Archaeological Research Agenda for the Avebury World Heritage Site

Book excerpt: Avebury is one of the few places in southern Britain to have acted as a focus for ceremonial and ritual activity during the Neolithic and early Bronze Age. The rich collection of archaeological sites, some visible and some buried, exerted physical and cultural influence on the landscape and environment for millennia. This volume forms the first formal research agenda for a World Heritage Site and is the result of several years' work by leading specialists. An introductory discussion of the specific research requirements of such an extraordinary site is followed by a Resource Assessment, a Research Agenda and a study of Research Strategies. These sections are arranged chronologically and cover the Palaeolithic through to the Saxon and medieval periods. The final section examines the methods and techniques used to gather data. These include geophysical survey, fieldwalking, aerial survey, evaluation and excavation, GIS survey and metal detecting. Contributors include Andrew J Lawson, Rosemary M J Cleal, Bryn Walters, Andrew Reynolds, Chris Gingell, Mark Corney, Gill Swanton, Peter Fowler, Michael J Allen, Mark Bowden and Nick Burton.