The Archaeology Awards is an annual awards ceremony celebrating achievements in the field of

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsca ...

Summary

The Archaeology Awards was founded by the British magazine ''

Current Archaeology ''Current Archaeology'' is a British monthly archaeology magazine. Summary ''Current Archaeology'' describes itself as the "United Kingdom's best selling archaeology magazine", a claim substantiated by British Archaeological Jobs and Resources ...

'', with the first ceremony hosted by

Francis Pryor Francis Manning Marlborough Pryor (born 13 January 1945) is an English archaeologist specialising in the study of the Bronze and Iron Ages in Britain. He is best known for his discovery and excavation of Flag Fen, a Bronze Age archaeological s ...

, and attended by leading figures from the archaeology world, taking place in Cardiff, 2009. The ceremony itself was incorporated into the Archaeology Festival held at Cardiff University, with speakers including television broadcaster and historian,

Bettany Hughes Bettany Mary Hughes (born May 1967) is an English historian, author and broadcaster, specialising in classical history. Her published books cover classical antiquity and myth, and the history of Istanbul. She is active in efforts to encourage ...

, who lectured on Helen of Troy. The awards were supported by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

,Biggar Archaeology News (December 2010), http://www.biggararchaeology.org.uk/news24_311210.shtml and the

Royal Archaeological Institute The Royal Archaeological Institute (RAI) is a learned society, established in 1844, with interests in all aspects of the archaeological, architectural and landscape history of the British Isles. Membership is open to all with an interest in these ...

. The first ever ceremony saw a generally positive reaction from the British archaeological community, including David Connelly of the British Archaeological Jobs Resource and Bryan Ward-Perkins of Oxford University. It was also reported in the press of many counties with nominated projects. As one article noted, 'Conesby moat... was shortlisted for a prestigious award with Current Archaeology... As part of their Archaeology Festival 2009 in Cardiff, the first-ever Current Archaeology Awards took place, with Conesby moat just one of five finalists in its category.' The main prizes are awarded in the following five categories: The Jeffrey May Award (for best new article by a new writer for ''Current Archaeology'' or ''Current World Archaeology''); Book of the Year; Research Project of the Year; Rescue Dig of the Year; and Archaeologist of the Year. The Jeffrey May Award is named in honour of the late head of archaeology at the

University of Nottingham , mottoeng = A city is built on wisdom , established = 1798 – teacher training college1881 – University College Nottingham1948 – university status , type = Public , chancellor ...

and major contributor to ''Current Archaeology'', 'who oversaw a decade's work at Dragonby in Lincolnshire'.Jeffrey May Obituary, ''The Times Online'' (August 2006) http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article614672.ece His obituary in ''The Times'' notes that 'He followed the principle that the aim of archaeology was not to solve problems for one’s own satisfaction or to impress colleagues, but to provide accurate information about the past for the enlightenment of all.' The 2010 ceremony, brought in conjunction with the

Portable Antiquities Scheme The Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) is a voluntary programme run by the United Kingdom government to record the increasing numbers of small finds of archaeological interest found by members of the public. The scheme begun in 1997 and now covers ...

, was hosted by ''

Current World Archaeology ''Current World Archaeology'' is a magazine devoted to archaeology spanning the globe. Summary The magazine focuses particularly on Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Near East, and Greece and Rome, while the civilizations of the Americas are frequent ...

'' columnist

Brian Fagan Brian Murray Fagan (born 1 August 1936) is a prolific British author of popular archaeology books and a professor emeritus of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Biography Fagan was born in England where he received hi ...

of the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Franci ...

, with support from the Ermine Street Guard. 2010 also saw the scope broadened to incorporate awards from other major archaeological organisations, representing work from amateur to academic and professional endeavours. This included the Awards for the Presentation of Heritage Research, sponsored by English Heritage,

Historic Scotland Historic Scotland ( gd, Alba Aosmhor) was an executive agency of the Scottish Office and later the Scottish Government from 1991 to 2015, responsible for safeguarding Scotland's built heritage, and promoting its understanding and enjoyment ...

