Science,landscape archaeology and public participation: The Community Landscape Project,Devon, UK

Abstract

This paper presents and describes the background to the Community Landscape Project (CLP), which commenced in Devon in 2001 with funding from sources that include the United Kingdom Heritage Lottery Fund. The project is concerned with increasing public participation in landscape archaeology and, unusually, palaeoenvironmental studies, with the aim of dispelling the myth that archaeology is only about excavation and ‘finds’. The paper describes the project's genesis and its success in increasing public participation in landscape archaeology. The unusual features of the project include its scientific palaeoenvironmental content, both in the field and in the laboratory (environmental stratigraphy and pollen analysis) and its use of GIS. It is argued that this kind of project, with external or charity funding, has become essential because of a high demand coupled with a funding gap between the government, local societies and universities. Lessons have been learnt and some of these are summarised here with the aim of helping others to devise and run innovative and inclusive community archaeology projects.