Hidden Earth 2024

Cave Archaeology - communication and collaboration

45 minute Workshop|Rick Peterson

Abstract

Over the last two years I have been running a project examining the prehistoric archaeology of caves in the western Yorkshire Dales. Cave archaeology depends on cavers, local archaeologists, professional and academic archaeologists, and conservation bodies like the National Parks and Natural England all working together. There have been some excellent initiatives over the years by the BCRA and others to help everyone involved in caves and cave archaeology communicate. However, these have tended not to have lasted long-term, especially when the individuals involved retire or move on to other projects. A survey of the advice available to cavers on how to report archaeological finds underground, which was carried out for our project, revealed a lot of broken links and outdated contacts. There is also no easy way for cave explorers to get access to the further results from research on discoveries they have been involved in. The aim of this workshop is to open up a discussion with everyone interested in caves and archaeology and come up with some proposals for long-term solutions to allow everyone easy access to information and advice.