Archaeological Investigations Project (AIP)

Darvill, Timothy, Russell, Bronwen and Milner, Ehren (2018) Archaeological Investigations Project (AIP).

The Archaeological Investigations Project (AIP), funded by English Heritage and Historic England, systematically collected information about the nature and outcomes of more than 80,000 archaeological projects undertaken in England between 1990 and 2010, the currency of Planning Policy Guidance Note 16: Archaeology and Planning (generally known as PPG16) that was published in November 1990. The AIP aimed to document as many archaeological investigations as possible, many of which would otherwise have remained invisible to the archaeological community and the wider public, through accessing limited availability Grey Literature reports held by archaeological contractors and curators. Whilst the AIP did not collate a library of such reports, it signposted their locations. Data was gathered directly from those who undertook the work, either from their reports or by visiting organizations across England. Records of investigations and events created by AIP have been incorporated, indexed, and cross-referenced within a range of on-line resources including: the English Heritage Excavations Index (formerly the RCHME Excavation Index) now archived at the ADS which itself shared data with other on-line resources such as PastScape, Archsearch, and the Heritage Gateway; the British and Irish Archaeological Bibliography; and the Archaeology Data Service. This AIP data archive allows a greater appreciation of the breadth of archaeological work carried out in England during a key period in the emergence of planning-led investigations, and it gives an overview of the impacts that PPG16 had on such projects. This is summarised in the publication which forms the companion to this database, 'Archaeology in the PPG16 Era: Investigations in England 1990-2010' by Timothy Darvill, Kerry Barrass, Vanessa Constant, Ehren Milner, and Bronwen Russell (Oxbow Books 2018).