Guidance Open for Consultation

Environmental Archaeology: A Guide to the Theory and Practice of Methods, from Sampling and Recovery to Post-excavation

This is the 3rd edition of the Historic England guidelines ‘Environmental Archaeology: A Guide to the Theory and Practice of Methods, from Sampling and Recovery to Post-excavation’. This new edition has been developed in response to changes in the English planning system over the last decade and developments in developer-funded and academic archaeological work. It has been written by Historic England staff in discussion with environmental archaeology specialists and local authority archaeologists. The core text has been split into an expanded and developed version of the previous sections 1-3. Appendix 1 covers some common types of evidence previously covered in Section 4. Several new case studies have also been added.

The guidance is intended to support the work of local authority archaeologists, archaeological consultants, and project managers in integrating environmental archaeology into their projects.

This is an updated version of the Environmental Archaeology 2nd edition.

Please consider the following when submitting your feedback:

1. Are there commonly encountered issues in your work that you feel are not covered by this current version?
2. Are there other specific case study topics you feel would be beneficial for your work?
3. Are there aspects of the guidance which need greater detail?
4. Are there topics not currently covered in Appendix 1 that should be added?

Download the draft document