Description

Paper presented to WAC 06, Dublin, 2008.

The buoyant Irish economy has stimulated an unprecedented boom in commercial sector archaeology. The scale of this work has challenged accepted understanding of regional archaeological sequences with the discovery of new and entirely unexpected archaeology. A strong legal framework underpins a methodology of total archaeology, a contrast with policy in the UK where the mitigation of construction impact is controlled through planning guidance, and a problem-orientated methodology of sample excavation is practiced. Increased quantity entails increased cost, and given that this work is undertaken in the public interest the question must be asked: does a bigger sample automatically lead to better results? This paper seeks ways to realise the knowledge potential of that data, a quality that’s not necessarily a factor of quantity.