Wessex Archaeology


Wessex Archaeology is a British company that provides archaeological and heritage services, as well as being an educational charity. Apart from advice and consultancy, it also does fieldworks and publishes research on the sites it surveys. The company has had a long association with the archaeological television programme Time Team.

History

Founded in 1979 as the Wessex Archaeological Committee, its name changed in 1983 to the Trust for Wessex Archaeology. It was one of the first rescue archaeology units in the country, focussing on the numerous sites in and around Salisbury Plain. In 2005, it was renamed Wessex Archaeology Limited, trading as "Wessex Archaeology".
Phil Harding, who appeared on the archaeological television programme Time Team, works for Wessex Archaeology.
Since the advent of developer-funded archaeology with PPG 16 and its successor, PPS5, it has expanded its commercial operations across the UK with offices in Maidstone, and Sheffield. WA opened its Scottish office in Edinburgh in the Spring of 2010. It includes a large marine archaeology department. Further regional offices were opened in Welshpool and Bristol in 2014.

Charity

Wessex Archaeology is a registered charity with stated aims: "to promote the advancement of the education of the public in the subjects of culture, arts, heritage and science through the pursuit of archaeology".
The results of its archaeological investigations are lodged with local authorities, and an increasing number can now be accessed online via Wessex Archaeology's , or via the Archaeology Data Service's OASIS index.