36 PROJECTPLANNING
on site is often a wise investment, saving many hours
wasted in the re-laying and retrieval of moorings. Where
a platform is designed to remain at anchor for the length
of the diving operations, consideration should be given
to the use of a small safety boat. Consideration should
also be given to the use of a ‘live aboard’ platform, where
the team stays on board for the duration of the project.
This can save time and effort by avoiding a daily trip
to and from the site. Staff can eat and sleep around their
working schedule and the cost is often less expensive than
accommodating personnel ashore. Of course, issues such
as obtaining supplies, accessing conservation facilities, and
allowing the team some time off must all be considered
if a ‘live aboard’ platform is to be used.
Timetable: The project timetable should be planned
through to completion. This should include fieldwork,
assessment, analysis, dissemination and curation.
Budget: The costs of undertaking the work programme
should be presented, making clear the basis of any calcu-
lations. Costs should be related directly to the methods
statement and sufficient funds should be allowed for the
competition of all post-fieldwork activity through to dis-
semination. It should not be assumed, unless confirmed
by those involved, that equipment or specialist skilled work
will be provided for free.
Logistics: It is vital that the tools, equipment and facil-
ities required to undertake archaeological work, manage
it safely, and provide living and subsistence for the pro-
ject team in the field are available at the correct time
throughout the project. This may mean ensuring that
all equipment is available from day one, or arranging
for equipment to be brought on site only for the period
it is required. Each piece of equipment should be sup-
plied with a suitable level of spares and consumables
to ensure it is safe and in full working order. There
should also be a suitable level of training and experience
within the team to manage safely the operation of all equip-
ment and the inevitable maintenance issues that all
projects face. Large projects may consider including
specialists within the team who take on specific roles, such
as project engineer or cook, to allow the archaeologists
in the team to spend their time more efficiently as
archaeologists.
Post-fieldwork: It is important that while fieldwork is
under way all records and processing of finds should be
kept up to date and not left until the final stages of the
project (see chapter 8). Experience shows that neglecting
such work during a project will result in many wasted hours
trying to sort out problems at a later date. Such issues
should be considered in the planning stages of any
project and appropriate resources allocated. Once opera-
tions in the field have been completed, all records and finds
should be collated and archived in a suitable manner
(see chapter 19). It is not unusual for there to be a delay
of many months, or even years, before these records are
accessed again and this work may well be undertaken by
an entirely different team.
Once the archive has been completed, an assessment of
the work carried out should be undertaken to see if the
results matched the aims of the original project design.
This work should include an assessment of the data in terms
of its potential, given further analysis, to satisfy the ori-
ginal aims of the project. This assessment should detail
the volume, nature, context, method of recovery (where
appropriate) and the possibility of contamination. The lat-
ter is particularly likely for sites located in areas with high
volumes of historic shipping traffic. In such cases it is not
unknown for archaeological layers to become contaminated
by material subsequently deposited onto the sea-bed
from passing ships.
Following this assessment it may be necessary to
modify the project design based on what has been learnt
about the site from the work carried out. At this stage it
will also be appropriate to summarize the potential for any
recovered material to answer other research question that
have come to light as a result of the work undertaken. It
should also set out the potential value of the site to local,
regional, and national research priorities.Storage and curation: From the outset, the project
design should identify who the legal owners of the
archaeological (if any) material recovered will be and
where the project archive will eventually be deposited. It
should be compiled following consultation with con-
servators (see chapter 16), the appropriate museum pro-
fessionals, and the material’s legal owner. It should also
consider the immediate and long-term conservation and
storage requirements for the data held in the site archive.
Consideration should be given to how electronic data is
to be stored and accessed in the future (see chapter 8).
Recommendations should be made about selecting a
representative sample of material from poor contexts,
whose conservation and long-term curation costs far out-
weigh their further research potential. In such cases it
is vital to ensure that all required recording and analysis
has been completed prior to their disposal. In formulat-
ing a discard policy, due regard must be given to the views
of the eventual recipient of the archive and the legal
owners of the material. Care should be taken to ensure
that discarded archaeological material does not contam-
inate other archaeological deposits.Dissemination: The eventual aim of any archaeolo-
gical work is dissemination of the results. Results can