What is this toolkit and who is it for?
This toolkit aims to embed meaningful public engagement within archaeological projects, by identifying who can help, and when and how. It provides practical suggestions to support archaeologists at all stages of project design and delivery.
Undertaking archaeology today offers enormous potential to work beyond traditionally limited definitions of ‘community archaeology’ or ‘engagement’. Engaging with archaeology has transformational power in people’s everyday lives and is a vector for front-line outputs including knowledge creation, protecting the historic environment, individual health and wellbeing, and community cohesion. As a sector, we should consistently maximise opportunities within archaeological projects to increase the impact and social value our work can have in peoples’ lives.
Engagement with archaeology can bring together people from all walks of life, socio-economic backgrounds, age ranges and political leanings. How archaeologists do that, who we do it with and for, and when it happens, are all decisions that are best considered early in the project design process, where it’s proportionate to the project. It is the process of detailed planning, appropriate resourcing and evidence-rich evaluation which results in meaningful engagement, and that will better cement archaeology’s place and value in civic life.
Consultation has shown that most archaeologists, in all types of roles, believe that public engagement is important for our work. The content of this toolkit is designed to help embed that into all archaeological projects. It considers the political and professional frameworks we work within and the tools we can use to support meaningful engagement, and provides examples of what engagement looks like across a rich spectrum of project-based activity.
The toolkit is primarily focused on two groups, described as project commissioners and advisors, and the archaeology design and delivery team.
- project commissioners and advisors: includes those who identify the requirements of an archaeological project (such as the local authority archaeologist), and those who procure the services of archaeologists (such as project consultants)
- archaeology design and delivery team: a broad range of roles within the archaeological team, including those writing initial project tenders and design documents/WSI, and all roles within delivery teams
More generally, this toolkit is relevant to anyone interested in public engagement in archaeology. The content should be seen as a curated resource, providing background information and signposts to useful online content, as well as specific resources designed to help archaeologists in their everyday work. The toolkit primarily discusses processes in England, but colleagues in Scotland and Wales may also find much of the content useful, and the context of the wider UK is examined in parts.
Why is public engagement important for archaeology?
Delivering public engagement is good for our work and our workforce, and something that archaeologists have recognised the importance of for a long time. In 2011, the Southport Report set out a vision which included enabling and encouraging public involvement and participation, research and the use of archives and published results. That vision extended from the management of the historic environment as a partnership between communities and local authorities, to embedding opportunities for public participation in development-led projects as part of our practice. These ideas are consistent with the legal and ethical frameworks which currently exist across the UK (see 2.1 - Making public engagement happen), but progress has been severely limited within archaeological projects.
Consultation undertaken as part of the development of this toolkit (see Infosheet 1 - What do archaeologists think about public engagement?) has confirmed that, despite this earlier challenge to the profession, not much has changed since 2011 (also see a review from Taryn Nixon (PDF)). Notable examples, although they certainly exist, are the exception. The growth of public engagement within development-led archaeology has not happened. It is considered by some to have been limited by the erosion of local authority services and squeezed out by economic pressures, remaining an ‘extra’ in the eyes of the developer.
Despite this, there remains a strong recognition within our profession that archaeological work should include public engagement and that we can do better. With an improved understanding of how archaeology directly contributes to wider public benefit and social value, we can start to embed engagement into archaeological project delivery – and shift its perception as an archaeological ‘extra’ to being an intrinsic project consideration.
What do public benefit and social value mean?
A key message for anyone requiring, designing or delivering archaeological work within development projects is that archaeology has potential to achieve public benefit and social value outcomes beyond traditional archaeological deliverables. But how do we better articulate this?
Public benefits are simply the things we do or deliver which benefit the public. These can be intrinsic to the archaeological process (knowledge creation, Historic Environment Records, reports), as well as involving information dissemination and active engagement activities (open days, volunteering, school resources). All are equally part of the archaeological project and can be required as part of consent regimes within the differing legislative frameworks of the UK to balance the impact of development on archaeology (see 2.1 - Making public engagement happen and Infosheet 1 - What do archaeologists think about public engagement?). Traditional archaeological products, including the report and archive, fall into the basket of ‘creating new knowledge’ – a vital outcome of our work but a narrow definition of delivering public benefit.
