel slightly burnt by studying theory during my degree. However, the longer I work in field archaeology the more I realise that discussions about archaeological theory are vital for maintaining an interest in the subject, as well as understanding what we are working on. They are what glues together the disparate finds within the soil and the previous owners, they humanise the unidentified ditch diggers and bank stackers. Like it or not, all of us at Wessex use theoretical standpoints every day in interpreting features, sediments, landscapes and artefacts.
The most important discussion that came out of the conference for myself was the session looking at ‘the praxis of archaeology’ (yep, I had to google praxis too). Essentially the session was an investigation of how we do archaeology, where the serious problems lie within the profession and what we can do to overcome them. The session identified several large-scale issues: the shortage of academic jobs compared to the number of qualified individuals; short term boom and bust employment within the commercial sector; an ongoing rift between academia and development-led archaeology; the shortage of funding; the neoliberal marketisation of heritage and the lack of resources for regulators/planning archaeologists. It all got a bit depressing. What followed, however, was a free and frank discussion about what we as archaeologists can do to solve these issues. Not as commercials, not as academics, not as professors. As archaeologists. We are all researchers, producing and interrogating data every day.
The over-riding outcome was one of increasing collaboration: we need to see more academic and commercial partnerships pushing forward the study of archaeology, both in terms of institutions and individuals. This allows the two tribes to complement each other’s’ skill sets as well as allowing both groups to bring in funding from new avenues. This is already happening within WA, with large and small-scale collaborative projects with Historic England, the BGS and universities; however, there is always more that can be done.
I began the conference feeling a little out of place: I’m not a Romanist and I have always looked a bit askance at theory. After attending a series of excellent talks on a wide variety of subjects and re-engaging with theoretical practices, I came away feeling much more complete as an archaeologist, inspired to put together more research projects and conduct more collaborative research, both within Wessex and with other outside organisations. I would encourage everyone to go to an archaeological conference this year: if nothing else the parties tend to be good.
The CBA website has an up-to-date list of conferences occurring within the UK, along with some of the larger worldwide ones while there is a blog which lists more, as well as listing the deadlines for calls for papers.