, Cadw, the Royal Archaeology Institute and government bodies from both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Nominees for the 'Rescue Dig of the Year' included two Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) projects: 'This Wooden O: Discovering Shakespeare’s First Theatre' and 'Water-power in Medieval Greenwich'. The category was won by 'The Staffordshire Hoard'. The 'Staffordshire Hoard' team's win was featured in an article by the Art Fund. On accepting the prize, Dr Kevin Leahy stated: 'This was very much a joint award, to be shared by the many people and organisations who had worked hard on the project.' As reported by the Birmingham News Room, Birmingham City Council Cabinet Member for Leisure, Culture and Sport, Cllr Martin Mullaney, 'congratulated the Staffordshire Hoard team after it scooped a top archaeology award'. The 2011 ceremony was held at the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

, on Saturday 26 February. In January 2011, it was reported by the ''York Press'' that local team 'On-Site Archaeology' had been nominated in the 'Rescue Dig of the Year' category. Other nominees in the category included the 'Lanton Quarry' site, excavated by Archaeological Research Services LTD. Nominees in the Book of the Year category included ''European Influence on Celtic Art'' by Lloyd Laing and ''The Planning of Roman Roads and Walls in Northern England'' by John Poulter. The year's winners were voted for by readers and announced at the ceremony, as part of Archaeology Live 2011. The annual conference was attended by noted figures from the international archaeology community, including Lisa Westcott, editor of ''Current Archaeology'', Nick Ashton, Curator of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic, British Museum, and Dr Keith Robinson of the Sedgeford Aerodrome Project. The ceremony was preceded by the Awards of the Presentation of Heritage Research, celebrating 'ground-breaking and innovative research from all aspects of heritage', held in the Stevenson Lecture Theatre the previous day. The 2012 ceremony was held at

Senate House (University of London) Senate House is the administrative centre of the University of London, situated in the heart of Bloomsbury, London, immediately to the north of the British Museum. The Art Deco building was constructed between 1932 and 1937 as the first phase ...

, on Friday 2 March. The 'Research Project of the Year' category included a project in the Orkney for the second year running: other nominees in this category included 'Massacre at Fin Cop', which went on to win the category. Nominees in the 'Book of the Year' category included ''Celtic from the West'' by Barry Cunliffe and John Koch, and ''The Story of Silbury Hill'' by Jim Leary and David Field. Tony Wilmott, Mike Heyworth, and

Martin Carver Martin Oswald Hugh Carver, FSA, Hon FSA Scot, (born 8 July 1941) is Emeritus Professor of Archaeology at the University of York, England, director of the Sutton Hoo Research Project and a leading exponent of new methods in excavation and surve ...

were nominated for Archaeologist of the year, with Tony Wilmott the eventual winner. The winners of each category were voted for by members of the public, and were announced at the awards ceremony held during the Current Archaeology Live! 2012 conference, which was attended by many notable figures within the field of archaeology. These included Dr Matthew Symonds, editor of ''

'', Tony Wilmott, Senior Archaeologist at

, and Dr Mike Heyworth from the

Council for British Archaeology The Council for British Archaeology (CBA) is an educational charity established in 1944 in the UK. It works to involve people in archaeology and to promote the appreciation and care of the historic environment for the benefit of present and futu ...

. The 2013 awards, held on Friday 1 March at Senate House, saw a record number of votes cast by the general public, almost reaching 12,000.Press Release, ''archaeology.co.uk'' http://www.archaeology.co.uk/press/press-release-the-search-for-richard-iii-wins-prestigious-award-as-research-excavation-of-the-year-following-a-record-number-of-votes-from-the-general-public.htm ''

Time Team ''Time Team'' is a British television programme that originally aired on Channel 4 from 16 January 1994 to 7 September 2014. It returned online in 2022 for two episodes released on YouTube. Created by television producer Tim ...

s Phil Harding took the award for Archaeologist of the Year, seeing off competition from fellow nominees Bob Bewley of the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

, and Gustav Milne of the

Thames Discovery Programme The Thames Discovery Programme is a community archaeology project, focusing on the archaeology of the River Thames on the Tideway. The Thames Discovery Programme (TDP) was launched in October 2008 and until September 2011, the project was suppor ...

. The excavation that discovered Richard III won the title of Research Project of the Year, with the award being collected by the project's lead archaeologist Richard Buckley. The 2014 ceremony was held on Friday 28 February, at Senate House in London. The nominees in the Archaeologist of the Year category were Gill Hey of

Oxford Archaeology Oxford Archaeology (OA, trading name of Oxford Archaeology Limited) is one of the largest and longest-established independent archaeology and heritage practices in Europe, operating from three permanent offices in Oxford, Lancaster and Cambridge, ...

, Alex Bayliss of

, and Richard Buckley of ULAS, who went on to win the award. The winners of the 2015 awards were announced as part of the ''Current Archaeology Live!'' conference on Friday 27 February 2015, and were presented by TV personality and archaeologist Julian Richards.

Special Award

A special one-off additional award was added in 2017 to celebrate the 50 anniversary of the magazine, with the public voting LiDAR, as exemplified by the New Forest National Park Authority, as 'Archaeological Innovation of the Last 50 Years'.New Forest National Park, ''newforestnpa.gov.uk'' (March 2017
New Forest archaeologists scoop national award

Summary

Special Award

Honours List

See also

References

External links