Public engagement provides a whole range of outputs and outcomes which result from or are part of the archaeological project, but which can achieve wider public impact. CIfA’s professional practice paper Delivering Public Benefit (PDF) argues that the definition of public benefit ‘should be expanded to include individual or communal wellbeing, improving community cohesion, improving educational, environmental or economic conditions or providing these opportunities’ (CIfA 2020a: 2).
The recently updated CIRIA good practice guidance on Archaeology and construction describes how the planning system expects archaeology to ‘create public benefits, not only creating new knowledge about the past but providing a wide portfolio of social, economic and environmental gains’ (CIRIA 2021, Executive Summary).
This bigger picture view is where we begin to see how project outcomes and long-term legacies can create social value. While social value outcomes might come directly from the archaeological work, specific activities could also be adjacent to more traditional public benefit outcomes. This might include apprenticeships, contributing to pride of place, or increased health and wellbeing. Recent research within the ongoing UKRI funded project 'Measuring, maximising and transforming public benefit from UK Government infrastructure investment in archaeology' suggests that change within legislative expectations provides an opportunity for archaeology to embed itself as a key provider of social value.
In contrast to the provision of public benefit, social value outcomes are unlikely to be required as part of the planning process required by the planning archaeologist. Instead, they might be an ambition of the development team and a requirement of the contract issued by the developer or the consultant managing the project work. Social value is also a requirement of government procurement projects (see also 2.3 - Procuring public engagement) and, on a global level, the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals also provide incentives to relate archaeological work to a global call to action – in particular, targets which consider the promotion of local culture (Target 8.9) and its safeguarding within sustainable communities (Target 11.4).
These concepts are not mutually exclusive and the delivery of public benefit from archaeology can contribute to social value.
In both cases, as the dots between engagement, audience and outcomes are joined up, the measurable change experienced by a community resulting from project activities can be evaluated and demonstrated (see 2.2 - Commissioning public engagement). Benefits and social value outcomes might be linked to the place itself, to the individuals of a place and/or to the wider community within it.
The task of archaeologists is therefore to consider, define and communicate how archaeology can contribute to hitting the wider goals for public benefit and social value needs within development projects. These elements are often outsourced to many kinds of organisations but can be delivered within the archaeological project and can be planned and delivered as part of the mitigation package.
Project commissioners and facilitators include those who identify the requirements of the archaeological project (such as the local authority archaeologist), and those who procure the services of archaeologists (such as project consultants).
An approach to archaeological practice that actively involves and engages local communities in all stages of the archaeological process. In community archaeology, community members play a central role in decision-making, research, excavation, interpretation, and dissemination of archaeological findings.
A group of individuals or professionals responsible for executing and implementing a project or undertaking a specific task. In archaeology, the delivery team will include the collective group of archaeologists, including specialists, technicians, managers and support staff who are actively involved in carrying out the various aspects of an archaeological project. The delivery team works collaboratively to ensure that the project objectives are met, tasks are completed according to the established timelines and quality standards, and the desired outcomes are achieved.
The systematic approach or framework used to assess and measure the effectiveness, impact, or success of a project. An evaluation methodology involves the methods, tools, and criteria employed to evaluate the outcomes, outputs, and overall quality of the archaeological work. Relevant tools include the Theory of Change and Standards of Evidence.
Refers to the administrative body responsible for governing and making decisions at the local level within a specific geographic area or district. In development-led archaeology, local authorities play a significant role in granting planning permissions, managing heritage assets, agreeing the scope of works and ensuring compliance with relevant regulations and policies. Local Authorities also host the Historic Environment Record for the region.
In the context of this resource, meaningful is used to denote projects able to demonstrate the impacts and outcomes of the work. Although engagement activities in archaeological projects can be meaningful without project evaluation, the process of measuring impact means that project team can assess, evidence, refine and improve.
The positive impact or advantage that a project or activity brings to the general public or a community as a whole. In archaeology, demonstrating public benefit involves showing how the archaeological work contributes to the understanding, preservation, or enjoyment of the historic environment by the public.
There is no single definition of social value and exact descriptions may differ according to context. Most centre social value around the importance of social, environmental, and economic impacts on the community and the people living in these communities. In procurement, social value could include a commitment to employing local people, offering a number of apprenticeships, protecting or conserving the environment, or supporting health and wellbeing initiatives. Where there is an ambition to achieve social value, the means to do so must be considered from the beginning of a project so that it can be dealt with comprehensively.
