This Framework was originally published by the University of Birmingham and Oxbow Books in 2011, and is now presented online in it’s original text (December 2021).
The publication of this volume marks the culmination of several years of coordinated research, seminar presentations and the personal contribution of many individuals; it also represents a major step forward in the future management of our archaeological heritage in the West Midlands. This was a project started in 2001 with a series of open meetings in the region, drawing together archaeologists from local societies, universities, local authorities and field units as well as interested individuals both professional and amateur. The initiative and the funding belonged to English Heritage and the purpose was to provide a research framework for the region in order to ensure that future archaeological work, the majority of which was developer-led, might be better aligned to research purpose and to the resolution of academic goals.
The committee that evolved from these open meetings took upon itself to identify appropriate chronological periods for study and gathered information from local museums and collections, sites and monuments records/historic environment records, excavation reports published and unpublished, artefact specialists and experts in a host of subject areas ranging from geology to place-names. This data was then drawn together and presented in a series of period seminars, discussed, synthesised, and finally published in this volume. Although ostensibly a simple process, it involved many individuals working in their own time, fitting in the research around other commitments, and collaborating with individuals with other areas of interest. It was a process that additionally served to bring together the various components of a sometimes fragmented archaeological community. It is a great credit to the enthusiasm and energies of the coordinator Sarah Watt, and to the patience of the English Heritage representative Ian George, that the work has been completed so superbly.
The results of this work have provided us with an audit: it has defined our strengths and weaknesses, in some cases quite frighteningly; it has shown where the gaps in our knowledge lie both geographically and chronologically, and it has demonstrated where we may need to exert greater research effort. This is a volume which we hope will find many homes throughout the region and will be used to underpin the research designs and commercial specifications of archaeology throughout the next decade and beyond. The editor, the contributors and the many individuals whose efforts underpinned the papers here are to be congratulated on setting the archaeology of the West Midlands on a new footing.
John Hunter
Professor of Ancient History and Archaeology University of Birmingham
The organisation and production of the Research Framework has relied on the support and hard work of a wide range of individuals and organisations. As well as the authors of the chapters in this volume, who have done a superb job of assimilating an enormous amount of data and supplementing it with their own research and knowledge, I would like to thank all those who participated in the process, especially the authors of the county resource assessment papers and themed regional papers presented at the series of Resource Assessment seminars held in 2002-2003. These included local authority and university archaeologists as well as independent archaeological practitioners, who took on the task of auditing the region’s archaeology:
Andy Boucher of Archaeological Investigations Ltd.; Mike Hodder of Birmingham City Council; Paul Garwood, John Halsted, Della Hooke, Alex Jones, Roger White and Ann Woodward of the University of Birmingham, and Simon Buteux, Sally Crawford, Jane Evans, Iain Ferris, James Greig, Annette Hancocks, John Hunt and Alex Lang formerly of the University of Birmingham; Peter Guest of Cardiff University; Iain Soden formerly of Coventry City Council; Nathan Pittam of Coventry University; Andy Myers of Derbyshire County Council; Pete Boland and John Hemingway of Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council; Martyn Barber, Mark Bowden, Paul Stamper and Chris Welch of English Heritage; Julian Cotton, Tim Hoverd and Keith Ray of Herefordshire County Council, and Paul White and Rebecca Roseff formerly of Herefordshire County Council; Paul Belford of Nexus Heritage; Richard MacPhail of University College London; Jeremy Milln of the National Trust; Gavin Kinsley of Nottingham University; Paul Booth of Oxford Archaeology; Mike Watson and Andy Wigley of Shropshire County Council; Chris Wardle and Bill Klemperer formerly of Staffordshire County Council; David Barker formerly of Stoke-on-Trent City Council; David Jordan of Terra Nova Ltd.; Nicholas Palmer, Stuart Palmer and Jonathan Parkhouse of Warwickshire County Council; Stephen Hill formerly of Warwick University; Angie Bolton of the West Midlands Portable Antiquities Scheme; Mike Shaw of Wolverhampton City Council; James Dinn of Worcester City Council; Malcolm Atkin, Victoria Bryant, Hal Dalwood, Derek Hurst, Robin Jackson and Liz Pearson of Worcestershire County Council, and Neil Lockett formerly of Worcestershire County Council; Nigel Baker; Hilary Cool; Bob Meeson; Stephanie Rátkai; Barrie Trinder; Alan Vince; John van Laun. Lawrence Barfield of the University of Birmingham, who sadly died in July 2009, also made a significant contribution.
Thanks also to all the delegates who attended the seminars and contributed to the discussions, particularly the invited chairs and discussants (all included above) and those invited to fulfil the daunting task of summarising each seminar, setting the West Midlands in its wider national context: John Hines and Niall Sharples of Cardiff University, Glyn Coppack of English Heritage, Jeremy Taylor and Marilyn Palmer of the University of Leicester, and Richard Bradley of the University of Reading.
English Heritage has generously funded the project and special thanks go to their representative Ian George for his help and support throughout. Thanks also to John Hunter for his overall management of the project and to Caroline Sturdy for her support in the final stages of coordination for publication and for collating the illustrations. Henry Buglass of the Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity, University of Birmingham, produced the original distribution map template used throughout this volume and all the
distribution map figures, and prepared the illustrations for publication. The distribution maps are based on data collated from all the region’s Sites and Monuments Records at the beginning of the project; thanks to all the SMR and HER officers who supplied this information and to all the local authority archaeologists who took the time to meet me and talk about the archaeology of their respective areas.
Thanks are also due to the members of the project’s Management Committee for their invaluable support and assistance (and good ideas). The committee consisted of: Andy Boucher, Victoria Bryant, Vince Gaffney, Ian George, Mike Hodder, Della Hooke, John Hunt, John Hunter, Lisa Moffett, Cathy Patrick, Stephanie Rátkai, Mike Shaw and Mike Stokes. Mike Stokes, who died in February 2005, is sadly missed.
Sarah Watt
Part of the Research Frameworks Network