Register of Consultants

The Register of Consultants lists details of Full Members, Associate Members and Affiliate Members:

• Full Members - who are fully qualified and experienced consultants usually with a broad range of research and management skills. Full Members often act as senior heritage project managers. They have demonstrated ability and have been through an accreditation process in the organisation. Areas of expertise include site survey and recording, excavation, analysis and interpretation and, importantly, the assessment of site significance. Full Members may use the title MAACAI as a professional qualification;
• Associate Members - usually earlier career members who hold appropriate qualifications in archaeology and who are still increasing their levels of work experience and management skills;
• Affiliate Members - professionals who are not currently practising consultants but who, through their professional occupation as academics or in the public sector, maintain links with the Association.

Guide to the Register

Full Member Entries

Full members are listed alphabetically. For each Full Member comprehensive entries are provided which include contact details, academic qualifications, general fields of work (as ratified by the Membership Committee), fields of expertise, specialist studies and experience. A list of selected publications is also provided. More detailed information is available from consultants on an individual basis.

The following comments relate to the headings and terms used in the Register and their relevance to various types of consulting work.

General Fields of Work

Most archaeologists specialise within one or more of four general fields:

• Indigenous Australian archaeology deals with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture prior to contact with Europeans and may involve wide ranging studies of occupation sites, art complexes, quarries, stone arrangements and land modification.
  
  
• Historical archaeology deals with various aspects of historic settlement by Europeans and others. Sites include urban, rural, industrial and maritime.
  
  
• Contact archaeology refers to studies of the relations between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and settlers including earlier contacts such as with Indonesian fishing fleets.
  
  
• Maritime archaeology describes the study of maritime cultures and focuses on shipwrecks, port-related structures and shore-based settlements such as whaling stations.

Within these broad divisions there are certain subdivisions which relate to geographic locations or particular time periods.

Some archaeologists and social anthropologists are involved in studies of contemporary Aboriginal culture, particularly in recording sites of significance to Aboriginal communities or individual Aborigines. These studies are grouped within the field of contemporary Aboriginal culture.

Within the field of historical archaeology there are a range of different site types which have resulted in the development of a range of fields. These include:

• Urban historic sites
• Rural historic sites
• Industrial sites
• Maritime sites
• Historical archaeologists may possess expertise in one or a number of these areas of specialisation.

Techniques

There are three main components of archaeological fieldwork. These are surveying, recording and excavation. As the field of heritage assessment has developed there has been an increase in the range of other skills required by consultants. These include archival research, artefact analysis, heritage assessment and management planning. The stage in the assessment process or level of complexity involved in a project dictates the skills required by the archaeological consultant.

Any initial assessment of an area requires a consultant skilled in site survey work. This consultant would also be required to have organisational skills to implement such a survey and relevant background information to reliably predict the site types which may be expected in a particular area. This stage of assessment requires the identification and preliminary recording of sites. The consultant must have the ability to assess the significance of sites and to make management recommendations. For historic sites, the ability to undertake historic (archival) research is an essential qualification.

In order to assess the cultural significance of Indigenous sites, liaison with the Aboriginal community is required. The Aboriginal community will determine this type of site significance.

Following its identification, a more detailed recording and assessment of a site may be required as part of a more intensive site investigation. This would be the case where the development will disturb or destroy an archaeological site which has been assessed as having significance.

An archaeological investigation may be required in order to establish the extent, age, character and significance of a site. Excavation may be necessary to salvage archaeological material and data prior to destruction of a site. In all parts of Australia, excavation can only be carried out under a permit from the relevant government authority. Such permits would only be issued to a qualified archaeologist, and when a satisfactory case had been made for the need to excavate. It is the consultant's responsibility to obtain such permits in the course of the projects undertaken. With regard to work on Aboriginal sites, such permits would generally require consultation with the relevant local Aboriginal community.

Special Fields

Particular archaeologists may have specialised knowledge of subjects related to the work they do. Such subjects include rock art recording, rock art conservation, skeletal remains, geomorphology, geodetic surveying, prehistoric or historic technologies, conservation of material remains, sediment analysis, identification of plant or animal remains found in excavations. Expertise in particular environments or regions is also included under special fields.

Apart from fieldwork, consultants may engage in work related to analysis of material culture, conservation, archival research, museum studies, and preparation and publication of educational material. Such skills are also listed as special fields.

A consultant may need to call on the advice of other specialists in the course of a complex project.

Associate Member Entries

The Register of Consultants provides summary contact details, expertise and availability of Associate Members.

Affiliate Member Entries

The Register of Consultants provides summary contact details, expertise and availability of Affiliate Members.