The management of the archaeological resource – that is, the globally applicable practices of recording, evaluating, preserving for future research and presenting to the public the material remains of the past – currently employs more professional archaeologists than any other branch of the field worldwide. It is particularly a field of increasing importance in archaeological education: specialist courses in archaeological resource management (ARM), archaeological heritage management (AHM), cultural resource management (CRM), cultural heritage management (CHM) and public archaeology (all synonyms for the same sub-field of archaeology) proliferate in universities across the globe at both the undergraduate and (especially) postgraduate levels. Almost all countries have a system in place, usually grounded in a body of legislation, for the preservation and professional management of archaeological remains. The principles upon which the management of the archaeological resource is conducted are held to be universally valid; accordingly, the basic practices of its management are also similar the world over, although specific local circumstances make for differences in approach to these common functions. Using this fact as a basis on which to start, this book offers a critical approach to the specific professional practices deriving from those agreed principles to outline how archaeological resource management is done under different conditions in different parts of the world and what these practices may mean.

This book is in some ways a companion to my earlier volume Archaeology and Heritage (Carman 2002), and the two can be read and used together. Whereas that book took a more ‘theoretical’ perspective on issues in ARM, this book addresses the common practices of ARM across the globe. In its approach it is perhaps no less ‘abstract’ than the earlier text – at least, in that it does not aim to offer advice or prescription on how ARM should be done – but it differs significantly in its structure, focus and content. Nevertheless, both books derive from teaching aspects of the management of archaeological remains over a considerable number of years, and I am sure former students may recognise in this book much that they were introduced to in lectures and seminars from 2003 (and indeed before) to the present. The justification for turning this material into a book is that there currently exists no single text providing a critical international overview of the functions of archaeological resource management. This book therefore seeks to provide what students of the field currently lack and to be a source of comparative and hopefully thought-provoking material for practitioners.