Prehistory accounts for over 99% of the time since people first inhabited this country, at least 700,000 years ago. The study of prehistoric archaeology both illustrates the multi-cultural development of England and provides intimate insights into ways of life radically different to our modern world.
Prehistory has bequeathed us numerous evocative monuments and landscapes while many more places owe their present character to a development that began thousands of years ago. Yet there remains much we do not understand about our prehistoric past and numerous threats to the surviving resource, while many of the most fascinating sites and stories remain little-known.
The Thematic Research Strategy for Prehistory articulates the intellectual basis for English Heritage's research response to key issues and themes in prehistoric archaeology and sets out current priorities for research funded or undertaken by English Heritage. This page will also provide links to progress reports on the implementation of the Strategy as well as to related research frameworks and similar documents.
The Purpose of the Strategy
Research priorities for prehistory have been set out by the heritage sector in a series of framework documents, notably the Regional Research Frameworks for England.
The Thematic Research Strategy for Prehistory aims to distil these into a few broad research themes.
Within the themes we have identified a smaller number of critical priorities, representing the areas where we believe English Heritage ought to focus its research efforts in the period ahead. These are based on an assessment of corporate priorities in relation to the research themes (explained further in a series of essays that will be added to this page).
The overarching aims of the strategy are to improve understanding of our prehistoric heritage in order to help protect its most significant parts, and to promote that significance to a wide range of different audiences, from schoolchildren to policy-makers.
The Critical Priorities
Six critical priorities have been identified for the period ahead, which are explained fully in the attached Strategy document. They can be summarised as follows:
- Integrated approaches to prehistoric landscapes: filling gaps, understanding biases, improving methodologies and connecting different types of landscape
- Setting prehistoric sites in context: improving understanding of the spatial, typological and chronological context of key prehistoric sites
- Understanding 'sites without structures': improving understanding of and methods of characterising ephemeral sites, especially lithic scatters
- Managing the impact of climate change: understanding and mitigating the impacts on prehistoric sites of climate change, changing land-use and desiccation of wetlands
- Improving access to unpublished data: grey literature synthesis, archive research, backlog publications and enhancing Historic Environment Record (HER) data
- Teaching prehistory: developing educational resources and popular narratives to engage new audiences
Implementing and updating the Strategy
We will implement the strategy by developing projects in response to the critical priorities, whether undertaken in-house by English Heritage's own research teams, through building partnerships, or by funding external partners via the Historic Environment Enabling Programme (HEEP). The Strategy will remain a 'live' document and we will measure and report on progress against the priorities.
Annual updates on relevant projects will be posted here, while regular reviews and horizon-scanning will allow ongoing adjustment and revision to the priorities, as progress is made and new issues are identified.
Downloads and links
A number of documents are available for download or will be added in due course. These include the Thematic Research Strategy for Prehistory itself and supplementary essays on the Critical Priorities.
Also available here is the Research and Conservation Framework for the British Palaeolithic, which was published by English Heritage on behalf of the sector in 2008.
We welcome comments on any aspect of the Strategy, which we will endeavour to take into account in future updates. These should be addressed to Jonathan Last, Head of Research Policy for Prehistory, Fort Cumberland, Eastney, Portsmouth PO4 9LD. We can also supply hard copies of any of the linked documents on request.
